How to deal with mosquitoes?

[Joseph Miller]

#7397

It has been unseasonably hot here in northern Michigan the last seven or eight days. (75 to 85 degrees in the afternoon). As a result the mosquitoes are terrible for the afternoon hunt. We do not normally have to deal with them in October here. I was wondering how the folks that hunt in the southern states deal with them. Do you use a repellent or netting or are you just a lot tougher than me and put up with them?

[RayB]

#61720

Thermacell, no oder and puts a mosquito free dome around you. Let me know if it works on the black flies

[Stephen Graf]

#61905

I have a thermocell and have used it in canada for spring bear hunting. It definitely works. But I’d be scared to use it day in and day out. I figure it must be no good to breath. Sitting there breathing that chemical soup hour after hour has got to be bad in the long run.

[William Warren]

#61988

Steve Graf wrote: I have a thermocell and have used it in canada for spring bear hunting. It definitely works. But I’d be scared to use it day in and day out. I figure it must be no good to breath. Sitting there breathing that chemical soup hour after hour has got to be bad in the long run.

Probably no worse than slathering down with Deet which worked for me on my Bear hunt. Back then there was’nt any other choices.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

#61990

Same problem here in New England. Lost of rain a week ago combined with mid 80’s this weekend made for tons of skeeters in the woods all week. Themocell works great for sure. I don’t know about the no smell claim; it sure has quite a bit of odor to me; but it doesn’t really matter. You’re either down wind or busted anyway.

[MSARCHER]

#61995

well, im considered southern for sure (Mississippi) and our entire bowseason near about is in the upper 70’s and 80’s and heck i think our state bird is the mosquito, Thermacell for sure is the ticket. i was skeptical at first but ive had deer right at the base of my tree on several occasions when it was on and no problem. Whomever invented that had to be from the south. Good luck.

[lee]

#62017

You can eat match heads. The sulfur in the match heads enters your blood stream and the mosquitos don’t like it. Down a book of 20 a few at a time.

I don’t know if there are any long-term health issues with this (DO NOT ATTEMPT IF ALLERGIC TO SULFUR), but I did it while deployed to southern Afghanistan near the Arghandab River, where it looks more like a Vietnam jungle than desert.

The mosquitos never bothered me, my buddies got bit alot, I never got sick from it.

Also this may only work with the matches that come in MRE’s, I can’t say for sure. This also may only work if you are sweating, due to the sulfur in your sweat acting as an external repellant.

Good luck.

Here’s a picture of the river from a Blackhawk, notice the minigun on the right:D

[jmsmithy]

#62923

Don’t know about the sulphur but I can vouch for Thermacell. I’ve used in Alaska, throughout Canada and Adirondacks and works on skeeters, black flies etc… as for breathing the stuff, not a problem yet! AND – I’ve had it blow right to deer and bear, no issues…:D

[Joseph Miller]

#63471

Thanks everybody! I’d seen them advertised but I thought Thermacells were just another gimmick to separate people from their money. It sounds like they really do work. I just ordered one from (don’t tell Dave) Cabela’s.
Joe

[jmsmithy]

#63584

:!:Joe I’m sure you’ll be pleased….

Incidently, and I don’t mean this as a dig to that BIG outdoor box store, but more of a reason to be a Trad archer and not wheel bow speed freak (yes I am a recovering addict). Pardon me while I relate this recent mess…

Buddy of mine and I are bringing our son’s into archery world (both 12). His boy is new to hunting altogether, my guy been hunting with firearms since he’s 6 (lot of animals to his credit already including 130″ 10 point, hunted, not sniped, in Texas and host of African game) – new to archery. My son shooting both, compound (satifies his need for immediacy) and traditional (custom Alleghany Mt Longbow for his 12th Bday – Thnaks Jeff @ AM Archery here in NJ ❗ ). Learning TRUE archery. He is loving his longbow but, as one would expect, MUCH more proficient quickly w the sited Matthews….

Anyway, to the point, my buddy bought his son a Parker at the Big Box mentioned throughout this post. The “Archery Tech” (older gent who professed to being an expert with lots of experience) set this young man’s bow up and told him ready to shoot. You cannot imagine what a disaster…string incorrect, release loop wrong, peep not set, sight setup incorrectly, arrow rest mount all wrong, wrong spined/length arrows etc etc…list goes on and on…His son consequently failed his hunters ed shooting test the first time, calling his Uncle John in tears (yes me 🙂 ) for help. I saw the bow (I owned archery shop in early 90’s) and told my friend I hate to step on any toes but whoever set this bow has NO IDEA how they work etc etc. He went on to tell me how shocked he was, “AFTER ALL, THE TECH AT CA&(^**LA’S ARCHERY SECTION SAID THIS IS HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE”… I got the bow shooting somewhat there in the parking lot of the NJ WMA where the test was held, taught my nephew the fine art of Kentucky windage, and he was able to lob a few arrows into target to pass his test. I told him that’s great, passed the test but in NO WAY is he qualified to pursue/shoot at any living creature. I’m very proud to say that he completely agreed and asked me to “fix him”. Luckily my buddy is a great guy without the BS ego we sometimes see in our sport and had no issue with learning things and me teaching his son a few things. The boy is now shooting his correctly tuned bow very well. Took him on his first hunt this weekend with no sightings (full moon and 84 degrees) of any critters at all :roll::!:

Two points I made to my crew :
1.This is one facet that makes Trad Archery so appealing – you don’t need engineering degree to work on your equipment.
2. Just because someone at the Hunting Superstores says it’s so, doesn’t mean they are correct. I have found that yes, these places are a great one stop shop for a lot of things we use as hunters/fishermen/outdoorsmen. However, they are just like any of the big W–Marts infesting our landscape. It’s about sales and volume turnover. Just because every area highschool kid and/or retiree from the surrounding area is employed there, doesn’t make them experts(or even remotely qualified) to dispense advice…

Sorry if I rant a bit…this situation, and many like it, aggravate the S&^%*$&t out of me :evil::roll: To me, something like this sends WRONG message to young folks who want to get into our sport/lifestyle and, in fact, does more harm than good….

