I need a good bug control strategy

[ChrisSearle]

Ultrasonic repellers do not work or if they do they are only 5% effective. Deet is good but you need to constantly top up. A good layer of stale sweat is pretty effective as well. If there are no life threatening diseases being vectored by the local biting insects you can always just ignore them...

[Naturalist]

100% DEET oil on exposed skin and 30-50% DEET spray on all clothing works well at keeping the bugs at bay. They'll float around you, but will not land.

[MCAsan]

Permethrin on the clothes and deet on the skin. Then wash the deet off your hands very thoroughly as it has been know to eat plastic.

[pssc]

If 100% deet does not work for you, then you must be real attractive to the critters. Deet works for me, though I do not like to use it. The avon products have been very effective for me as well. Got to love skin so soft. I now only take avon products to Africa and have been good to go. The first year I went to Zimbabwe, I used deet and got tick bite fever. I just put on a minimal amount, and didn't use it everyday--so it was my fault. Deet is nasty stuff, but works if used correctly. Now I use the avon products and plenty of it. It sure kept the tsetse fly's away.

I hope you come up with an answer--maybe a combination of repellants.

Cheers, Steve

[kinghong1970]

wow, am i glad i found this thread...

whenever i go to the woods the bugs are screaming...

"It's Korean BBQ Time!!!!" and they love me, not my colleagues...
last month, roofing, 3 guys, and i come down with 50+ bites...

[MajesticMomentsPhoto]

Insect repellent ratings;

http://www.consumerreports.org/healt...ings/index.htm


excellent article on repellents;

http://www.rei.com/expertadvice/arti...repellent.html

I use permethrin on my clothes as well, seems to work fine..

[canonphotog]

Look for a product called Permanone. It's found in most outdoor supply houses.

While called a repellent, it actually kills the bugs that land on it. It's not for use on skin, just your clothes. Clothing must be treated and allowed to dry prior to donning them.

Use 100% Deet for exposed skin, with the exception of your face. For your face you should use something a bit milder.

[super chet]

Bugs like freshly washed skin. Try not showering for a week.

[Grand_gator]

I live in central Florida and have been in a lot of other places where mosquitoes can lift you out of the ground..... and for my money the best combination by far is 3M in the skin, permethrin in all the clothing and a therma-cell in the ground next to you. If you are in really bad areas, add a head net. My two cents.

[Jerry Green]

Scent free soap, no body scent (no perfume for you ladies) and eating garlic in addition for a good insect repellent works for me.

[Tom Reichner]

I am quite surprised that almost all of the responses to this thread involve using some sort of chemical or substance. I just cover up - long johns underneath denim jeans, with the bottoms of the jeans tucked inside of a very heavy pair of socks. A snug-fitting long sleeve tightly woven synthetic undershirt underneath an outer shirt, also long sleeve with a turned up collar. A full facemask that is thick enough so that the bugs can't bite thru it. Gloves that have cuffs that are long enough to overlap with your shirt sleeves. A scarf or any similar piece of cloth material is wrapped around my neck to close the gap between my shirt's collar and the bottom opening of the facemask.

The aforementioned get-up will protect you against all bites, with the exception of your eyes and the skin around the eyes. But I just use one hand to constantly swat at the mosquitoes that land on my eye area, and doing so becomes 2nd nature and really has never caused me to miss a shot. I smudge them into my skin - killing them before they are able to bite me.

This is how I dress every time I shoot where mosquitoes are a problem, and it does stop them from biting me. I dress like this even when it's very hot out, even when I have to hike a long distance carrying heavy gear thru difficult terrain. In the larger scope of things, being comfortable is not very important at all, and getting the shots you want is extremely important - so one simply does what is necessary to accomplish one's objective.

[pbelarge]

Even in the summer, I will wear long sleaved, two light layers otherwise they still will bite through the clothing (I sweat, but not too bad). But my hands and face are exposed.
So I use the dry spray deet - not cheap. I spray the back of my hands and around my neck, face. I also wear a hat (which I hate wearing) and heavily spray that. It keeps the dive bombers from kamikazing into my face.
I spend a lot of time outdoors during the buggy time and this seems to work well. I have been out and sometimes forgot to bring the spray - bad, bad idea.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Originally Posted by sweetlu60

... almost 100% DEET, be careful not to get it on plastic, it will destroy it...

Such as the plastic on your camera, lenses flash etc. I have a 580EX with some serious melt done to it from DEET. Be careful out there boys and girls!

I prefer to use clothing as Tom recommends.

[MajesticMomentsPhoto]

I spray my clothing in the summer with permanone allow it to dry and then spray exposed areas only. Wearing two layers in a 98 degree day with 85 % humidity is not my idea of fun.

[ScubaDude]

Other than wearing long sleeves, I just let the bugs eat. Occasionally I'll run into a swarm of gnats that get in my eyes, up my nose and in my mouth, and I'll move to a different location, but mostly I figure getting eaten is just the price of admission for bird photography.