Being from the North of Timmins, Ontario the 'skitters were so big they picked you up and brought you home. Ok, well, they were bad. So we adapted. When I was a little kid the mothers greased up bare parts with vaseline and put panty hose legs over their heads. Well hopefully a leg part. Everybody came in before dusk when the mosqitoes peaked. As I got older you wore bug jackets.
~~ And that was the ticket. I can't emphasize their outdoor necessity enough. 2 jackets will fit in a freezer bag which is regularly infused with a squirt of deet based repellant. That will give you a few benefits, one being the conservation of your repelllent, and to me the best part is I don't like it on my skin (and I don't want it on my children's), it's on the bug screen jacket. And instead of the little buggers putting out that high pitch a couple of inches from you, they are a few inches away from the hood, (which pulls over inches away from your face), and that will make sitting around and enjoying the campfire that much more pleasant. I guess their only disadvantages are the screen being over your face, but when just sitting around you can kind of make a tunnel out of the face/hood part and have clear, (tunnel), vision, they won't fly in and when they get close you just blown them out. Other than that you can't really hike in denser woods or you'll get snagged...but I'll tell you, imperative in a canoe or other slow travelling water vessel. By the way, if it's sandy in your camp area spray your camp screens, or the sandflies will waltz right through.
Hope that helps makes your wilderness trips that much better.
--J
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