Stop Black Flies From Biting

[Sheriff Cougar]

I live on the Northeast Cape Fear River in southeastern NC. The black flies/deer flies can be brutal here. I ran into a neighbor the other day on a walkabout. He was wearing a white Pith hat. It was a really cheap one and very lightweight. It was smeared with a gooey substance that looked like honey. It was also spattered with black flies. He said he wears it to keep the black/deer flies from biting him and it works wonderfully. The coating was actually Tree Tanglefoot. He bought it at a local hardware store, buttered his hat with it and wears it when he goes into the woods during black fly season and has never been bitten. I did some research and found this:

http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.co...anglefoot-hat/ (http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2015/02/21/killing-deer-flies-and-black-flies-with-a-tanglefoot-hat/)

Apparently you can put this product on anything you choose to wear as long as you keep it out of your hair and off your skin. Found photos of it on plastic cups, plastic flower pots, etc. that have been attached to ball caps, etc. on a persons head. Anyway, I have not tried it but have seen proof that it works and maybe something you can use to keep the biting flies away.

[Snowleopard]

I've heard of people having some success against deer flies using blue on their hats wrapped with duct tape (sticky side out).

BUT, the term 'black fly' in the north is a very different beast. It is much smaller than a house fly or deer fly. I AT hikers from the south will often refer to them as gnats. http://mainenaturenews.com/black-fly-reports/black-fly-info/ They bite. They are awful!!! I've been in NH when the mosquitoes would have been unbearable except that they were unable to fight their way through the black flies! Another time my shirt rode up leaving a strip of skin above my belt bare; I had a welt 1" thick going half way around my middle. The only real defense is long sleeved shirt, long pants and bug net. The old time woodsmen in the north would wear leather gloves against black flies. DEET is only slightly effective. They love to swarm around my eyes. Conventional wisdom says that they are around from mother's day to father's day, but they can be bad at other times. I've seen them here in northern Mass from May to September (definitely much worse here in June and July though)There are periods when they are around but not biting, but once they start biting it's bad. Starting a SOBO AT thruhike June 1 is insanity because of them. I'm don't know if they exist at all in the south.

[chiefduffy]

They are tailing off now, up here in Maine. Thank goodness!!

[Sheriff Cougar]

Our black flies are pretty small but probably not as small as the ones you are talking about. We have a little critter we call no-see-ums (sand flies). If you live on or near the beaches, or on the intracoastal waterway in certain areas they are prevalent. They come out around dusk dark. They are so tiny you can barely see them and are the color of beach sand. They pack a bite like a horse fly and swarm you like bees. They will drive you stark raving mad. We would use Avon's Skin So Soft to keep them from biting. They are horrible. I am curious if Tanglefoot would work on your kind of black flies.

[fanatic]

From my experience with Tanglefoot, it is really only good for deer flies, at least in Massachusetts. I've never seen any black flies captured on my blue duct tape coated with Tanglefoot.

[jeffmeh]

Fyi, the black flies were not an issue up at Mount Desert Island this weekend.

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[Rain Man]

AT hikers from the south will often refer to them as gnats.

Being a Southerner, I can say gnats do not bite and we do not confuse them with black flies. I hiked in CT and MA the last two weeks of May this year (a couple of weeks ago) with no black fly problems. Mosquitoes were a problem for one 3-mile stretch one evening after coming down from Jug End to the Shays Rebellion trailhead. Let's just say we hiked fast!