OT: killing deer flies

[Gun guru]

In my yard I have those annoying biting flies that leave a welt the size of a nickel. What is the best way to kill them. I went on a pest control website to see what works and they are out of the fly trap thing. Sooooo....I thought I would ask the guys with wisdom.

Any homemade brews that kill flys other then massive sprays of pesticide? And lighting your grass a blaze with gasoline.

 

[glennster]

i have a cabin in my woods and there are lots of deer flys. i use one of the propane foggers in the morning to get rid of most of em. also have rabon blocks in the woods, the deer use em. other thing i found that catches em pretty good is flypaper stuck to 9 inch paper plates. seems the deer flys are attracted to bright white, and if it moves, they like it more. hang the plates from the trees with some line. they land on the plates and get stuck to the fly paper. kind of crude, but it works.

 

[kyhayman]

I get the 99 percent deet unscented from Gemplers (US Forest Svc grade stuff) and use it to treat the 'food source (me and the kids). Its just part of my routine, a abundant coating in the morning when I leave and a reapplication when I come in for lunch.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Are these the ones with black on their wings, they circle your head ? Most times they are territorial, come out of dense vegetation and forest around here, way back when everything was fields here, you would have to go into the woods to find them, we only had a ridge that was wooded then, hardly any bugs except mosquitos, now with fields overgrown they are right up to the house. If I have a few around me, I'll place a hand on my head, let em land and move my hand to smack em, good for awhile til the next one detects you, though there are not mass numbers of them, just enough to annoy you. Supposed to be the carbon dioxide exhaled they pick up on like mosquitos, not sure how you can rid an area of them, they seem to like shaded forests or dense vegetation, you won't attract them in an open field they don't like the sun, at least here they don't, but if you pass through a wooded area, they'll usually stay on you. Was so dry last year they and most other annoying bugs like gnats, blackflies, no see-ums were non existent by this time, end of July. This year, back to the usual, have to wear a no see-um net sometimes.

 

[Spook]

I am in Michigan and these guys can drive ya crazy. I don't bother much with them because they seem to be mostly down along the road, the flies attack my windshield as I come up the drive, but slack off by the time I get to the garage. I looked them up in a bug book. The proper classification is "flesh eating flies" Bout says it all....lol!

 

[glennster]

yp them are the ones , have kind of a black wedge shape on the wings, buzz around your head till they bite. heres a picture
deer fly

 

[Dennis (VA)]

Around here we have found a way that helps when working outside on a tractor. We mount a pole with a one or two gallon bucket attached paint it blue and cover it it a product called Tangle Foot which traps them in its sticky substance. It really works.

 

[greygoat]

When I purchased my land, in west Central
Wisconsin, near the Mississippi river,39 years
ago, in September, there were none, I have since
learned that they have a definate 6 week life
span. They arrive about the end of June, and last
for six weeks, and are usually done by the 10th
of august. there may be a few early hatches and
some late stragglers. I think that the life cycle
is involved with water, and our prevaling winds
here, from the west, bring them in from the river
and associated swamps. My brothers farm, 20 miles east of the big river doesn't have any. there is
really no good way to get rid of them as the wind
keeps bringing them in. I believe that the life
cycle depends upon laying eggs in or over water,
and, like misquetos, they need a protein meal,
blood, in order to produce eggs.

 

[IH2444]

.410 shotgun with #12 shot works pretty well.