How do you deal with biting bugs in the field?

[ken dennis]

How do you deal with biting bugs in the field?

 

Such as mosquitoes and black flies, my question is basically regarding biting

insects!

 

During my treks into the wilds of anywhere America, just about the right time

of day for shooting, is also just about the worst time of day for biting

insects!

 

Here where I live at in Indiana, near and around many land locked lakes, we

are plagued by hoards of mosquitoes and biting flies!

 

To remedy this, I have in the past tried and used several different brands of

repellents, "such as just about all the different Off offerings, Repel regular

and deep woods, Cutters brand, and a few not so well known name brands" only

to find that they ate the finish off of my equipment, and am not wanting to

ruin yet another piece, with commercially made repellents that destroy the

finish on equipment, without so much as a single warning anywhere on the label!

 

If any one out there has a remedy, home brewed method, or a suggestion that

they may have just simply read or heard of, that can be researched, will all

be helpful!

 

I am "itching" for your answers!

 

Thanks!

 

Ken.

[keith turrill]

I spray shirts, hats, pants, and socks with Deep Woods Off. The key ingredient is DEET which is recommended by the Center for Disease Control.

 

Because I am frequently in areas with chiggers and ticks, I grease my feet and ankles with vaseline cream before putting on socks. The oil base helps to suffocate these organisms.

[pjmeade]

I find (limoline based) insect repellents help. But I tend to apply that to bare skin, not clothing.

 

If I get stung, there are some sting pens containing ammonium hydroxide solution. These tend to reduce burn and itch but only from a fresh sting.

 

For bites and older stings I go for an anti histamine cream, which will ease the situation somewhat.

 

And cut your nails short so that you can't scratch and break the skin.

[ken dennis]

Thanks Keith!

 

Deep woods off is one of the products that I have found to be one of the worst for removing the finish on equipment, I have very open glands, and anything that I spray on clothing will eventually make its way to my hands and facial skin!

 

The greasing sounds like something I need to try, as we also have chiggers and hoards of ticks!

 

Peter!

 

I will have to look into Limoline! I have yet to have any experience with those type products, it does sound interesting, and I thank you for this suggestion!

 

Ken.

[kelly_flanigan1]

<a href="http://www.homs.com/pdf/AAFP.PDF"><B><I>"Testing volunteers inserted a repellant-treated arm into a cage with 10 disease-free, unfed female mosquitos."</b></i></a><BR><BR>@FIN

[Palouse]

Many companies make Buzz-Off clothing that has a bug repellent imbeded into the fabric. Shirts, pants, hats, t-shirts, bandanna's etc are available from LL Bean, Exoffico, and others. They DO work--tested in the NW and in Costa Rica.

[nickm]

Whoever comes up with a real cure for chiggers will be a very, very rich person. Rynoskin is close but just doesn't cut it.

 

Would a stun gun work? I was thinking that programming one to jolt me every 5 minutes to fry the ivaders as they climb up my legs.

[vivek iyer]

Peter, Is that linoline?

 

I like Lemon grass oil based creams. Keeps the mosquitos away for sure.

Only draw back of this that you should be aware of (which is never advertised) is that the cheif ingredient in Lemon grass oil, (a terpene, natural, organic compound used in perfumery, etc) is a sensitizer. So, anything based on this and strong sunlight do not go well together.

[alex_lofquist]

Mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide. The solution is to not exhale!

[michaelging]

I feel for you . I am a magnet for mosquitos and other flying insects. The Deep Woods Off as said above, is OK, and I have tried Avon, Skin So Soft ,which works pretty well also. I was in he USAF in K9 working nights in the Philippines,I once counted 131 mosquito bites in one night.I and a friend who is also a mosquito magnet, tried to photograph the woods in Maine 3 yrs ago, and were attacked so bad ,we ran back to the car to get rid of the swarm that attacked us. I did find that you could kill chiggers,by putting a dab of clear fingernail polish on them.

[JosvanEekelen]

Reminds me of a camping trip in Turkey, some 20 years ago. My companion who slept in the same tent was bitten several times anight while I had barely any problem. Bring somebody with sweeter blood than yours may help :-)

[josphy]

Not necessarily helpful to you because you're talking more about flying/stinging insects, and you're not wanting to use insect repellant that may harm the finish on your cameras, but with regards to chiggers and ticks...I have had the best luck by tucking my pants into my socks and then liberally spraying my shoes, socks and bottom half of my pants legs with something containing DEET like the Deep Woods Off. You look like a total idiot with your pants tucked into your socks, but I find that cuts the chigger bites down to almost zero. I also try to wear light colored pants like light khaki or white and it makes it easy to spot any ticks as they crawl up my pants.

