Ticks were a subject on one of the gardening forums and I copied the following to send to two friends with alpha gal allergies and constant tick problems:

• My son-in-law worked in a tick lab for several years so I’m sharing some things I learned from him.
  
  First, ticks are pretty much impervious to harsh winters. They won’t have any real impact on tick populations. What does impact tick populations is moisture. More moisture means more ticks. This is probably why I am seeing significantly fewer ticks in my area after two years of drought.
  
  Second, you should always treat tick bites with Triple antibiotic ointment which significantly reduces the likelihood of subsequent bacterial infection including Lymes and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
  
  Third, the reason alpha-gal is kind of flying under the radar, as @christie_sw_mo said, is because it doesn’t really involve a pathogen as we typically think of them. It is an allergic reaction to the carbohydrate galactose‑α‑1,3‑galactose which is present in most mammals (humans being an exception) and transfers during a bite by a lone star tick. The presence of galactose‑α‑1,3‑galactose or alpha-gal in lone star ticks is assumed which is why no one tests for it.
  
  The reason some people respond to bites with alpha-gal syndrome and others do not comes down to genetics and your immune system. Some people develop an allergy when exposed and others do not. The severity of the allergy varies dramatically from person to person because genetics are quirky like that.
  
  Making matters worse, lone star ticks are aggressive people biters. You don’t have to be in the woods or tall grass to pick them up. Last year, during their peak, I could walk my dog and never leave the paved road surface and I would still come home with ticks.
  
  Fourth, Permethrin is highly recommended. It is applied to clothing not because contact with skin is unsafe for humans, but because the spray breaks down too quickly to be effective on skin. You can treat clothes by spraying them enough to wet them and then allowing them to dry. The treatment persists through multiple washings. Again, this is good for deer ticks when you know you’ll be in an area with lots of ticks, but the lone star ticks will find you in seemingly low risk circumstances. Also, always treat clothing outside and leave it outdoors until dry because exposure to the spray in its wet form can be harmful to pets (particularly cats) – once dry this is no longer an issue (I am going by memory here and did not look this up to verify).
  
  During peak tick season (Now -June) I will tie a bandana treated with permethrin around my dogs neck during walks because even though she is treated with a monthly flea and tick preventative, she can still bring hitchhikers into the house where they can transfer to people or… we’ve sometimes found them just crawling around in the house.
  
  Some people set out “tick tubes” where they take cotton balls and treat them with permethrin and then stuff them (once) dry into toilet paper tubes and leave them outside with the idea that mice will use the cotton in their nests and reduce the overall tick population.