Mosquitos

zman308

zman308

Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Messages
831
This has been one of the wettest springs and summers on record on the border up here. The mosquitos are vicious. Day or night they try to suck you dry. Its the little dark mean ones that are out now. The only way to avoid them is to stay out of the shade during the day and forget it in the evening or night. I hate to soak myself in DEET constantly but to get any work done outside you have to. We all hope for a good breeze and maybe a dry spell.
 
i dont live near the border, but i was in the southern ohio, northern kentucky region for about a week doing alot og outdoor work and hiking, and after the first day my arms made me look like i was recovering from smallpox
 
sasha said:
Another thing i noticed when i go backpacking they always seem to attack me more after i wash my face and neck. So maybe by not showering it might keep them away ... i think you should try that.
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Won't work. Mosquitos hunt by CO2 and Octenol (sweat)... it's your breathing they hone in on, and not showering makes you easier to find. Not sure why they seem to like you after a good bath, though... :confused:

They've annoyed us for tens of thousands of years. So far, the best thing out there, as Zman says, is lots and lots of DEET.

Active smoke works too: be near a fire. If you simply smell like smoke, that won't do...the smoke needs to be moving.

My sister-in-law's dad swears bananas worked for him...except, he always had a lit cigar in his mouth. I suspect the bananas didn't do a thing compared to those dog doots he used to smoke.
 
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zman308 said:
.....The mosquitos are vicious......
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Head over to Goll Woods! I bet this year it REALLY "looks like what the first settlers saw." My best friend and I (neither of whom are famous for always taking the most practical course) spent a good part of last Saturday there.

I sometimes have to wonder, who, in their right mind, would have stopped in the middle of THAT (the Golls, I guess) and say "this looks like a good spot!"?

Granted, pretty much all the rest of the Great Black Swamp was drained and has been "dry" for a long, long time but there are still an awful lot of mosquitos trying to fulfill some legacy.
 
I have heard a few cloves of garlic or some extra strength garlic pills work, have yet to try it.

Just don't try it while camping with a significant other :D
 
There are many natural repellents. I particulary like paw-paw. You can search several threads on the subject.

A commercial version that I like for my kids in particular is Bugbands (www.bugband.net). It works, not messy, all natural.

We spend considerable time in bear country and I will be going to Yellowstone next month, so I emailed Bugbands regarding the fragrance of thier product and attracting bears. Here was thier response...

"No the bees excret the geraniol that is our active ingredient and bears do not like bees so it will not attract them."

Now what would you think about that reply if you were heading to grizzly country? ;)
 
There are 156 reviews of the Thermacell at Cabelas, overall 4.6 out of 5. Check them out... most say it works well unless there is a breeze. ss.
 
i have heard from several sources that a dryer sheat kept in the pocket will keep them away, but i have never tried it, and the people i have heard it from werent outdoorsmen. i have used some type of mossy repellant that goes on dry and it worked for me on that occasion.
 
since i moved away from a really swampy area down the street to a much drier spot at the base of a small mountain, the mosquitos haven't been half as bad. they used to be really bad.

i just wore long sleeves and we lit lots of candles...but i don't think the candles ever helped. i just got a headnet for hiking etc, so that should keep them out of my face at least.

i'm interested in trying some of the natural repelents if i ever get around to it...
 
I looked up this bugband stuff cause i am headed to florida for vacation and I live on a creek and my parents live by the lake and mosquitos are BAD.......they have a delaer right down the road from where i live and.........I pass it on the way home! I love this place, I always find good information here :D

Cerberus
 
Quiet Bear said:
There are many natural repellents. I particulary like paw-paw. You can search several threads on the subject.

A commercial version that I like for my kids in particular is Bugbands (www.bugband.net). It works, not messy, all natural.

We spend considerable time in bear country and I will be going to Yellowstone next month, so I emailed Bugbands regarding the fragrance of thier product and attracting bears. Here was thier response...

"No the bees excret the geraniol that is our active ingredient and bears do not like bees so it will not attract them."

Now what would you think about that reply if you were heading to grizzly country? ;)
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That would make me think that I was wrong all these years about bears eating honey. :confused:

FWIW, 2 other things, I was always under the impression that the potassium in bananas attracted mosquitoes and that citronella attracts bears. This is not from personal experience, though.

