fighting skeeters while smelting?

[troy_mclure]

im pretty much restricted to smelting at night, its already 85f+ here in the day, so a 100lb pot of lead and propane cooker adds alot of heat.

but the skeeters are drawn by the co2 from the burned propane. they swarm in droves.

my repel stakes, and sprays do nothing.

how do you keep the skeeters away?

[SciFiJim]

I grew up on the Gulf coast and know what you mean by swarms of skeeters.

How about using something smokey for a flux? Sawdust would give a non oily smoke.

[troy_mclure]

i was using paper, and they flew right thru the smoke.

[SciFiJim]

How about using citronella candle wax for a flux?

[shotman]

Looks like your problem may be over soon the cruid or crud will take care of them. Try a small amount of motor oil just enough to keep odor in the air

[ETG]

Avon Skin So Soft - they won't come near it and it doesn't smell too bad :-) Survival instructor clued me in to it over 40 years ago :-)

[armyrat1970]

Avon Skin So Soft - they won't come near it and it doesn't smell too bad :-) Survival instructor clued me in to it over 40 years ago :-)

Never tried it for the little pesky skeeters but I know it works for knats. Tried it when fishing before. May help for skeeters too.
I understand your feelings, as I live in Southwest Louisiana, and we get swarmed with them. I usually don't get bit to often by mosquitoes though. My better half says it's because I have to much alcohol coming out of my pores.:lol:
What part of the Gulf shore do you live in Troy?

[cajun shooter]

Avon SSS works great on some and not at all on others. I have seen guys go nuts when we were out frogging because they were bitten so many times after having on the SSS. I think it is all body chemistry. Skeeters and gnats are attracted to our CO2. Ihave seen friends of mine take the dryer soft sheets and put them on their ears with clothes pins to survive a speck fishing trip. It was so bad a few years back in the Leeville area that you had to have a hood net or you could not talk. We have no shortage in the south Louisiana area for sure!!

[Trey45]

100% DEET, can be found online, in some Army/Navy surplus stores, camping outfitters, Bass Pro Shops, Dicks Sporting Goods and the like.

[Charley]

Avon's Skin So Soft works for some, as does Cactus Juice. Both depend a good deal on an individual's body chemistry, You might try them both.

For repelling mosquitos from an area, you can look at Dr. Tee's Nature products, and their garlic based repellent granules. Depending on the moisture levels, these can be effective for about 3 weeks or so. Your yard will smell like an Italian restuarant for about 6-10 hours, then the odor will disappate.

http://www.cactusjuicetm.com/cactuspatent.php

http://www.drtsnatureproducts.com/store/natural-mosquito-repellent

[cptinjeff]

Crank up a couple of therma-cells near the pot?? Works for me in the deer stand. It goes from too black to breath (without eating some) to one or two in minutes.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

I bought a 1 acre Bug zapper, Seems to work pretty well. I smelt within 50 feet of my pond.

Sam :D

[troy_mclure]

my spray was 100% deet.

i think the co2 from the propane draws them more than the repellent repels them.

ill try the thermacell and citronella flux tonite

oh, im in houma, louisiana.

[gray wolf]

Here in Maine I use an old # 10 can, Fill it 3/4 full of sand and then add Kero and a little motor
oil. Light the sucker up. Small flame and medium smoke, keep them skeeters away and the black fies also.

[djoiner]

If you don't have a thermocell, GET ONE. Mans greatest invention. 100% Deet also very good.

[Charley]

my spray was 100% deet.

i think the co2 from the propane draws them more than the repellent repels them.

ill try the thermacell and citronella flux tonite

oh, im in houma, louisiana.


The CO2 is a huge draw for mosquitos, that's how they home in on mammals to feed. Often LMAO when people spend a couple hundred bucks or more on the different "mosquito magnet" attractor/killers, and set it right by where they are working/cooking, or relaxing. They draw way more mosquitos than they kill. Nothing like advice from someone making $7.50/hour at one of the big box stores...

[hyoder]

djoiner is right on - Get a couple of Thermacells. We use them for spring turkey hunting - keeps the mosquitoes at bay.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The following bit of woodcraft has always worked well in the north woods so it might be worth a try. Find a dead dry (white, red or aromatic) cedar log. Get some of the bark (peeled) off and cut strips of the thin brown husk layer underneath it into long thin strips. Tightly bind a bunch of them together in a bundle about a foot long and an inch or so in diameter. Wire works fine, but you can also use some of the stripping itself to do the job. Light one end and let it burn for a minute or two...then blow it out; you'll have a thick smudge roll going that will burn for a long time. It smells pretty good, but cedar smoke is thick and fine and interferes with insect breathing..clogs their spiracles; they avoid it. Its a good camping trick and it works especially in front of or in a tent, but that's for human CO2. Don't know about a casting pot thats generating a lot of it though. A few of those cedar smudge going at the same time might do the job. LLS

[Three44s]

I will have to try that cedar bark trick! I know just where some readily available Alaskan yellow cedar is!!!!


Three 44s

[troy_mclure]

do they have swamp cedar? lol

the citronella candle flux worked for about 3 mins till the candle was gone, would got expensive with 186lb to do..

the thermacell worked about as good as deet.

they were so thick i think they just blundered past the repellents and found me.

[sargenv]

+1 to the thermacell.. I bought two of these last season and early season duck hunting in California the skeeters are thick on those warm first days. I put one in each corner of the blind opening day and had nary a nibble after they were on for a bit.

[bootsnthejeep]

My fellow Mainahs have probably heard of this, don't know if it ever trickled out to the rest of the country... Old Time Woodsman (http://www.hotdoe.com/ole_time_woodsman.html)

I love the stuff and swear it works great, but that's just my opinion. Stinks to high heaven tho. Well, some people think it stinks, I classify it with Hoppes #9 and PB Blaster.

But for full disclosure, my Grandfather hated the stuff. He told me once if all he had was Old Time Woodsman and the bugs were getting to him, he'd smear it on a tree and let em chew the bark off THAT.

[zuke]

Believe it or not if you spray WD-40 above them it will take them down.
Get's into their breathing orafice's and on the wing's.
I've used it in a pinch but ALWAY'S have Deep Wood's Off or some other bug juice with me.
Try REALLY soaking an old work shirt with bug juice and then putting that over what your wearing.
They home in on CO2 and see in the UV spectrum. The colour blue is a neon buffet sign to them.

[armyrat1970]

my spray was 100% deet.

i think the co2 from the propane draws them more than the repellent repels them.

ill try the thermacell and citronella flux tonite

oh, im in houma, louisiana.

Ahh. A fellow coonass. I'm on the westbank of the New Orleans area, Gretna. We call it the best bank. LOL

Going over some of the other post I have to make a correction. Maybe a few to many Buds. (Glad I wasn't doing any loading that night) Said I live in Southwest, La. Duh. New Orleans is in the Southeast. That is right huh? Sun rises in the east and sets in the west? LOL