Horse or Deer flies! any solutions

[SwampDonkey]

Put two of those fly cones up there and a ring in your nose and we'll call you a minataur. :D

Oh yeah, and you'll need a heavy club to swat the deer flies with. ;D

[Kevin]

http://www.leevalley.com/en/garden/page.aspx?p=10293&cat=2,51555,10293

Works for me

[OldIronMan]

I have a friend that lives in Tennessee, he can buy Deep Woods Off with 98% DEET.  It works well for me.  I've already had all my children so I am not too concerned about my chromosomes at this point.  Took some kids canoeing last weekend and flies were all over their heads I covered their hair with a large ziplock baggie...the flies left.

[madmari]

That ziplock idea works? Will it work on an ex-wife? I'll bet if you seal it with duct tape, no flies will get in the bag. I think the neck area would be a good seal point. Thanks for the idea.....

  Just kidding, Detective.

[SwampDonkey]

Deer flies don't bother me when I'm cutting brush. Shut the saw off and they come buzzing around. ;D

[woodmills1]

ya know what else bounce sheets are good for?

[HiTech]

If you don't have deet, try vicks vapor rub. Just don't put any over your eyes...it stings, I can attest to that. lol It works good under your chin and around your ears and on the back of your neck. I have seen the hood of the pick up just covered with them on the way to the landing. Just makes you really want to get out and go to work. They are nasty.

[hacknstack]

Deer flies are attracted to bright blue - if you get a blue plastic Solo cup and coat it with a sticky tree protectant called Tanglefoot, mount it upside down on a stick or dowel, and slowly troll it around the area where you're working, you'll entrap almost all the deer flies in the area in short order.  Sounds crazy, but I've done it and it works!  I attached one of these cups to the antenna on my truck one day and drove slowly down a logging road to my site, and I got so many flies stuck they were sliding off the cup in a big gooey mess - no BS.  Here's a link to the study -

http://news.ufl.edu/2002/08/13/deerflies/

[Tom]

You can put a couple of grains of salt between their wings and they will slow down long enough for you to slap them.  Honest Injun.  

[pineywoods]

Cheap entertainment...try shooting them with a sandblaster. They are tough, the grains of sand won't kill them, but it punches random holes in the wings. Results in some rather wild aerobatics, then they fall on the ground where a #12 foot works well.

[glgdiggs]

hacknstack is absolutely correct. I use old plastic Maxwell house coffee containers [close enough to Ford engine blue] screwed to a three foot handle covered with Tanglefoot and walk under all the trees in the yard and down the driveway every morning as they start arriving. You capture the females looking for a blood meal for egg production, and quickly collapse the population. I've been doing it for three years and there are now fewer flies each year. The flies rest on the undersides of leaves looking for movement and swoop to the highest point which in my case is the coffee container.

[SwampDonkey]

That time of the year here, that the deer flies have all died off. And black flies and mosquitoes are a whole lot scarcer to. Just those blow flies that pester mostly. I haven't seen much for biting bugs for over a week now.

[dlbie]

I agree with the Dryer Sheets solution. It was so effective I actually made a jig that clips onto the back of my hat and then clips to the dryer sheets. It is amazing how something so simple can radically eliminate those little #$%^&* from ruining your day. They actually get so frustrated flying around your head they crash into your ear but never bite. If anyone is interested I can send instructions how to make, or I can even make it and send it to you.

NOTE FROM ADMIN. PHOTOS MUST BE IN JPG FORMAT AND USE THE FORUM GALLERY. DOCUMENT ATTACHMENT UTILITY IS NOT ALLOWED FOR PHOTOS.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[beenthere]

Welcome to the Forestry Forum.

Post a pic of your invention. We like pics, and this sounds like a good one.

[Southside]

I bought one of the butane fired bug repellants that has a holster to clip onto your belt.  It heats a replaceable strip that looks like a piece of gum, thing works awesome on everything from gnats to horse flies.

[247ktmmx]

I stay in the skidder cab or loader cab with the ac on the only way to cut wood

[mesquite buckeye]

Butane makes me think flame thrower. ;D 8) 8) 8)

Burn off the wings and turn them all into pedestrians.  ;D  Don't try this at home kids.

[whitepine2]

 Go for the tanglefoot and a blue cup I use the coffee jugs hang them on lawn mowers and PU truck works and works good not a bite. It might look stupid
but a blue cup glued to hat will work as good as anything just cover with the
tanglefoot it will  last for days you gotta try it you will like it.

[beenthere]

wp
You have a pic of what you speak?  Sounds interesting.

[gfadvm]

Pine Sol and water (2:1 ratio) works better than anything we have found to repel horse and deer flies. One spraying won't last all day though. Also works for chiggers (a huge problem here).

[whitepine2]

wp
You have a pic of what you speak?  Sounds interesting.

No pic's I think if you could get some blue duct tape and coat it this would work,just make sure it;s blue the tanglefoot will last for days. I also use the Maxwell plastic jugs just take the print off coat and hang over a stick or whatever and do your thing,sticks those little buggers but good.Puts a smile on your face watching them wiggle to get free toes up to the sun HA HA HA