Deer flies: how to deal with them?

[SteveHiker]

I've been told if you eat lots of garlic that when you start to sweat the bugs do not like the way you smell and therefore they stay away. Not sure if there's any truth to this though.

-MEB

I find this very believable. Witness the Bigelow trip report thread. Everyone is comparing the amount of bug bites they got in Maine, except me because I didn't get any. Sure I used some Deep Woods On at the trailhead, but I'm sure that sweat right off. But when I cook, especially meat, I tend to use a lot of garlic salt for seasoning. That must be what made me smell so bad to the bugs.

 

[NewHampshire]

I would suggest a flame thrower, but........"only YOU can prevent forest fires"
Maybe we can rig up a 12 volt car battery to a bug zapper! Of course the hard part would be trying to find a voulenteer to carry it .
Brian

 

[audrey]

I was told that they won't bite you if you act very calm. So we tried it out at Tully Lake a couple of weekends ago. It seemed to work quite well, though it took an awful lot of willpower! I got no bites, and sitting through lunch was quite bearable.

 

[mudhook51]

A friend back from a canoe ,fishing trip last weekend in the adks said they used a piece of duct tape wrapped around thier hats with moderate success to trap them. I'm sure alcohol was also involved. Did anyone else ever see the ad for sticky patches for the top of your head? Maybe last year or the year before? I'd like to try them but have never seen the ad again.

 

[sweeper]

I saw an article on this some years ago. They like the color blue so what you do is take a blue 16oz beer cup and coat it with something sticky and sweet put a chin strap on the cup and wear it over a ball cap.

I'm thinking they would have to be VERY bad be I tried this out.

 

[Grumpy]

Deer flies seem to particularly like my hair. I do a lot of arm-waving to keep them off, which provides a full body workout while hiking. (I surely can use the workout, so deer flies are good for something, it seems.) The “wait till they get tangled in my hair and then mash ‘em” tactic can be very satisfying.

Recently Mrs. (Pretty) Grumpy and our dog and I got swarmed by deerflies while hiking. Mrs. G used a generous slathering of Off! Botanicals repellant to give herself relief. She also became outraged when a red smear appeared in the fur on the nape of the doggie’s neck as she brushed some flies away. “That does it, you buggers” she cried. “Making by poochie bleed is the last straw.”

Next thing I knew the dog looked like a fashion plate, with a fancy semi-spiked hairdo. The Off! Botanicals lotion got used as a mousseline substitute, and worked great in all respects. Poor pooch didn’t appreciate the coiffure (we could tell by the “what have you done to me?” looks she kept giving us) but was deerfly free the rest of the walk.

Guess that sounds like a product endorsement, which it is meant to be with the usual warning that YMMV.

G.

 

[jade]

It's not easy hiking with people you are just getting to know when there are so many deer flies dive bombing your head. I have never sworn under my breath so much before last Sunday's hike...."Mother#%^&*ing bugs"..."freaking waste of nature"..."wait til I catch you, you little *&%$er!!" To make matters worse, after reading Papa Bear's suggestion about a feather in his hat I can't stop singing Yankee Doodle Dandy.............

Next hike I'm going to wear a beanie with a lightening rod topped off with a DEET drenched clove of garlic!! Please feel free to stop and say 'hello'....

 

[sardog1]

Long sleeve shirt, of sufficient density to prevent biting through.
Ditto on long pants.
Hat with wide brim.
Headnet over hat, held off face, ears and neck by wide brim.
"These are a few of my favorite things ...."

'Tain't no bug dope, nowhere, gonna deter 'em long enough to justify the effort, expense, and goopiness of trying to use any repellent without the additional protection listed above. As for my dogs, I put DEET on their ears as needed, but it doesn't work nearly as long as it does for mosquitoes and blackflies. Yes, you might be hot, but at least you won't bleed to death or go mad.

If the buzzing gets to you nonetheless, console yourself with these two simple facts:

1. A deerfly has a limited lifespan.
2. All the time spent buzzing around your head is reducing the time available to it for making new baby flies.

And if you think that deerflies are the rock bottom worst out there, I'll send you pictures of the scars from horseflies. Which are distinguished chiefly by their ability to bite through denim.

 

[carole]

I hate them, too, but it is true that remaining calm helps. I use no spray and hike (trail run) in shorts and tank top and ignore them as much as humanly possible. They circle long but some evenually give up. Sometimes ducking throught hemlocks confuse them and I lose them. They get excited and worse with any hand movement so I wait until they land. Bye Bye!!

 

[HikerBob]

Oh good grief! They have horse flies over here too? I come up in bumps the size of eggs when those suckers get me

The insect world must have good communications because they have started to retailiate against the animosity shown in this thread! Would you believe something bit both my hands while I was slouching in front of the box tonight?!!!

