Deer Flies

[treefarmerguy]

With a week of 90+ temps, the deer flies this year are man eaters. Does anyone know of any repellant that works? I was going to try some diesel fuel but a friend talked me out of it. He didn't want me to self combust because of the heat!LOL Thanks

 

[newbury]

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/safety/395227-bug-season-bites.html

 

[oosik]

I've always used any repellent with DEET in it. When we lived in AK - got military insect repellent - 90% active ingredients were DEET.

However - in the good old days - used an area spray that killed ALL the bugs. It was DDT. Spray the perimeter of your work area first thing in the AM - no bugs for the remainder of the day.

 

[mobilus]

Friend of mine uses a fly repellent made for horses. Says that there's no way that anyone would spray anything harmful on $50K horses. He may have a point...

 

[GLyford]

Once upon a time, the "go to" product for the deer flies seen while hiking in the white mountains was a product called "ole time woodsman", smelled like heck but you could actually see the flies change their mind and fly away as they got close.

I think the formulation use creosote, or something very similar, and it was pulled from shelves.

I now see there is a product out there with the same name but I have no idea if it is really the same or works as well...
Ole Time Woodsman Insect, Mosquito and Black Fly Repellent

 

[Groo]

Friend of mine uses a fly repellent made for horses. Says that there's no way that anyone would spray anything harmful on $50K horses. He may have a point...

An old horse is what? 35? Maybe the carcinogens won't really kick in until after 40 years.

 

[mobilus]

Doesn't stop folks from sucking down energy drinks, smoking, eating too much, etc...and we know the fallout from that. I had a pharmacist tell me to put diesel on chigger bites once. There are a lot of remedies out there for just about anything. I wasn't giving medical advice, just saying what a friend did...

 

[JohnBuffaloMN]

This forum has a wealth of information - I saw a guy who fastened a fly roll trap to his hat and though everyone laughed he said it worked and was searching for it when I found this: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kioti-owning-operating/282071-deer-fly-trap.html

Edit: here you go! https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...10d1406115359-todays-seat-time-deerflyhat-jpg

 

[Jstpssng]

Friend of mine uses a fly repellent made for horses. Says that there's no way that anyone would spray anything harmful on $50K horses. He may have a point...

The main working ingredient is most likely Permethrin. You can decide if you want to spray that on you.
One thing which works for deer flies is putting a piece of fly paper on the back of your hat- strategically placed so that it doesn't get caught in your hair. They tend to land on your head, and they won't leave again.EDIT- John Buffalo beat me to this one. end edit. I've also known woodsmen to spread bar and chain oil on their hard hats, especially for blackflies. Both methods also attract all sorts of other debris though, especially if you're working in softwood.
If you want pure DEET, try some Ben's 100- Amazon.com: Ben's 6-781 1% DEET Mosquito, Tick and Insect Repellent, 3.4 Ounce Pump: Sports & Outdoors For our Canadian friends I believe it is known as Muskol.

 

[Avondale]

I use a dryer sheet such as "Bounce" on the back of my hat, seems to work well enough but I also use "Deep woods off" which also seems to work pretty well too.