Ways to beat being bugged by bites

Outdoor enthusiasts face a dilemma this time of year. Just as the weather warms enough to enjoy being outside, hordes of biting insects show up to make lunch of us visitors. Black flies, mosquitoes, deer flies, moose flies and ticks make lunch out of hikers, paddlers, gardeners, birders and others who are active outside.

Everyone has a favorite, tried-and-tested method for dealing with these critters and trying to avoid being turned into their blood supply.

Before you can beat the bugs, it helps to think like a bug. The way insects primarily locate their food is by detecting carbon dioxide given off by warm-blooded animals. It’s blood that is the food source. Some protection involves masking the carbon dioxide give-off. Other methods are active repellents using scents that bugs avoid. There are even ways to use bugs’ own habits against them.

If you want to hike, for instance, try to go on a breezy day. Most flies, including black flies, can’t sustain flight in a wind stronger than five miles an hour. Flies are most attracted to dark colors, so wearing neutral or bright clothing can help in making it harder for bugs to locate you.

Insects are most active during certain hours of the day. Black flies prefer late morning through late afternoon for their feeding, when the day is warmest. Mosquitoes like to forage for food in the early morning and dusk and they avoid the heat of the day. If you plan your activities during the part of the day when the flies are least active you can avoid them.

Certain places outside are preferred over others by biting bugs. Locales to avoid are bogs and marshes where mosquitoes hatch, streams and brooks where black flies breed and ponds and lakes where both are present. If you can’t avoid a place altogether, at least you can realize that there might be a better spot to take a break from your activity.

There are things to avoid wearing that attract insects and they all involve scents. Because bugs are attracted to products such as deodorant, after-shave, perfume, shampoo and hair products it’s best to not wear those.

All these methods do nothing to repel insects, however. For that you need another technique, either masking or repelling. There is a range of products on the market whose effectiveness varies. Some products aren’t designed for repelling bugs, but are considered to be effective by those who’ve tried them.

Among those is garlic eaten before going outdoors. It exudes from your skin to mask your carbon dioxide. Vitamin B-12 is another internal bug repellent according to some. Brewer’s yeast can also be taken internally.

Externally, Vicks Vapo-Rub contains camphor, a natural scent that offends bugs. Other natural scents that bugs hate are pennyroyal and citronella. Products that contain those scents usually work better that others. Fabric softener sheets tucked into a pocket are supposed to send bugs away according to some. Some swear by the Avon product, Skin-So-Soft to repel insects.

The most effective repellent is DEET, a chemical developed to protect soldiers during World War II from mosquitoes in the jungles of the Philippines. Most products like Off, Ben’s 100, Cutters and others contain DEET.

There are warnings to heed before using DEET, however. Limit the number of re-applications to as few as possible. Health problems in children have been associated with long-term and repeated use. If you must use DEET, apply it to clothing around openings to your skin, such as cuffs and shirt collars. DEET is not compatible with nylon clothing or Gore-Tex, so to avoid a possible meltdown of your expensive clothing, do not apply it to nylon fabric.

The last layer of protection between the bugs and you is your clothing. Wear long-sleeve shirts and pants and tuck cuffs into your socks. Put on a hat to cover your head from attacks from above. Wearing a head net definitely keeps bugs out, but visibility is reduced due to the mesh in front of your face.

Whatever methods you use to combat the bugs, don’t try a smoky fire. In 1884, near what is now Baxter State Park, two fishermen set a smudge fire to drive away the black flies. Then, the men left the fire unattended. It got out of control and burned 22,000 acres. I can certainly sympathize with their reason, the bugs must have been really bad. But, it sure seems like a drastic measure to take. After all, in another few weeks those insects would have diminished to a tolerable level.