How to keep Skeeters away?

[1894]

Wow !!! You are really about the first person that I've heard say they didn't work for them . I know that wind can play a factor in the range , could that have been part of the problem ?
I belong to several outdoor forums ( shooting , hunting , and fishing ) and from the swamps down south , to the black flies up north , to the insane mosquitos in canada and alaska , lot's of folks swear by them.

Mayby you got a couple of lemons ? see if they will replace them for you.
Or if you aren't going to be useing them .......

 

[buckeye024]

What? How is that supposed to work?

 

[cmoran]

Skin So Soft is about the best there is, smells good too

 

[coyote]

I second this Richoso1, It will not keep the meanest of the flying vampires away but it does seem to keep most away. also sulphur tabs have worked.
In the tropics not only skeeters but the bott flys were bad in the jungle. and the skeeters loved my lilly white butt. I read about garlic and some old timers said it worked. I spent a lot of time in the jungles hunting. and ate garlic and took sulpur tabs. not really so much the sulphur tabs.
but lots of garlic. which I liked any way so it was not a bad thing for me.
an example: maybe luck are maybe the garlic... several long hunts that lasted 5 to 10 days. when we got back everyone but myself had several bott fly bites on ther back, heads, bellys. I have never gotten bit by one knock on wood. most of the guys started eating garlic.
I am sure you will love this.
my ole neighbor was from mexico green carder. he told me to get hot peppers (jalepenos) onion and garlic put in blender with water and liquifiy then strain put in spray bottle and spritz yer self. keeps the bugs off. I made it several times but my wife would get mad cause I would use up the concoction spirtzing steak and what not on the grill. she used it on the kids. we did not have a big skeeter problem, but they would come out in the monsoon season. I can't say if it was real effective or not.But worth a try maybe..

 

[garyt]

We started ding this at our camper, on the Wisconsin river they are pretty thick and it sems to work

 

[severeidaho]

My Uncle works at a Bait and tackle store in Southern California and is always sending me new bait, lures and also new products such as a Mosquito repellant Patch. 2 years ago he hooked me up with several boxes of these patches, I apply them to my clothing (NOT SKIN) and they do pretty good. Website here http://patchcare.net/

Other than these patches I use "DEET" type sprays such as OFF and others. Here in Southeast Idaho we see a huge number of Mosquitos near the river thanks to Flooding/overflowing river water. The mosquitos have an enemy tho, Truck Driven fumigators are spraying daily, nightly to try top keep them limited. These trucks drive around here and the noise is eerie. I tend to run inside the house cause I dont want to inhale that stuff.

BTW: there are several Companies out there that produce these patches. some with citronella OIL, etc. This is another website http://www.anti-moz.com/index.htm .

If your bored google "mosquito repellent patches" and youll find them all. Hope this helps..

 

[fireguy]

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=18963

lots of good ideas here!!! I promise the thermocell works great!!!hope this helps.

 

[smokeys my pet]

DITTO WORKS WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[skinnerc06]

Yeah same here. I bow hunt down here in florida swamp areas in october where it is still close to 90 degrees. Thermacells are the only things that make it possible. That thing runs out, im climbing down the tree 2 minutes later no question.

 

[lcruzen]

Lemons would probably work better. They seem to be working as directed. Thin vapor coming off the wafer. Let em run for a few hours and I'm still swatting. Used 2 of them by a camp fire and still swatting. Put on the SSS and problem solved. Useless I say.

On edit, maybe I put the wafer in upsidedown and it was attracking them instead. What do ya think?

 

[kratzx4]

I have not tried this yet but have been told that fabric softner sheets work well tie one on your belt loop and hang a few off the deck or shrubs. Been told that they work great I will be trying it this year. skin so soft does not work for me I guess I stink to much.

 

[skeeter]

there is only one way to keep this skeeter away, hide the beer

 

[packplantpath]

I've got a sure fire cure for the mosquitoes on the deck. Buy one of the coleman mosquito attracting traps that use propane. Then, give it to your neighbor.

The thing attracts mosquitoes, so the ones that don't get trapped (which is a lot of them )end up in the neighbors yard. Problem solved.

 

[skeeter]

there's only one way to keep this Skeeter away, hide the beer

 

[fireguy]

thermacell tips....fire it up bout 15-30 min before going outside. mats only last 3 hrs at best, so keep an eye on them... when they turn from blue to white they are done. and if its very windy they are not as effective... so put the thermacell on the upwind side of where you are . Hope this wil help

 

[dingle]

I like to drink a lot of Jack Daniels!! Those little buggers bite me and they die from alcohol poisoning!!!