Thanks for listening 😀

Be well….>>>–> John

[archer38]

#17285

The repellant in the Thermacell is derived from the crysanthemum flower and (I’m told) harmless. I live in Northern Ontario, Canada and my family outfits bear hunts.

You’ve never seen blackflies until you’ve tried to skin a bear in Northern Ontario in early June. Thermacells work !!!

[wildschwein]

#17694

Another plug for Thermacell. In extreme cases a blood transfusion also works :shock:.

[lyagooshka]

#17981

lee –

Let me guess, you were hungry but all you had was the “egg omelet” MRE, so you decided to eat the matches. Then you noticed bugs didn’t bug you? I got the egg omelet once. I believe it has since been outlawed by the Geneva Convention. 😆

Other than sulfur, those matches have something to make them moisture-proof, and they are a really good addition to a survival pack, but not so much for digestion. I don’t know any science behind it from a biological or chemical standpoint but I wouldn’t have too many.

One thing I heard on one of those science-type shows is that BO (yes, body odor) is a much more effective insect repellent than deet. Not sure if this is true, but it kind of gets in the way of scent control, doesn’t it?

Personally, I like mechanical versus chemical protection. Face net, gloves, etc. The buzzing can be annoying, but it keeps ‘em off and doesn’t put any chemical scent into the air.

Alex

🙂

[Raymond Coffman]

#18012

I mostly bathe in deet if hunting in mosquito territory. Although if you could catch em in a swarm, Lee’s High Rate Gun {minigun}might be just the Ticket! haha [they sure are fun to shoot -worth a try]LOL–

Here in the SW, mostly, they are not much trouble. Especially this yr in the continuing drought-they will all be burned up soon with the rest of the forests.

Scout.

[tombow]

#18973

archer38 wrote: The repellant in the Thermacell is derived from the crysanthemum flower and (I’m told) harmless. I live in Northern Ontario, Canada and my family outfits bear hunts.

You’ve never seen blackflies until you’ve tried to skin a bear in Northern Ontario in early June. Thermacells work !!!

So shouldn’t I just bring FLOWERS when I go hunting?? Then I can give them to my wife when I come back home. DOUBLE BONUS!!:wink:

[skifrk]

#19060

Tom, I like the way you think these double bonuses that would encourage the wife to let us hunt even more.

[archer38]

#35183

I’ve also heard of people getting a vitamin b-12 shot from their doctor. Apperently, insect repulsion is a very convenient side effect of the shot.

[berndm50]

#38897

LOL This is one of the best threads I’ve read in a while:D

[burgess]

#43645

go to your local farm store and buy a bottle of permethrin……..mix it 1 oz to 15 oz water in a spray bottle. spray all of your outer hunting digs…..you must wear a face mask for this to work…..spray the face mask all so……..saturate everything and let it dry…….when dry it is innert as for as harming you. there might be a slight order but smoking your duds will kill that.

mosquitoes may buzz…….but they won’t land nor bite…….their life is over in seconds if they do and they sense this………ticks don’t get it and just crawl and die. i hunt the eastern shore of maryland and no country has mosquitoes like we do……this is the only thing i ever do regarding them and they simply are not a problem. just do a re-treat every week or soooooo……….no stinking deet…….no harmful chemicals…….no plastic machine to mess with.:!::!:

[ssumner1]

#43994

Mosquitoes do not like garlic. My dad had a heart attack about 5 years ago, and since then has done just about any pill you can take for healthy heart as well as foods. He started taking garlic pills to avoid the bad breath so that my mom would actually kiss him. He is now nearly impervious to mosquitoes and ticks. He wears shorts and a cutoff nearly every day at home in the woods and this Summer he has had one tick. Just a thought.

-Andrew

[handirifle]

#44247

I have tried all kinds of repellents, to no avail. I finally bought s 3D camo leaf suit from Wally World, that is made from a bug netting material underneath. Hardly ever wear the pants, but the jacket is worn every time now. It has a hood, and a face cover. I cut the face cover off cause it was black, and even though it was bug free cloth, it was also just about vision free as well.

I have a mosquito head net that I wear, if they start bugging my face, but have yet to be bitten by a single one. For the most part as long as I keep my ears covered, I can leave the face mask off. My face mask is lighter in weight and a medium green, a lot easier to see through. just wear a baseball cap to keep the netting off your face.

It’s fun to watch em try to find a way in, and knowing they won’t be in my eyes or ears next. They also do not get close enough to really bother me any more now.

We have mosquitoes and those little black flies.

[Dan Sweeney]

#46448

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/safefood/newsltr/v8n1s07.html

Interesting anyway. I used garlic supplements at Ft. Drum.

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