I had my hands intertwined behind my head when they both started to get itchy. Then on the back of one and the index finger of the other two dime sized white lumps sprang up! I investigated the back of the sofa and found some small mangled bug. not sure if I'd mangled him because he bit me or he bit me because I was mangling him. Not more than 1/8" in length and too mangled to tell exactly what it was.

Hurt like h*ll and is still a little painful after over an hour.

Bob

 

[Frosty]

One solution I've found that works for deer flies is to run full speed down the trail, then turn around (now running backwards) and killing them as they try to keep up with me.

The only other way is to wait until they land on my head, then smack them.

Reading your first method, I conclude that you've used the latter method one time too many

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

Hiker Bob - sounds like a sweat bee. Those guys are bastards. They land on you and drink your sweat, which is fine by me. But then they feel the need to sting you just before they fly off... for absolutely no reason.

 

[snowshoe]

Have not found a solution to the deer flies Aka shadow flies yet. All I know is they are bad this year and it seems they came out much earlier. I can not even go out my door without them getting me. Must be the early humidty this year. Can not wait for winter and snow

 

[Trekkin]

Was Googling "deer flies"......

And happened upon this tidbit.....MudHook, are these what you were referring to?

"A few years ago, several Ohio State University Extension agents field tested TRED-NOT DEER FLY PATCHES as a non-chemical control method. Some reported good results of these odorless, non-chemical, adhesive patches. The patches are three inches wide by six inches long, and are worn on the back of a cap to trap and hold biting deer flies. Patches worked best when moving. For more information, contact DETEX, 6910 W. Ten Mile Road, Leroy, Michigan 49655. Prices are 12 patches for $12.00, 40 patches for $25.00 and 80 patches for $40.00. Shipping is free and within 24 hours. "

 

[mudhook51]

Yes, that sounds like it. Thanks. I was just about to try the beer cup method with attached electrodes and a tennis racket while running backwards with my tallest friends.

 

[marty]

Hi all - after all the outpouring of ideas, I think I may have to make two minor investments. Will give the Off Botanicals a try. If it doesn't work on humans, maybe it will keep them away from my dog. Will also need to buy the electronic Racquet Zapper, so I can pretend to be Conan the Barbarian.

By the way, I tried running last night with a tall fern in my cap. It sounded like a very good idea, but the deer flies in Boxford, MA did not buy into the concept.

Thanks for all your suggestions. Marty

 

[Gris]

hey all, down heyah in Fla we got em BAD all summer. Right now i cant go into my garden midday or they'll just richocet off yer head rapid fire there's so many of em. Hiker Bob - my wife actually just got me that electric 10-S racket for father's day. I'm a former 10-S pro so I'm pretty bad a-- with it!

But as far as dealing with em, there aint no way except to cover up and even then some of em will still bite through. For some strange reason tho they tend to fly more when the sun and heat is high. So maybe hiking early or at night might mitigate the situation...

 

[Tom Rankin]

Real Quick:

The rackets work, have one, forget to use it a lot.

If you flail around a lot, you will actually attract the buggers!

Long hair can be attractive. Wear a cap. Works for me.

DEET does not seem to work for me.

 

[grasshopper]

they love sun, heat,and humidity.much worse along open roads/trails.
to kill-I run with an old white wash cloth to wipe sweat out of my eyes and to cool off at streams ect. have found to be very good for killing multiple deer flies at once.hold flat in palm of hand and quickly swat head killing 3-5 at a swat.when washcloth is soaked in sweat works best.also good for swinging around head to keep from landing.can also soak in cool water and drape over back of neck.bracken fern are also efective they are the tall three branched fern along open roads/trails,pick and place over head and think calm thoughts.
summer-training for winter.
you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right (GD)
look right.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

My son, who works 5.5 days a week on the trails, tells me about his method, which he claims works well (and he has longer than shoulder length hair)

Strap a 20 pound, 6 foot rock bar to your back, so that it sticks several feet above your head. Put a hat on the end of the rock bar... I guess the feather method is a bit lighter.

I guess I have to tell my story again.. The WORST time I have with deer flies.

It happened on one of my bike rides down to the Adirondacks.

After c ycling 160 miles, I tend to get a bit tired, and don't really have the energy to go too fast. Now, the road from Rt 73 to the Loj is generally uphill. I was going slow, so the deerflies could keep up with me.

Now, my bike helmet, like most, have air vent holes in them. What many people may not realize, is that these are not designed for the backcounty. You see, the vent holes are large enough to let a deer fly in, but not large enough for a finger to squish them.

So, I'm riding slowly down this road, hot and sweaty, and the dearflies wer buzzing like crazy, going into my helmet, and there was nothing I could do. I had to stop ever few hundred feetl, tear off the helmet, and swat my head.

I did look kind of strange to those driving by.