I'm just getting ready to take Sam for his morning romp in the desert. I spray him with a mixture of lemongrass and eucalyptus oils. It REALLY helps with the ticks. There are several commercial mixes available (Amazon among others) and I also have the raw oil to mix (with water) myself.
Let the record show that Sam doesn't like being sprayed. He doesn't understand the benefits after we are out of the house, but I know that it works. Sam's other Dad used it on him the last summer he spent in Wisconsin. Erv dropped the ticks he plucked off Sam into a pop bottle with water in it and kept it for the whole season. The last summer there were notably less ticks in the bottle-the difference being using the spray.
You're the second person to recommend elk gloves, I really need to look into these! We do have a lemongrass tick repellant but to date I'm not sure it works very well because some days I wear it and some I don't and I haven't noticed a bitlg difference, maybe it just isn't very strong 🤔 I'd like to plant a lot more herbs directly in the yard, wondering if that might have some impact but maybe if they aren't concentrated it won't matter, but at least I'll have more herbs lol.