Deer flies: how to deal with them?

[BrentD22]

Interesting, but there is a better way (similar)

OK, I may get laughed at, but here's the only solution that I've found. It dosen't work when there are swarms, but I have been known to bring a small badminton type racquet with me on my noon hikes. Works best on horse flies, but if I push the strings close together in the middle, it will disable deer flies too. So far, no one has seen me using this method of insect control, so I don't know if I would get laughed at or not. But it is effective when there are a few flies that just won't go away.

And it is much safer than the running backward method, even though I've come close to wacking myself in the head with a wild swing.

I saw a racketball sized racket that included batteries. In place of strings on the racket there where some kind of metal interwoven. You then swing the "electro-racket" through the air killing any bug it comes in contact with. Maybe this is a good product. I do know it sounds FUN!

 

[AMF]

Along the same line as the feather technique, I will often cut a switch of some leafy branch & stick in on my pack in such a fashion that it sticks up over my head. Just make sure it's not poison ivy!

 

[Waumbek]

I'm still laughing about using flame throwers, bug rackets, and rock bars to ward off deer flies. But I was cursing when they were driving me crazy on the Rocky Branch Trail yesterday, so when I walked into a combo farm-tack-outdoor store today and saw Tred-Not Deerfly Patches for sale I sprung for two packs of 4 patches. The cashier of the store swears by 'em, although a researcher at U Fla is less elated but for a total outlay of $4.50 I figured I could take a chance. The package warns the consumer about the Isadora Duncan syndrome--the patches are "not recommended for use with long blowing hair"--and reiterates the importance of attaching the patch to the BACK (not front, top or side) of a cap or hat. (The packaging shows you a picture of the back of your hat just so you know.) It claims a single patch lasts all day. If it succeeds, I'm going to look like Walking Flypaper-Head but I'm not going to see it, of course, the hiker behind me will. I plan to field-test on the next hike in a few days. A sucker (sticker?) is born every minute, I know.

 

[Quietman]

Hiked in the northern Presi's a week ago and didn't see a single deer or horse fly. Had a picnic on a large rock in the middle of a pond near Bethel Maine last week and were swarmed by horse flies. We dispatched at least 300 with rolled up towels and a seat cushion. The largemouth bass feasted on the remains as they floated away. I've never seen so many horse flies before in one place!

 

[dr_wu002]

I got swarmed by Deer Flies on West Bond a few weeks ago. Since I never got bit by one before I let them bite me to see what it was like. It's weird... it looks like they gobble your flesh! I had a little bit of skin or something hanging from the spots that they bit me. However, I don't recall it swelling up real bad or anything... my reaction was different then when I get mosquito or blackfly bites. I think mosquito bites are the worst. I don't mind blackfly bites or deer fly bites.

-Dr. Wu

 

[Neil]

Since I never got bit by one before I let them bite me to see what it was like. It's weird... it looks like they gobble your flesh! I had a little bit of skin or something hanging from the spots that they bit me.

Thank you for that Doctor.

I once took an entomology course and learned the anatomy and method of a fly bite. The exact technique and equipment varies from specie to specie but this is the basic idea:
They insert a pair of what look like serrated knives into your flesh and rapidly move them to and fro creating a pool of destroyed cell juice and blood. They squirt in a shot of anticoagulant of course and suck away.

 

[Rick]

We have an old rocky, hilly unused woods road about 3/4 mile long next to our house and sometimes I use that as the back way into the Metropolis of Sterling. Well Yesterday, I ended up going back and forth on it 4 times, very slowly because of the rocks, and each time I noticed that on both side view mirrors, a half-dozen deer flies would cluster right at the edge of the mirror surface, where the breeze would pass over the mirror, creating a slight vaccuum.

It got me to thinking that perhaps they buzz around the backs of our heads is because we make a slight vaccuum as well, as we walk through the woods. Whereas I always thought they were just avoiding our eyes when trying to land on us. (I know, everybody can laugh, but to see them all swarming and landing on the surface of the side view mirrors at 3 MPH is pretty cool)

 

[sweeper]

Here's a repost of what I found

So I'm at the hardware store talk'n to the manager and this guy walks up takes off his ballcap, turns it around and there's a brown strip of tape on it with 20-30 DEARflies on it, and says this is from just this morning. The SM tells me some guy called him up and asked him to give them a try in his store.
They are called Deerfly Patches by Tred-not, Mfgd. by Detex in LeRoy, Mich Info line 231 832-2323

I have't tried them yet, the Store was Edmunds Hardware in Antrim, NH in a week or so the Henniker store my have them.

I tried them a couple times last week. The first day in about a 1/4 mile hike up to the top of my property I had 8 flies on the tape. the next day only 2. Both days I lost the tape while cutting X-country trails.

 

[peak_bgr]

This has probobly already been mentioned with all the smart as... people we have here at VFTT. But no real bug repellant works that great unless it's freshly applied. But once you start to sweat here come the bugs.

You can either bushwhack and stay off the trails-deer flies don't really like to bushwhack-there constant slapping of the branches keeps most of them at bay.

But the real solution is to be the last in line in a hiking group. They always eat the first couple hikers, and buy the time they get to you-they're full, or sick to their stomach.

 

[Moose]

I saw a woman last week walking her dog along the road wearing one of these on her head: Deer fly hat

I didn't stop to ask her if it was helping to keep away the deer flies or just helping to make her look silly.

 

[Trainwreck]

Hi to all
I did buy one of those fly racquets, and while they are not terribly useful while scrambling up steeps, they are enormous fun while taking breaks. It is quite satisfying to nuke the critters as they buzz around being a nuisance.
They are not heavy and run on 2 AA batteries. Great fun!!!

 

[woodstrider]

Bugged out

I deal with all nasty biting bugs by wearing long sleeved shirts and long pants. I have been known to wear leather gloves in camp.

I do not use bug spray- It is not good for people

Sometimes I use a headnet over a hat- tuck the bottom of that into your shirt neck.

Once I did not have a headnet and the deer flies were eating me alive so I stuck a fern under the peak of my hat so that it stuck out in front of my face. It worked!

 

[Tim Seaver]

Sun Runner

I've been using Outdoor Research's Sun Runner for a number of years. It has a removable fabric cape which can be left hanging or drawn in.
It works great for repelling both sun and deerflies, and works well for blackflies too.

Because the cape is a little hot sometimes, I had my wife replicate it using no-see-um netting ( we added some bias tape on the edge to give it some weight so it doesn't "fly up" when running) I want to make another one using regular mosquito netting, which should be even breezier while still repelling flies.