Bugs!

[Porterhouse]

I got stung by one of those at the range this Monday. May be a bee or a horse fly? I don't know as it happened so fast. My middle finger, where I got stung, swelled up to the size of thumb and it still hurts & itchy. I hate them buzzing around, especially when you try to concentrate on the sight. What the best way to keep them off?

[jcwit]

Use a spray called "OFF"


OFF!® insect repellent, protects from mosquito, tick and bug bites ... OFF! personal

[45 2.1]

What the best way to keep them off?

Kill it or them......................... Next is bug spray.

[Rocky Raab]

I'm highly allergic to bee/wasp venom, so I take the little critters seriously. THE secret is to NOT try to wave them away. You'll only get them mad if you bat at them. Stay still if they are investigating you - even if they land. Do NOT swat at them whatever you do. They won't find anything of interest to them and will quickly fly away.

But start batting at them, and the war is on.

[Trey45]

B u g s p r a y.

[montana_charlie]

What the best way to keep them off?
Stay in the house. Turn up the air conditioner. Eat nachos. Watch TV. Be safe. Be happy.
The government will make sure your nacho stuff is fit to eat, the TV shows are safe to watch, and no lead or asbestos will harm you in your house.

OR...

Say to heck with government hugging.
Go outside and play manly games with manly toys. Accept the fact that bug bites, sprained ankles, and lightning strikes are a few of many hazards, and accept them all as part of life.

CM

[lwknight]

Maybe some ratshot in the six shooter would do the trick. When they get into buzzing range , let em have it. If nothing else it will add to yer fun.

[docone31]

Eat Garlic.
Bugs do not like Garlic.
You gotta eat a lot though. It has to come out your pores.
A good byproduct. You might feel better as well.

[thx997303]

I'm allergic to bees and wasps.

I ignore them.

Ever since I stopped worrying about em, they stopped bothering me.

Works.

[Charley]

I got stung by one of those at the range this Monday. May be a bee or a horse fly? I don't know as it happened so fast. My middle finger, where I got stung, swelled up to the size of thumb and it still hurts & itchy. I hate them buzzing around, especially when you try to concentrate on the sight. What the best way to keep them off?

One of what? Was it a sting or a bite? Flies bite, using mandibles or mouthparts. Bees, wasps, and many ants sting, using a stinger on the end of the abdoman. Most bee species leave the stinger and venom sack behind when they sting, easy to see. They can only sting once and then they die. Wasps have a smooth stinger, and can sting until they are tired of stinging you, or you smush 'em.

Foraging bees and wasps are not aggressive, nesting ones will aggresively defend the nesting site. Look for nesting close to your shooting bench.

[Blammer]

409 spray, spray a mist of 409 at them and it will kill them.

[Houndog]

Use them for target practice! We used to play a game at local benchrest matches called the JD Clampett shoot after Jed on the Beverley Hillbillies TV show. Put a piece of white construction paper at 100 yards, divide it into 4 squares with molasses or honey in each section and shoot at the house flies that land in your square. We shot for $1.00 a shot. It's amazing how many house flys you can kill at 100 yards with a Bench gun!

[felix]

Yep, they have a much better chance when using boolits at a hunnert. If missing too many for continued interest, try the 50 yard range to increase the odds of a perfect score by more than 50 percent. ... felix

[ole 5 hole group]

You'll play hell trying to obtain this repellent but it's the best I've ever found and that includes using 100% deet - the 100% goop used over in 'Nam was about as good but that stuff didn't last too long, melted plastic and left a tin taste in your mouth, so you knew your kidneys were taking a beating at the same time. If you know someone travelling to Australia or know someone over there - have them send/bring a jug or two back, you won't be sorry. SC Johnson makes sure it does not reach our shores, as it's not EPA certified and they want no competition from this bad boy.

http://www.bushman-repellent.com/

[MT Gianni]

Ignoring yellow jackets brings on bites for me. I eat garlic, vitamins C, D, E and a multi which are supposed to help and they get me whenever. I swat to kill all that land and am rarely without spray. i use 100 % deet in a non -aerosol pump type. It is just a fact of the outdoors. A penny placed on the area hit is supposed to reduce swelling.

[drinks]

I am well known among my family as the best tasting old man in the area, all biting bugs go for me, I have at least 3 black horse flies and a small gray one that lurk just outside my front door and compete to see who gets first chomp.
Yesterday one got me on the arm so sneakily I did not know he had a bite to eat until the blood started running down my arm.
At least this place does not have deer flies and buffalo gnats or the ultimate prey species, NOSEEUMS!

[clodhopper]

Sounds like you got stung by a wasp.
WD-40 will put em down.
I don't know if it poisons them, suffocates them or if it burns their eyes so much they die from stinging at it, but it works.

[Ron]

Ole 5 hole group, Bushman Insect Repelant can now be ordered on line. There is also a "Currency Converter" on site to work out AUD$ to whatever currency.

I use it at the range and we keep a tube in the family car. Works better than anything I have used previously

[Bad Water Bill]

Been using this product for about 10 years with great results.

http://www.buggspray.com/

The last order was for a case of the stuff.

[crabo]

Anyone use a Thermacell when hunting? I like to hunt yotes when I go to North Dakota every summer and the mesquitos eat me up.

[WILCO]

What the best way to keep them off?

"Deep Woods" bug spray or a Red Ryder BB gun work wonders around here for me.

