When I lead nature walks, I always tell people that it helps to wear a hat.
They tend to prefer to land and bite on the top of the head or near the ears
where the skin is thin and easy to bite. With a hat on they will often sit on
the top of your hat and look and look but never find a spot to bite. It's
certainly not foolproof, but it helps.

If I'm caught without a hat I usually look for bracken fern which is a three
pronged fern. If you invert the fern and wear it like a funny sort of hat it
definitely helps. They'll land on the fern stock and search, but not find you.
Be careful not to go ripping up ferns like crazy, though. Only use it in an
'emergency'.

Unfortunately, they are one of those amazingly pesky critters that will
actually chase you quite a long way. Once they start flying laps around your head,
you may as well give up on being able to concentrate. I usually high-tail it
out of the area and hope I can outrun them, because they hurt and they will
bite repeatedly!!

For my fellow MA boxers, beware that Borderland State park in Sharon, MA is a
reeeeeeeally bad deerfly area this time of year. I usually remember that fact
when I'm stumbling through the woods trying to outrun them and swatting
frantically like a crazed windmill.

Hopefully that will help....though I have a mental image of letterboxers
trooping around with ferny elf hats like my little summer camp kids. LOL
-Kim (Rustypuff)


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We got some Cutter Outdoors bug spray the other day. Its 29% deet and
a spray on a hat and across the shoulders should work. The 4 of us
hiked Hartman for 5 hours and did not get touched -- even in the
swampy areas.

Wal-Mart, about $3.

-Steve and Heidi

You can always wear a beekeepers hat! Can't look any sillier than
the fern hats. LOL