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Deer Flies

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Mar 17, 2016
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Hoosier State
I took a walk today and forgot my hat. The deer flies were relentless. I fantasized about a squadron of dragonflies escorting me. After wearing myself out swatting the flies attacking my bald head with a beech switch I came across the article below that contained this picture with the caption "if you don't mind the embarrassment".

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I like it. I am not sure I want to go full Devo and attract them to a sticky flower pot on my head. Plus I am sure I would inadvertently do the desperation hand flail over my head and knock it over stuck to my baldish head.

Interesting that blue is the most deer fly attractive color. I have heard that apocryphally about mosquitoes as well. That color is at least something to avoid.

Some of the places I visit are deerfly heck. Greenheads on the eastern shore, whatever they are colloquially called I hate those annoying head circlers, and they are ambushers waiting for movement.

In one hellacious deerfly location I have to stop the truck, get out and unlock a gate. Windows up before I even slow down, jump out, do not fumble with the key dammit, jump back in, squish any invaders against the windows or dash.

Greenheads seem quite rugged; a simple smack sometimes just leaves them stunned, even laid out motionless with wings akimbo they will revive and put themselves back together. If they are not squished they are not dead.

The next mile down the dirt road through the dense piney wood features an accumulating army of deerflies attacking the truck, the hood, the windows, they are especially thick in the vortex behind the side view mirrors.

When I get to the end of the road I have to sit motionless in the truck for a few minutes and wait for the cloud to dissipate.

Paddling small streams in deerfly country I never want to be the lead canoe, but you can only trick novices into leading the way one time. 20 or 30 feet behind their stern is often bug free.
 
not sure who peer reviewed this study, but yellow is my favorite color....
 
I read that UFL article a couple times, and I am now all in!

The pineywood swamp North Carolina property I visit has an insane deerfly population. They also have a tractor with work-handy front end loader and backhoe, a riding mower and a Gator, all of which are a huge help in efforts there. Except in deer fly season. Which lasts for 6 months.

I got flower pots. I got blue spray paint. I got some pole clamps to hold a dowel with DIY trap on the tractor fenders. I just ordered some Tanglefoot trap coating.

If this works I might just attach them to the truck mirrors as shown in the link and slowly cruise around the property , windows up, AC on, tunes playing. Dirt road private property; maybe a beer and a smoke.

It would be my great pleasure to reduce the deerfly population by some means more effective than swatting. No sure what music is appropriate for (hopefully) deerfly genocide.

The beginning of Act 3 in Die Walkure. Or Hendrix.
 
I fell for this baseball sized bug zapper in the grocery store aisle. It emits a blue light, supposedly attracts the skeeters, and then zaps them. I have witnessed only one carcass in a month of operation....
 
Whoa whoa.. Its only the females that bite. The males are pollinators.. Do not harm the boys..

That did not appear to bother the investigators from the Florida University Research and Education Center, so I will not worry much about the boys.
 
How can you tell the difference between a boy and a girl deer fly (until it bites you)?

There was a humorous ditty I once heard my dad recite that's appropriate to the subject. It went something like:

An amazing creature is the flea
So small one can't tell the he from the she
But she can tell and so can he.
 
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Big fleas have little fleas,on there backs to bite 'em, little fleas have smaller fleas, and so on infinitum. ( Not sure of source of quote.)
 
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Yeah, I've read and reread that UFL article, and I'm pretty sure that there's no coincidence that the "deerfly device" looks suspiciously like a beer-pong drinking game. Any chance these entomologists came up with this during March Break Madness? Did they pound back a boilermaker every time they snagged a deerfly?
 
Deerfly tape really works. I put it on my hat and black decks of my canoe. they go for heat.
 
Just when I thought I have got to the bottom of it, here comes the dragonfly scarecrow.

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That thing reminds me of the hard hat or pith helmet with a small hummingbird feeder hung off a pole on the visor.

These little 2 oz feeders work well, and come with a hanger wire. I glued a small wood block to the front of the helmet to seat the wire pole with the feeder held in front of my face.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Penningto...each/176196007

That really does work in areas with lots of hummers. Set the helmet on a patio table or porch rail first for habituation attraction. It requires sitting motionless, something I excel at, and puts the hummingbird an amazing three inches from your nose. Wear glasses.

The genesis for that idea was an elderly birder friend with a bright red alcoholics nose, prone to passing out in his chair.
 
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