[ole 5 hole group]

Anyone use a Thermacell when hunting? I like to hunt yotes when I go to North Dakota every summer and the mesquitos eat me up.

Greatest invention since peanut butter. I have probably spent over $300.00 purchasing all kinds of gimmicks from the sonic gadget to citronella candles – you name it and I probably bought it at one time or another. Nothing worked, so I quit wasting my money on all these false advertisements. Well, 2 years ago I heard about this product and thought it was a gimmick as well. I kept reading reports from Alaskan hunters & fisherman and decided to “waste” my last $30.00 on mosquitoes – Best money I ever spent for sitting around a campfire in a deep woods sitting. I haven't used it in the hunting fields but we use it at home for late afternoon cookouts and fishing trips. In a large open make-shift eating shelter we used 3 handheld units and they kept all bugs out. Took about 5 minutes to clear them out but once gone, they stayed gone. In the back yard we use 4 of the hand held units and they keep 99% of the mosquitoes away from everyone at the tables. If you’re on the move I doubt these units will provide the protection you’re looking for but it would be worth a try. For still hunting I think they would be great.

Ron, EPA won't allow the importation of Bushman - I had a large order intercepted somewhere on its journey here - never arrived and never heard why but I have had a guy bring me back some from Aus, so I have enough for another couple of years and then will have a few more tubes couriered in.

[RSOJim]

Your question was how to keep them off. I think that has been answered quite well. Since you don't know if you got bit or stung I will tell what we do here in Florida after a bite. I haven't tried it on a sting yet. Mosquito bites, deer fly bites swell me up and itch like crazy. I carry plain old house hold ammonia in small plastic containers in my truck, in my boat, in my range bag and sometimes in my pocket. If you can't keep these critters from biting then a drop on the bite will stop the itching and swelling in just a few seconds. It works. Thanks Jim

[Cactus Farmer]

For sting first aid I use ammonia inhalants from the first aid kit. Bug bites and stinging nettle.
Long story,short version, 4 day hike,spring,shorts......drug my naked leg thru a nettle.......HOLY MOLEY.....what to do? Nettle poison is the same as ant stings,formic acid(I think), break out the ammonia in the handy no leak containers,crush same,add 2-3 drops of water and swab area. INSTANT relief.
As kids we put "blueing",from the laundry room, on the ant bites. Same affect. Another base that countered the acid? I just know it worked,and you had coll blue spots on your arms and legs.
Can we do a group buy on this "Bushman"? I want to try it.

[Geraldo]

What the best way to keep them off?

Start shooting real black powder. The smoke clears bugs and other shooters away from your bench.

[Porterhouse]

Thanks guys!
Well, I decide to just ignor them when I had to do some yard work on Friday. Then, got bitten by black flys (I know what they were this time). Somehow they found out my left ear was the tastest and attacked there inside out. I don't know how many bites all togather but It looks disgustingly red and itchy like hell! I am going to look into the "Tharmacell" now.

[Wise Owl]

Ah, Blackflies.....

They will do a number on you for sure. We have them in abundance up here this year. (Maine is known for blackflies) They will eat you, and then carry off what is left over for later.

I have been wearing my favorite Beretta cap with bug dope on it and my hooded fleece camo jacket that GW bought me a couple years ago with the hood up, (yes, even in the heat I do it) just to water the garden. Those little buggers even get inside the hood.

My ears are bit, my neck, my legs, you name it.

They love Gray Wolf too. And we eat a ton of garlic, take our vit's and nothing seems to keep them off us. I guess they just like sweet meat, lol.

Even the pup is getting chewed on.

What we use on the bites is Calendula gel. Takes the itch/sting out right away and if you DON"T scratch the bite it will go away in about 3 days. You can get the Calendula at the local health food store.
I am growing it in the herb bed this year as we seem to go thru a tube every two weeks up here for one thing or another. And with the pup getting so chewed up it will last even less than that.

Warning to black fly victims, do NOT scratch the bite as it just makes it last longer.

I wish they were bigger, I would have shot them yesterday at the range. They drove me right off the pistol range. Told GW I just couldn't take anymore. Hard to concentrate on your shooting when you have 30 or 40 of those things under your glasses, on your hands, in your ears.......

Oh and the skeeters are out too. We have those helicopter sized ones up here. Between the skeeters and the blackflies, it's not a lot of fun outside in May/June.....
These guys actually LIKE DEET. Does not bother them one bit. I think they have drank so much of it that they are actually immune to it.

Time to get out the head nets!

[AZ-Stew]

I love Arizona. The only thing that bothers us at the range is honey bees that are drawn in by the alox/beeswax lube and the shot concussions. I keep my soda can covered and seldom have a problem.

Regards,

Stew

[leadman]

Walmart carries Off in a little pump bottle that is 100% Deet. Works well.

One of the other companies, can't remember who, might be Johnson & Johnson is selling a device like Thermacell.

A friend that lives in Texas with alot of bugs told my wife to buy me a Clorox gel bleach pen. It has 2 different swabs, one on each end. Swab the bite or sting as soon as you can. It does work for mosquitos and ants that have got me.

I'm react with quite a bit of swelling and itching from just a mosquito bite, so this is a really good thing for me.

[Heavy lead]

bleach is also the best thing to put on poison ivy out breaks, scrub bleach right into it until it stings, and gone in the morning, at least for me. A pharmacy friend told me about it, thought she was crazy, but it works.