 

Also to add to what Michael Ging mentioned, there is a product called Chiggerex or Chiggerid (one is a cream and one is like a nail polish and I always get the names mixed up) that you paint on like clear nail polish but it also has some other junk it in to help the itching that I use for chigger bites.

[arnabdas]

I cannot use synthetic chemical based insect repellents because they aren't well tolerated by my subjects. I use citronella oil to fool mosquitoes and other flying insects (note that cotronella (or such plant products) do not repel mosquitoes, they only mask their sensory organs).

 

The other ptoblem I face is leeches when shooting in humid tropical wetlands. I carry a salt sprinkler to counter that problem.

[William Kahn]

I worked for eight years in southern California as a Forest Service wilderness ranger, and I can tell you that absolutely nothing works well enough to keep you comfortable. My solution was to wear long pants, gaiters on the boots, and long sleeve shirts even when the temperature screamed for shorts and T-shirt. That way, the critters are limited to your face, neck and backs of your hands. Breezy conditions help, so does staying in direct sunlight because bugs seem to like shade much better. Best of all? Skinny-dipping in a deep swimming hole - until you get out, of course. I got used to the bites, but the thing that annoys me the most is the swarms of gnats that hang in front of your face when you're hiking up a steep trail, breathing hard, and you inhale one of the little suckers.....

[Two23]

I spend much of my time outside and over the years have learned what works and what doesn't. Add to this my wife is one of those people that bugs just love to bite! (I nibble on her sometimes myself.)

 

For mosquitos, the DEET sprays work well. I like the 3M Ultrathon spray. The new Cutter Advanced (picardin) smells better but didn't work quite as well on me, and didn't seem to work at all for my wife in Hawaii or Minnesota.

 

For chiggers and ticks and ticks I use the new REPEL brand spray. Comes in a blue can, available at serious hunting/fishing/camping stores and the Walmart sporting goods dept. This goes on your clothes, not your skin. Active ingredient is permethrin, an insecticide. It does indeed work. Will also kill mosquitos that land on your clothes.

 

Now for flies. I've been in the Northern Woods often enough, and have been on the Canadian tundra in summer several times. I know what bugs are! Where I live in South Dakota we have buffalo gnats, which are small flies that leave a big welt! They can swarm you by the hundreds and will quickly drive you inside your truck this time of year. The ONLY THING that I've ever found for these gnats and biting flies in general that works are the mesh clothing. I'm talking full headnets and jacket here. Gloves too. You can spray them with the Cutter Advanced (test a DEET spray on a small portion first!) to help fend off mosquitos. Only net mesh will keep off biting flies. It's what my wife & I use. My BugOff suit is in my car right now. Cabelas has them on sale!

 

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0031724932514a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=bug&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=bug&noImage=0

 

 

DEET only works on mosquitos. I know they say it does ticks too, but trust me, it just doesn't. It doesn't seem to work on chiggers either. If I were going into an area with a lot of different bugs, I would wear long pants sprayed with Repel (premethrin, NOT deet), mesh net jacket, head net, and mesh gloves. When I have my camera on a tripod and am waiting to take a shot, I typically stand about 10 ft. away to draw the bugs away from my camera. Some of you might not want to wear the headnet thing, but considering West Nile Fever etc., I think it's worth it. It's the only thing that keeps off flies and gnats. Fortunately, bug populations seem to peak about the end of July. The stupid buffalo gnats are usually gone by the third week of June.

 

Now does everyone know another reason why my favorite time of year is winter?

 

 

Kent in SD

[SCL]

Like you, I've tried almost everything over the years...the good stuff eats the finish off everything...the rest lets the bugs eat you. I generally use whatever has the highest concentration of DEET and try to keep it off my palms, and not inhale around gnat swarms.

