Best Bug Defence

[Guest]

In my experience, deet works good on mosquetoes but nothing else. it also dissolves plastic and nylon and I don't think its healthy.I only use it as a last resort for a massive mosquetoe attack.

I likewise use DEET mostly as a last resort, at least on my exposed skin. I am a bit finicky about applying DEET (or even sunscreen) to my skin, not so much from health hazard concerns as because I simply don’t like the sticky, pore clogging dirt and dust attractant smeared or sprayed on my epidermis.

I am fortunate that mosquitoes don’t favor me. There are undoubtedly some differences in personal body chemistry that attract mosquitoes and there has been considerable research on that. I can attest that it isn’t solely genetics; my older son is a mosquito magnet.

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/features/are-you-mosquito-magnet

DEET and nylon or plastics is a really bad combination. I have smeared black off vinyl canoe gunwales with DEETy hands, and ruined any number of cheep ballcap logos by spraying my hat.

I don’t much like head nets either. My bug defenses rely mostly on simple, sensible choices; trying to find a site exposed to the prevailing winds, which can trade bugs for weather (I’ll take the weather). Even if camp turns calm I can often find some place nearby to spend a couple of hours enduring less of an evening assault.

I’ll sit in the smoke if need be, more make my own with a pipe or two. If it is really intolerable I’ll just retreat to the tent for an hour or two at dusk. I have added a mosquito net for my day hammock to that dusk retreat solution. I can’t sleep in a hammock, but I can sure as heck lounge in one, and still feel more out of doors than in the tent.

But in all honesty I try to avoid tripping in what I know will be intolerable-for-me bug heck. No height of blackfly season trips up north, no coastal bay marsh trips from April through November. I’d rather opt out and be comfortably unbitten elsewhere.

My arch enemy in the flying nasty realm seems to be those danged ankle biting stable flies. I had one bite me through a nylon shoe that had been freshly sprayed with DEET. I watched it land on my DEET covered shoe, and my self satisfied screw-you grin vanished when the b*st*rd bite me anyway. The shoes soon fell apart, the DEET didn’t seem to bother the fly in the least.

My solution to stable flies is to sit in a chair more than 6 inches off the ground and use something as an ottoman to elevate my feet. And if it is really bad make a flyswatter out of a forked stick and duct tape and play killer. SWAP! Now that is satisfying.

My real nemesis is ticks. I have had both Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and Lyme disease. Spotted fever dang near killed me, and I’m still screwed up from Lyme. And I still trip in places where the pine duff in spring seems to be moving.

Light colored garb, permethrin on my clothes, chair, hammock and everything else. Don’t lay gear down in the duff, keep out of the tall weeds and stay well off the ground when seated. Daily tick check, needs a really familiar companion or a mirror to be thorough.

As ticks slowly expand their range and weird mosquito borne diseases become more widespread bug prevention becomes more of a challenge. West Nile, sundry Encephalitis. How the heck do you even pronounce Chikungunya? Now Zika.

I may grow fonder of DEET.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Now Zika.

Are you expecting?

 

[Guest]

One more thing. On deerflys only, deerfly tape works great. the first time I tried it after appling it to the top of my hat, I thought it didn't work until I took my hat off and found 5 stuck to it. I also put it on the carbon front deck on my canoe. they like warmth. you need a multi-spectrum attack to bugs.
Turtle

 

[Guest]

Are you expecting?

No, my belly always looks like that. Thanks for asking.

Guillain-Barre might be another story. I can be sedentary enough without spreading paralysis.

I’m not really all that freaked out by the increasing variety of mosquito borne diseases, and realize that some of that may be better surveillance and detection, but the oddball stuff now being found further south, and even here in Maryland, does give me pause.

On deerflys only, deerfly tape works great. the first time I tried it after appling it to the top of my hat, I thought it didn't work until I took my hat off and found 5 stuck to it. I also put it on the carbon front deck on my canoe. they like warmth.

I might have to give that a try. The local deerflies, colloquially known as “Greenheads”, are slow and stupid. I would say “swattable”, but that won’t actually kill them; you need to first knock them down, stun them and then viciously pop them like a winged pimple.

I like to gather their squished bodies, laid out on the front thwart like trophies.

One of the cruelest paddling tricks ever was to convince a couple of swamp novices that they should lead the way down a narrow swamp creek.

“It’s fantastic, we’ve all seen it before, great wildlife, you guys should take the lead”.

Deerflies are drawn by movement. In eastern shore deerfly season wise travelers do not exit their vehicles immediately upon stopping. The 30 deerflies swarming every window are a clue.

I have a wonderful memory of friend Pam, paddling bow, spraying an aerosol cloud of insect repellent with a can in each hand, asking for the tenth time “Why are you all laughing?”

“We’ll tell you later, keep going”

You can only pull that trick once. Or at least once per person. My brother-in-law’s wife didn’t find it funny either.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Well the McCrea avoidance method reduces the paddling season to October and perhaps part of September in the North.. So I prefer the Co Exist method but dont bug me. There thankfully is no PETI. Though I realize that blackflies feed fish and are actually good for the ecosystem

The stable flies ( also called Adirondack Delta Bombers) make solo paddling impossible in July. You shopheads might think of inventing a self swatting mechanism. I can't paddle and swat simultaneously.

Pox on the family Tabianidae. ..greenheads. deerflies and horseflies. Why do they need so much meat? Now I don't remember that many greenheads in the Adirondacks. Not that many beaches. but there is plenty of sand. Maybe I ought to carry an insect ID Card
http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/greenheads

 

[Guest]

Well the McCrea avoidance method reduces the paddling season to October and perhaps part of September in the North

For as far north as I usually head avoiding May into June is enough to reduce the worst of the black fly plague.

