Head nets to detract gnats and skeets - any suggestions?

[scottburgess]

Sea to Summit has a usable head net that can go over a hat. Much much better than Coghlan's version, also more expensive than Coghlan's. I will have to try the DEET-on-hat method too. 30% DEET comes in roll-on solid form, which can be daubed around the ears.

DEET on a hat helps from our experience--at least around your face and neck. Tilley Hats are heavy cotton, so it is safe to spray a bit around the brim and later wash the hat. You may still have hordes of mosquitos around your legs, though. Love my Tilley!

My wife wonders if our cameras omit a tiny, maybe ultrasonic sound that might also attract flying insects? What does anyone think about that theory? I thought it might be a possibility. I do believe in the carbon dioxide theory, too. Looks like we could all share some biting insect stories as we trek through the wilderness in search of our images.

For years companies marketed devices that produce a steady, high-pitched noise as a bug repellent. Tests show they have no effect on biting insects. They do annoy the heck out of humans, though.

My only problem with head nets is doing things with one's face--I would worry about seeing well through a viewfinder, for example. Hiking in the Olympics once I came upon a handful of Boy Scouts paused by a stream for lunch. The black flies swarmed ravenously that day, and I will never forget the image of one poor kid trying futilely to slip a sandwich under his head net so he could eat it. We have headnets, but almost never use them. By the time they are really useful, the insects are so thick that they would be landing all over the outside of the headnet anyway, and it's just time to leave then from our perspective.

 

[Don Haines]

best bug quote ever..... "I must be irresistible.. millions of mosquitoes and black flies can't be wrong"

and for your amusement while you ponder biting insects...

https://www.nfb.ca/film/blackfly

This is a National Film Board of Canada animated short film that really sums up the joys of biting insects....

 

[sedwards]

i cant belive nobody has suggested thermacell. these things are amazing ! i use them in the spring in northern quebec where the black flies and mosquitoes are insane in numbers . it does exactly as they claim. i have taken my shirt off while in the woods cause it was hot and didnt get bit once. bug spray on you or your cloths will keep them 2 inches away , thermacell will keep them 10 feet away. walmart usually has the best price. just remember it takes at least 5 min for it to start working.
http://www.thermacell.com/mosquito-repellent/specials/campers-starter-kit

 

[mackguyver]

i cant belive nobody has suggested thermacell. these things are amazing ! i use them in the spring in northern quebec where the black flies and mosquitoes are insane in numbers . it does exactly as they claim. i have taken my shirt off while in the woods cause it was hot and didnt get bit once. bug spray on you or your cloths will keep them 2 inches away , thermacell will keep them 10 feet away. walmart usually has the best price. just remember it takes at least 5 min for it to start working.
http://www.thermacell.com/mosquito-repellent/specials/campers-starter-kit

I have heard mixed things about them from people here in Florida - with some complaining it doesn't work well or scares off wildlife with the smell it produces. I might have to give one a try next time I go to Walmart if you say it works against black flies up North where I hear they are a nightmare.

 

[scottburgess]

i cant belive nobody has suggested thermacell. these things are amazing ! i use them in the spring in northern quebec where the black flies and mosquitoes are insane in numbers . it does exactly as they claim. i have taken my shirt off while in the woods cause it was hot and didnt get bit once. bug spray on you or your cloths will keep them 2 inches away , thermacell will keep them 10 feet away. walmart usually has the best price. just remember it takes at least 5 min for it to start working.
http://www.thermacell.com/mosquito-repellent/specials/campers-starter-kit

So what does one do about possible allethrin deposits on one's lens coatings? I'm not using this near my gear until I know it doesn't harm my gear.

 

[sedwards]

i usually put mine at my feet . i think that is plenty far to not worry about deposits , but dont quote me on that. they advertise a 15 foot radius and it pretty much covers that distance even in a light breeze . the unit heats a pad that is soaked with insect repellent and the vapor it produces is what keeps the toothy bugs away. i have been using it with a video camera for about 6 years and havent noticed anything on the lens , although i dont really know what allethrin deposits would look like.

 

[Don Haines]

The mosquitoes are so big up here that the cats hunt them

 

[Click]

The mosquitoes are so big up here that the cats hunt them

;D ;D ;D

 

[IMG_0001]

Hi IMG 001
I just broke our bug bat, not this brand, cheapy crap! Apparently the shaft was not strong enough to overcome the inertia of the head when accelerating the thing after a fly that had really pissed me off! Buy a good one! ;D

Cheers Graham.

How about some tennis?

http://www.theexecutioner.co.uk/html/index.html

Amazingly, deer/horse flies survive the blow but are often dazzled enough for you to escape. Admitedly, they are not very suitable when you are on the move or on a canoe.

Sorry about the loss, but don't be so modest, surely no racket can withstand such accelerations as you can provide when mad at a fly...

 

[Logan]

try the mosquito coils. they are green spirals, really cheap, you light one end and it burns like incense. i try not to breath it but after a couple minutes it works like a hot damn. in the morning you find a pile of dead mosquitos around it. i try not to breath it.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Don.
Just watched the film, very funny.
As a child I used to go to a farm in Cumbria for the summer holiday, there was a stream running through a small copse there, it was in a small valley maybe 8ft deep 15ft wide, I recon you could have walked across on the midges, (very small very high pitched biting things) but for the fact they would have grabbed you by the feet and pulled you down to feast on you! ;D We used to use insect repellant, I do believe they thought it was an appetiser before the main course of me!

Cheers Graham.

best bug quote ever..... "I must be irresistible.. millions of mosquitoes and black flies can't be wrong"

and for your amusement while you ponder biting insects...

https://www.nfb.ca/film/blackfly

This is a National Film Board of Canada animated short film that really sums up the joys of biting insects....

 

[Del Paso]

Ah, the joys of camping on the western coast in Scotland, free meal guaranteed whenever you open your mouth... I'll never forget the Fort William midges, nor will I forget the excellent medical care my son was provided with at the Belford's (broken wrist).
What helps? Setting up one's tent in the Northern Highlands (or those green spirals inside the tent).

 

[stevelee]

another option is to bring along someone that the bugs like more than you........

A few years ago I was in Savannah with a friend shortly after they had had a hurricane go by. That seemed to bring out the mosquitos even more than usual. We went for a walk along the river after supper, going our slightly separate ways. My arms were shortly eaten up with bites, so I moved away from the water. When I saw my friend later, I found out he didn't get a bite. I obviously taste better. He took me to a drug store to buy a tube of cortisone cream to bathe my arms.