Deer Fly Trap attachment

[Dingo Man]

I am not sure if anyone has heard of this but it works. I am also not sure if Deer flies are called deer flies everywhere else but in Maine we call them deer flies. If anyone has ever been bitten by them or even worse a moose fly which is bigger, it feels like the neighborhood drug dealer's pitbull just took a chunk out of your flesh. I got this this remedy from my uncle and his wife who have it down to a science.

Instructions: Save up a few gallon milk jugs, 2. Purchase a can of royal blue spray paint (same color as a kerosene can), 3. Paint the milk jugs with the paint, 4. Go to your local feed store and buy a product called "Tangle Foot", 5. Smear the tangle foot onto the milk jug. 6. Mount the jug on any piece of equipment that will be moving (tractor, lawnmower, ATV, or even walking. Then head out for a days work and you are almost gauranteed not to be bitten by the deer flies.

For some reason deer and moose flies are attracted to that color blue as well as the movement. They will approach the jug and eventually land on it becoming stuck. The attached photos was a light day, but my wife caught 19 flies in about an hour of mowing. My uncle's wife has caught so many at times that she has had to switch out to a new jug because there was no room left on the jug she started out with. If she knows she will be working outside in a particular area on her property she will mount the jug on a pole on the four wheeler and take a couple laps. She then stakes the jug nearby and goes to work. All of the flies make a B line for the jug and leave her alone. Enjoy and let me know how it works for you.

 

[DJ54]

I'll try it round the horsebarn.. Ought to be handy..!!

 

[Gordon Gould]

That might work better than what I do. I didn't know about that Tangle Foot stuff.
What I do - and you can laugh because everyone else does - is mount a film canister or small pill container to the side of my ball cap. Then I take one of those fly paper rolls that come in those little cardboard tubes and I pull out the sticky paper w/o letting it unroll so it forms a sticky tube about 10" long. I put the cardboard canister in the container on my hat so I look like a unicorn with a sticky horn. Any fly buzzing around my head, which is where they always are, will land on the horn and get stuck in a few seconds. Really works good.

 

[J F]

OK, this definitely requires a picture, Gordon.

 

[murphy1244]

I gots to see this Gordon!

 

[kebo]

A blue jug special!!!

 

[Farmerford]

Dingo Man:

Of all the things I thought Maine and south Georgia do not have in common is deer flies; but I was wrong! As a youngster mowing pastures in the 1950's, when it was summer I covered every inch of skin with cloth when I mowed near wetlands to escape those things.

I can't imagine what a moose fly bite is like.

I am going to try your method.

 

[J F]

In the "northish" GA area, and I've been bitten by these winged beasts while mowing.

Usually it's on top of my bald pate where they leave an itchy knot for a couple of days...little bastids.

 

[chim]

They are usually bad here for about a three week period. They are especially bad near the fence row. Before they bite they often follow behind me bumping into my head. Sometimes I land on the reverse end of the hydro pedal and change direction so they come at me from the front. Then I clap my hands in front of my face in an attempt to get 'em.

Never had a lot of success, but I have come to believe that a couple neighbors watched me mow in deer fly season and have treated me gently since then.

 

[Dingo Man]

OK, this definitely requires a picture, Gordon.

Yup, I would like to see that.