Doc
 
This past weekend my dog was literally attacked by horseflies, the nasty ones that bite very painfully but are easy to kill. I ran my hand over his head and smushed like 6 or 8 of them :eek::barf: I sprayed a 30% Deet solution on a bandana and tied it around his neck. It really had little or now effect :eek: I then used 100% and that did the trick.
 
BarberFobic1992 said:
i have heard from several sources that a dryer sheat kept in the pocket will keep them away, but i have never tried it, and the people i have heard it from werent outdoorsmen. i have used some type of mossy repellant that goes on dry and it worked for me on that occasion.
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it really only works if you thrwo in a whole BOX of dryer sheets into the dryer, and then add your outdoors clothes, run it hot for several hours.

the bonus is your clothes are now water repellent......:)

EDIT: as for DEET, i am the proud owner of a 5 gallon brown lab glass container of 1960 era 100% DEET. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but aged DEET is ********* strong!
 
Watchfull... I got no idea why they do go after me after i wash my self. But i noticed it more then a few times. I also noticed that they cant bite me on the legs when i wear my BDU 40%nylon and 60%cottom.. I sat on a rock and watched them try to bite me and they couldnt.. Same worked for a nylon shirt but not as well as the shirt was much thiner.
All i know is that they can realy drive me crazy. Garlic does seem to help some. I made sure i didnt eat any when i went there and i were attacked. Next day i had a head of garlic and i had atlist 50% less bites. But that could also be cause of my breath.. The only thing that works the best is DEET 97% ...

Sasha
 
Ive sat down and watched the mosquitos at Ceduna drilling into my boots looking for blood , they are big mozzies there , feel like house flies when they land on you , and come dusk they descend in huge numbers .

I found that a bit of body odur and a coating of dust seems to keep most at bay , a smearing of fat seems to work sometimes too , not always tho ... I dont know why .

I make these observations because after driving for hours on dirt road and getting coated the dust ( finer than talcum powder ) and having butchered an animal I got with my bow on the way , I had a goodly coating of sweat dust and some animal fat on me , and tho the mozzies were thick in the air , they werent biting me much , but after I had a wash , they all had a go at once ... savage critters they are ...
 
I was in the Everglades in August. There was only one other camper in the campground and they were in a motorhome. We were in a tent. We pitched during the day so had no clue to what was to come. As soon as the sun stared going down the mosquitos descended in clouds. You could not do anything outside. If you used spray, they still flew up your nose, in your mouth and in your ears. There were millions on our tent, you could actually hear their cumulative whine and hitting the canvas. Running to the facilities and then doing your thing was interesting. The next morning we broke camp and went for the next few days to a motel. We headed to the keys and the "sand fleas" which is another story.
 
I spray the bill of a baseball cap and a bandana that I tie around my neck with some high % Deet. None on my skin. Long sleeves for your arms---KV
 
We have not yet had any summer around here north of lake Superior, just cold temps in the teens, or 60'sF, and endless rains.

This has made for the worst bug year since the floods of 1992. Thermocell works fine during only dead calm conditions, otherwise it is as useless as a pic coil in the wind.

The best bet for bad bug weather is a broad band internet connection and closed windows. While it is true that I spend far more time on the PC during spring and summer than at any other time of the year- due to bloodsucking winged things.... Okay, that works for awhile but we all want to get out.

For the sake of sanity use insect repellent with deet. Muskol works best. Close your eyes and hold your breath while spraying in the face. Cover your skin with just a mist of the spray, but soak down the ball cap and your clothes. Re apply often. This works the best when on the move working and walking etc.

For the back deck, I like to use plenty of pic coils. Set them outside ahead of time to help deter the blood sucking winged things, before they smell you. Use insect repellent as needed, and flyswaters for the nasty deerflies.

At the house, trailer, cabin or whatever, spray down the screen door, this helps greatly to reduce the bug population indoors. Some extra heat from the woodstove helps dry out remaining indoor bugs, and on cold wet summers, the extra warmth is welcome.

Some people like using those mosquito traps that use propane. I wouldn't waste my money on these contraptions. Some of my neighbors tried them, but they didn't make any improvements, in some cases they only attract more, because they use attractants in the first place to draw the bugs in. One or two machines in the rural wilderness will do nothing, as it would take millions of machines operating all at once over the whole forest to make an impact on total bug populations.

I will be glad once this itchy summer is over.
 
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