Mosquito, black fly, bug bite remedies

Newpond0

Newpond0

Active member
Sitting here with swollen ears, forehead, and around my eyes. Red marks everywhere. unbearably itchy. The bug spray didn’t work good enough. I’m gonna have a hot bath with epsom salts later and dunk my head in it as much as possible.

What do you guys use to heal up after getting hammered by the bugs?
 
Calamine lotion, epsom salts to relieve the itch. I was in Corpus right after Carla hit. Pull the watch cap over the head and RUN when outside. Mosquitoes would form a cloud over your head.
 
Like this?
1748528597393.jpeg
 
hm1996 said:
Like this?
View attachment 18145
Click to expand...
Lol not that bad, but just putting the caller out I probably had 20 buzzing around me. Within minutes of the rabbit playing I had 20-30 on or within inches of my eyes, eyelashes, and forehead. And I could feel more on my ears and occasionally in my ears, they even got between my shirt and butt crack area, lots of them. As time went on more and more were joining the party.

I was trying my best to stay still and keep scanning and complete my 1 hour calling set but man
 
That picture was taken one evening. Had Walker's game ears on and heard humming that I thought was a feedback squeal. Finally looked up and saw this cloud of mosquitoes about 8-10' off the ground. Fortunately, they never came down!
 
Per my previous post congratulating you on a successful hunt… my suspicions were correct… You did NOT escape the swarm!

Calamine lotion is about all I know of. I’ve heard ammonia before as well, but never tried it. I’ve never been torn up so bad to need that. Hope you get some relief man! That’s gotta suck!
 
Not sure about the after effects, but Thermacells are worth their weight in gold in your environment. During the warmer months I have one in my back pocket when hog/coyote hunting. I turn the until on prior to arrival and it’s “working” by the time I open the door of the truck. I trust them so much I have spares that are still in the packs, lol. I’ll never be caught in the woods without one.
 
Heard good things about Thermacells.

Prevention in the first place is key. Permethrin treated clothing and Picaridin lotion for exposed body parts works for me. The Picaridin is scentless and it doesnt destroy the finish on firearms, melt synthetic stocks, or take the paint off things you touch like DEET.
 
I spray my head cover (whatever they call them) with DEET and pull it over the head, eyes only showing. Covers head and neck. Put the muffs on over it. I can hear the bugs but they don't bother me.
edit: balacava is what they call them.
 
Last edited:
Back packers are saying opening up the air intake(to compensate for lower air(O2 density) by 20% will help start the thermacell burner. Allowing use above 7000 ft.
 
I have beaver nuisance permit for a farmers property. Put one trap in the flooded grassy hay ground. Going to sit tonight in a grass waterway on a hill about 50 yards away from the tile they are blocking at night. With a suppressed 223 AR. Taking a thermacell with.
 
Last edited:
I did a 12 mile trail ride on my mountain bike this evening finishing up around dusk. I ran into a friend along the trail and we stopped to chat briefly. Holy Cow! We were swarmed within seconds by mosquitos and we cut that chat short to keep moving. Got me thinking that I'm definitely going to pack my Picaridin along on rides in case of flatting or some other trailside delays!
 
Thanks for all the reply’s guys!

Bought a thermacell, after bite, and a polysporin brand for itch relief due to bug bites.

The polysporin brand worked far better than the afterbite as the itching would start again even worse after an hour with that one. Also the calamine lotion at my Walmart had some reviews saying it’s way too full of water nowadays, not like the product used to be back in the day unfortunately.

gonna dig up the bug net mask and practice some dry firing in the backyard and see how it feels. I never bothered with it before as I thought it may hurt my vision or be a nuisance when it’s time to take a shot.

Hopefully the thermacell works, and lesson learned in the bug spray. It was the off deep woods brand, I might as well been misting myself with sugar water to intentionally attract the bugs would have been the same result.
 
No remedy but all my woods clothes (except bowhunting & that is when I got Lymes, Nov. '23) have been treated with permethrin for years and bare skin sprayed with "Cutters"-more potent than "Off". The skeeters fly around but don't seem to land for more than a second or 2 if at all so I don't take my Thermacell with me anymore. Don't know if this would be as effective for them 'damndable' blackflies or not though. Thermacell does work on them in my experience.
 
Did a little more research into permethrin and gonna start treating my hunting clothing with it. Looks like they don’t sell the diluted spray for outdoorsmen here in Canada, but you can buy the concentrated versions in gardening, farm supply, or pet stores here and dilute it yourself.



 
Back
Top