Head netted and duct tape sleeved is no more my idea of fun than camping in a salt marsh in summer. There’s a time and place for everything.

 

[yellowcanoe]

For as far north as I usually head avoiding May into June is enough to reduce the worst of the black fly plague.

Head netted and duct tape sleeved is no more my idea of fun than camping in a salt marsh in summer. There’s a time and place for everything.

You have not met the No Seeum?? If you go on the Allagash you will meet.
Once upon a time at the Maine Canoe Symposium, Cliff Jacobsen said there was no such thing as a no seeum and tents with no seeum mesh were unnecessarily hot.

He started dancing sort of on stage . was wondering why he felt on fire.. Welcome to Maine Cliffy,.. there are no seeums.

 

[Guest]

stable flys? are they the small flys that bite your ankles when they are under the seat? Hate them! neoprene socks or high boots are the only answer I have found. And we do this why?
Turtle

 

[Guest]

You have not met the No Seeum?? If you go on the Allagash you will meet.

Or just paddle a mangrove tunnel in the Everglades on a windless day.

Why is my neck burning?

 

[yellowcanoe]

Or just paddle a mangrove tunnel in the Everglades on a windless day.

Why is my neck burning?

Different no seeums. I had no trouble with mangrove tunnels. They are horrid on the beaches. Never bring a sky blue tent.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

20% Picaridin usually works well enough for me when the mozzies aren't epic. Sweating washes it off quickly and it needs to be reapplied. It seems water-based and less acrid than Deet, which I carry as a backup. Permethrin usually kills ticks but not so quickly that they can't embed themselves first. (The same goes for chiggers.) I seem to be allergic to ticks, which I consider a blessing in disguise, because the itching alerts me to the tick and I can remove it within the critical first 12 hours.

In the documentary "Happy People" about Siberian trappers, they produced tar from birch bark in a primitive still, mixed it with bear grease, and applied it liberally. It must work; knowing the stink of tar, who would do that to themselves otherwise?

 

[Matt Hopkinson]

We still have a couple of bottles of 6-12 on the shelf out in the outhouse. I remember using it as a kid, though I don't recall if it ever worked! Something I have yet to try is methyl anthranylate, used for bird repellent on the crops you eat, supposed to work as well as DEET. I've only seen it in 5 gallon drums though.

 

[Guest]

Missing from all of this is, I think, any mention of using a screenhouse.

I know folks who use them regularly, but the bug situation needs to exceed intolerable for me to retreat into a screenhouse. Kills the breeze, occludes the view and make me feel trapped indoors.

I’ll do it, if only to eat in peace, but often I only last a half hour before taking my chances outside again.

Those who use a screenhouse or tarp bug netting system, what do you like?

 

[Bob B.]

I will be using a Nemo bugout shelter this year, mostly so my dog has a place to get out of the bugs - he has short hair and no under coat. I have never used one before - I hope I like it.

Bob.

 

[TrailBlaser]

I just finished treating my clothing and gear with Permethrin. This is the second year I have used it. I bought the JT Eaton "Saver-pack" of 5% solution on Amazon. It comes with a sprayer attachment. I also purchased a Home Depot bucket with cover, along with a mask and gloves for working with chemicals. I already had goggles. I also used a one gallon recyled water bottle. Having read the article in Section Hiker about soaking clothing instead of spraying them (like I did last year), I bought two boxes of one gallon plastic bags from the Dollar Store.

I mixed just under a half cup of the Permethrin in the one gallon bottle to make the solution.

I sprayed my backpack, hammock, tarp, boots and gaiters with the Eaton container.

I used the plastic bags to treat my mid-layer hiking shirts, both long and short sleeve. I think the bag method works better than spraying for these garments. I poured a small amount of the solution into the bag, put the shirt in, poured a little more solution in, sealed the bag most of the way, forced the air out, sealed it fully and massaged the shirt in the solution. I found the bags with the slide closure easier to use. I let the shirts sit in the bags for about an hour. I took the shirts out, wrung the excess solution and poured any left in the bag into the bucket. I then hung them up to dry in the garage with the gear. Since my pants won't fit in the bags, I added more solution, a little at a time, into the bucket and worked it into the pants.

I carry DEET with me as back-up, but this year I am going to try something called Herbal Armor well. I also bring a headnet or bug jacket. I have a couple trips planned during black fly season, so I am sure this approach will be put to the test.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I'm still a fan of dirt
It finally got above 55 and true to form the black flies are swarming
I'm not optimistic about this hatch surviving
There may be more hatches
The temp will be around 50 for a high and wet for two weeks at least
So far they are are just saying I'm here
so as I am cleaning the yard i just rub dirt in and they seem to not be as pesty

 

[Black_Fly]

I love my salt blaster! Puts the sport back in screenless windows.

 

[yellowcanoe]

You know killing BF is a bad idea..They are important to fish.. Fish eat the larvae during emergence.. We do like our trophy lake trout and salmon fishery. And BF only breed in clean water.
Seems BF are a bane to those who don't live with them

But if I lived in Labrador where they are out all summer I might not either.

 

[Paddlinhal]

Of course up in the Allagash you also have to worry about aliens. I heard you should poke them in those big luminescent eyes - we don't know if there's anything sensitive in the crotchal region.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Of course up in the Allagash you also have to worry about aliens. I heard you should poke them in those big luminescent eyes - we don't know if there's anything sensitive in the crotchal region.

dont mess with me.. That is the only trip I may be able to take this year. New Hip Aug 19. I pray for Sept rain. Not much sensitive in the crotchtal region.. It had cancer.. All embarrassment is gone after you get that.