Coming out of a soccer game one evening this summer we were given free samples of bug spray. Not quite what I'd preferred to be given in downtown Toronto during a torrential downpour, a poncho would've been nice, but hey I like free samples so I accepted one with gratitude and we trudged on. At home I stuck the freebie on a shelf and forgot about it...until this week when I thought I'd give it a try. We've been cycling on rail trails through field and forest, all prime habitat for biting bugs, and I've never seen clouds this thick with deer flies all following us like hungry hordes. So in the thick of it I stopped to spray our backs and bums (yes, they bite there too) and the effect was immediate. Maybe it was the aerosol effect that drove them away or the active ingredient of picaridin, or maybe the winds blew just at the right time, I don't know, but they skedaddled. A few kilometers down the trail a few more deer flies zoomed in to say hello but left as fast as they'd come. Maybe this stuff really works? I've used different sprays with varying results, not much seems to deter the deer flies, at least until now. https://off.ca/en-ca/product/family-...nt-8-deet-free