 

[davenh]

2/3 of my property are wetlands, the mosquitoes are nasty. If they are aggressive enough or high enough in population, they laugh at bounce and skin-so-soft. My girl tried both of these, didn't like using deet spray. I was happy, peaceful and she was slapping away trying to prove her point..it was actually quite funny

.

We bought a mosquito magnet, 50/50 on that one. I think if it is just a normal wooded, or city area, over time the magnet would lower the mosquito population. It kills off the female population, so less breeding through out the season and less mosquitoes breeding for the next season. I used to fill the trap in a couple days, thats a lot of bugs. It also catches gnats and black flies. I've read mosquitoes don't travel far from where they breed, only 10% or so leave or get wind blown to other areas. So if you cut the population significantly, whether spraying or trapping, it will be more comfortable.

Another option would be a fogger, fog/spray the surrounding foliage (mosquitoes like to hide under the leaves).

The final solution, as mentioned already, we screened in the deck and stocked up spray with deet. We don't just have problems with mosquitoes, but deer flies, horse flies, black flies and ticks (50% of deer ticks tested in NH were positive for Lyme Disease). One good spray down, head to toe, covers all of them. Getting to the point now we can't work in the yard without spraying ourselves, biting flies are much worse than the mosquitoes.

I was thinking about trying the Thermocell for the times I need to be out at night, but not sure it would be effective here and I'm used to using spray whenever I walk out the door

.

 

[smoke freak]

Try lemon balm. Its a plant related to mint. You can rub the leaves on your skin and hope for the best. I use deep woods off. Liver damage be damned!!!

 

[oldairforceguy]

I must be "batty" saying this, but if you can attract bats, you will have the best bug eraser on the face of the Earth. They eat their weight in bugs every night -- and that's a whole bunch of 'skeeters! There are available bat houses that provide a living (sleeping) space for them during daylight hours until the early evening arrives when they become airborne, again. If you have a USDA extension agent in your area, call them and find out about the positive effects of bats on bugs.

As for those biting horse flies -- buy a bazooka!

 

[oldairforceguy]

If you didn't know how that mosquito system that uses propane and a catch bag works, here's how:

Mosquitos are after one thing - blood - and they don't care where it comes from, as long as the "donor" is a live one.

What attracts them to that blood source is Carbon Monoxide (CO) -- you know, that stuff we exhale (no, not beer breath - grin.) They know that, at the end of that CO trail, is something live with blood in it -- you, your pet, your horse, cow, elephant, Yak, etc., -- and when they find you, it's lunchtime!

The propane, when burned inside a catalytic converter, gives off carbon monoxide as the by-product. CO is heavier than air, so it goes to ground level, where skeeters hang out most waiting for a source of 'their food' to appear. Ever notice the skeeters don't show up on you until you're outside for a few minutes? It takes you that long to lay down a CO trail for them to follow. Have a bunch of people outside with you and they are on you in seconds!

The little pests pick up on the CO, for which they are incredibly capable of finding, and follow the CO trail to the machine. (NOTE: If you have one of these, set it away from your area and let it pull the bugs away from your area. DON'T set it next to you, or you will pay a price (grin).

Once they get closer to their CO-breathing "meal" they look for a pheromone scent that will let them complete their trip to the all-night diner (that's you.) The "bait" you place in that net bag is a pheromone cocktail of the kind that drives the skeeters mad with passion, thinking they just found the mother load of all grocery stores. They follow the scent into the entry point, get trapped in the net (bag) and cannot get back out. End of mosquitos.

One thing we always asked about this product is what should you do about handling the mosquitos that were trapped. Answer: wear throw away gloves while handling the trap as you change it out. Remember, these bugs could still be carrying the Lyme bacteria on their dead bodies (not proven as far as I know, but the safety step is worth it.)

Are they effective? One Arabian horse farm owner here in Delaware knows they are. The mosquitoes took out about $1 million worth of prizewinning Arabians, and also gave him a really bad case of Lyme Disease - and a long hospital stay. He now owns several units.

No, I'm not a rep for them, just worked in a place a few years ago where I learned about them.

Oh yes, they are pretty much useless on a windy day, or windy area. The CO it makes blows away on windy days or locations.

Hope this helps.