keepin the skeeters at bay

B

bennyjenkins

Joined
Dec 18, 2006
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I've heard a lot of speculation and B.S. on the topic, but is there anyone out there that has had real experince with using vitamins or garlic to keep bugs away?
 
I have tried it, and it didn't work for me. The problem is that everyone has different body chemistries, so it might actually work for some people. I use picaridin based products, since they work very well, don't stink, aren't oily, and don't melt plastics.
 
storl said:
I have tried it, and it didn't work for me. The problem is that everyone has different body chemistries, so it might actually work for some people. I use picaridin based products, since they work very well, don't stink, aren't oily, and don't melt plastics.
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I tried picaridin this summer, and it didn't really work that well for me. Seemed to work when there were less skeeters around, but didn't work where they were really bad. The deet worked there, but I had to keep reapplying it every 5 to 10 minutes.
 
I got lucky. I don't taste good to them skeets. I don't know if it's from the garlic level in my diet or what, but they have never liked me. The key is to stay dry though. If I start to sweat real bad, then they take a nibble or two. Other than that, I just spend my slappin energy keeping them off the wife.
 
I haven't tried that kind of way to keep the skeeters away. I normally just wear long a light Tan colored long sleeve shirt, OD green long pants and a OD boonie hat. One good coating of 35% deet and I'm good to go for the day and night. If it gets really bad sometime smoking them out can work too.( cigars or camp fire)
I have tried that skin so soft stuff. I works for my family but not for me. They must love my blood too much.
 
I have heard an old wife's tale of staying away from food with sweet oils for a week before going in the bush, like banana, coconut. it's suppose to make a difference with all the black flies.:barf:
 
Garlic has worked for me but it requires an enormous amount of garlic - if other people can smell it when you sweat then you're good to go. If you can manage to eat most of a head of raw garlic every day for a week or so, then the skeeters won't bother you. And neither will any of your friends! :D
 
Garlic baby lots and lots of Garlic. It works for me but not always i guess its also what else you eat during that time. Some people say that if you eat lots of B12 that works too. If they get realy bad i would also use Deet. One time i went packpacking to the high sierra those pests were sooooo bad that after about 3 hours i turned around and went home. When unpacking everything at the car i seen more then two dozen people walking out With the ranger following. The Funny part the ranger told me that he dont care if anyone has a permit or not but he is not going back out there again. If anyone gets hurt they are on there own. Yes it was that bad couldnt even open the mouth with out having them fly in.

Sasha
 
100% DEET sprayed onto your body, and onto cotton jacketes hats etc.

its getting harder and harder to find 100% deet (not insect reppellent with Deet, but PURE DEET).

I have a glass carboy of 100% DEET, got about 5 gallons to go.

:thumbup:
 
Something handy and don't take up much room I have been using...Zep, bug away towellets, kinda like wipies individualy pack one per baggy and work good for about 6-8 hours....deet laced wipies ...put a few in a shirt pocket or pack and off you go..no bottle or spray...
 
I have tried garlic and b vitamins in the past and the garlic just makes you taste better to the mosquitoes and the b vitamins just makes them healthier. The only thing proven by me that works and lasts for more than a few hours is either 100% deet which is toxic as hell and oily and melts everything it seems to touch and for sure a Thermacell. The Thermacell is worth its weight in gold when you are standhunting for deer in a climber or box stand of some kind.

I can vouch for the effectiveness of the Thermacell in the swamps throughout the southeastern US. If you buy a Bug Tamer jacket it works pretty good also but is hotter to wear and is considerably more than a Thermacell in initial cost. The Bug Tamer jacket is fairly easy to damage if hunting in thick wooded areas with lots of briars.
 
The only thing that I have seen that has been 100% against skeeters and bugs in general is an open bottle of Hoppes.

Laugh all you want but I was cleaning my guns on a hot summer day in Texas with nary a buzz.

Lather, rinse and repeat:D
 
has any any one tried those electrical thingys that you hang of your key chain. They are supposed to work at a sound level that should keep them away....

Sasha
 
sasha said:
has any any one tried those electrical thingys that you hang of your key chain. They are supposed to work at a sound level that should keep them away....

Sasha
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I have many years ago and they don't work. I would have sworn at the time that they actually attracted mosquitoes.
 
Dylside said:
I got lucky. I don't taste good to them skeets. I don't know if it's from the garlic level in my diet or what, but they have never liked me. The key is to stay dry though. If I start to sweat real bad, then they take a nibble or two. Other than that, I just spend my slappin energy keeping them off the wife.
Click to expand...

same here.. we can be around a ton of skeeters and i will be the only one that doesn't get bit..... we also eat A LOT of garlic too.... my folks always swore by the garlic... :o

i am actually from the garlic capital of the world.. GILROY CA..:D
 
Seems we have tried it all since we have a child that is highly allergic to mosquito bites. Though protective clothing, netting, and Deet have been suitable in this part of the country as a deterrent, we are still experimenting with a combination of healthier pure essential oils.

Nessmuk's recipe for mosquito dope:

"Three ounces pine tar, two ounces castor oil, one ounce pennyroyal oil. Simmer all together over a slow fire, and bottle for use. You will hardly need more than a two-ounce vial full in a season. One ounce has lasted me six weeks in the woods. Rub it in thoroughly and liberally at first, and after you have established a good glaze, a little replenishing from day to day will be sufficient. And don't fool with soap and towels where insects are plenty. A good safe coat of this varnish grows better the longer it is kept on and it is cleanly and wholesome."


Guess I like to stay a little more clean than Nessmuk, so I haven't given this mixture a whirl. :)
 
I've wanted to try Nessmuk's formula, but haven't had the time or the ingredients. I take garlic pills everyday and I still get eaten alive. I think I will try the lemon eucalyptus this year if I don't get a chance to make the nessmuk stuff.
 
When the mosquitos get bad enough you would try anything... You just cant win with them around.
 
Have any of you tried using Nessmuk's formula?
"It was published in Forest and Stream in the summer of 1880, and again in ’83. It has been pretty widely quoted and adopted, and I have never known it to fail: Three ounces pine tar, two ounces castor oil, one ounce pennyroyal oil. Simmer all together over a slow fire, and bottle for use. You will hardly need more than a two ounce
vial full in a season. One ounce has lasted me six weeks in the woods. Rub it in thoroughly and liberally at first, and after you have established a good glaze, a little replenishing from day to day will be sufficient. And don’t fool with soap and towels where insects are plenty. A good safe coat of this varnish
grows better the longer it is kept on—and it is cleanly and wholesome. If you get your face and hands crocky or smutty about the campfire, wet the corner of your handkerchief and rub it off, not forgetting to apply the varnish at once, wherever you have cleaned it off. Last summer I carried a cake of soap and a towel in my knapsack through the North Woods for a seven weeks’ tour, and never used either a single time. When I had established a good glaze on the skin, it was too valuable to be sacrificed for any weak whim connected with soap and
water."
Page 13, Nessmuk's "woodcraft and Camping"
 
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