[chelsea]

How I deal with bugs in the field...you mean between all the swattin' and cursin'? Raging woman in the wilderness, not the most delicate feminine sight you'll see out there. A few years ago I read in a hunting magazine that vitamin B1 helps to repel blackflies. So, in spring, about a couple of weeks before they appear, I take a 100mg tablet daily, and on through the season. Supposedly it puts some kind of smell into your blood that they don't like. Works for me, I used to get shredded, but now at the most I only get one or two bites per day. Sitting 'round the campfire a couple of years ago I chatted with a couple ladies who had worked in Africa, they recommended vitamin B3 (niacin) for the mosquitoes. I'm experimenting with that now, in LOW doses. Years ago someone recommended that for my migraine headaches, (worked well), but if I take more than 100mg at a shot I get an uncomfortable hot tingly feeling all through my body. (This is why it worked on the migraines, it's a vaso-dilator, opens up the pinched blood vessels in the brain that cause the cause the migraine pain. Something like that, I have NO medical training, just know that it saved me from a lot of misery.) So much for the "what to eat" part. For the "what NOT to eat" part, I've read that you should avoid things like bananas and beer, they put a sweet smell out in your blood. Avoid yellow clothing, some biologists just told me that they use yellow containers to attract insects. Any bright colours should be avoided, go for lighter dull colours like tan or khaki. I do use Off with DEET, but wash my hands before going out and handling equipment. It's usually about the time that I've just got the camera on the tripod and am focusing on something that about 5 skitters get me in the backs of my hands. Canadian Tire sold some kind of citronella repellant, I used it up and don't remember the name, but it was supposed to be "organic" and it worked well. For the deerflies light clothing usually keeps them off, except where my shirts pull over my shoulders and they bite right through. Lee Valley Tools sells "deerfly patches", they're like a sticky patch of 2 sided tape that you put on the back of your hat, the flies stick to it like houseflies on flypaper. And chiggers? Now there's something I DON'T miss from camping in Indiana. I went through bottles of Chiggarid every summer. BTW, my friend Doc from Richmond tells me it's political incorrect to call them chiggers...they're chegroes. I shall refrain from typing here some of the unladylike names that I called them. ;-)

[ken dennis]

WOW!

 

What a great bunch of insights, and a few good chuckles thrown in the mix! :O)

 

Thanks to everyone, I'M sure that I am not alone "in the wilderness, or darkness" when it comes to what to do about the hoards of biting insects that we must deal with, on our endeavors to create, what we hope is to become the next national geographic, or Field and streams cover page photo!

 

Well, we can always dream can't we! ;O)

 

God bless and good shooting to everyone!

 

Ken.

[the lone ranger]

I run back to the car after getting my photos then get the heck out of there.</p>

 

<a href="http://www.rwongphoto.com">www.rwongphoto.com</a>

[sean de merchant httpw]

Long pants and long sleeved shirt with pure DEET spray (95% or so) on the cuffs. Then I spray an excessive amount of DEET spray on my hat (full 360% brim) which tends to keep mosquitoes off the face and neck while keeping the DEET off my hands so I do not melt plastic on the camera or damage lens coatings.

 

Albeit, this does nothing for gnats & midges which can annoy you even if they do not bite.

 

The best solution is to hike many more miles and get into the alpine areas (above the vegetation line) where the insects do not live. A good breeze can help too. Going out when there is still snow everywhere can help too. But all these latter methods affect what you can shoot and that may not be to your tastes.

 

some thoughts,

 

Sean

[ken dennis]

Well, I can't say that I have ran into to many alpine areas here in Indiana, but I;ll keep looking! :O)

 

Ken.

[dan_fromm2]

See the current, or perhaps the previous, issue of Consumer Reports, which has a report on repellents. CR used to recommend a combination of a DEET-based repellent applied to the skin and a permethrin based one applied to clothing. This following recommendations by the US Army. In their latest report there's no mention of permethrin, not sure why.

 

In my experience, socks and pants sprayed with permethrin somewhat reduce the likelihood of chigger bites. Since I do ichthyological collecting with people who use shockers, I wear chest waders while in the water. They're 100% effective against chiggers, so in spite of the discomfort I wear mine all day while in the field. Should do that here in NJ too. I think that light weight stocking foot hip boots would do as well against chiggers, but since I haven't totally ruined my chest waders yet and regard hip boots in the water as inherently dangerous I haven't tried 'em yet.

[pjmeade]

Ken, sorry, I was talking out of my bottom!

 

The insect repellent I us contains N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide. Limoline is the stuff in insect repellent candles.

[vivek iyer]

Peter, DEET is the toluamide. Citronella, Lemon Grass, Limoline- all the same.

[michael_ferron1]

Black flies here in Maine are awful. I getting an itchy long lasting welt for every bite I get. Long pant's and a hooded sweatshirt might make me too warm but it's better than the alterative. Spray on face hands and clothing as well.