sparky wrote:Headnets arent annoying at all if you have a hat on. I dont leave home without it. Get a green one. The black ones seem harder to see through.
Im curious that your 99% deet didnt work?? Must have been defective. Deet has always worked wonders for me.
Yeah I was suprised too. Its actually 98.11% but thay shouldnt matter. Ive taken this bottle on a few trips as backup and its always disappointed me so im tossing it.
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At any rate I think im done with DEET as a go-to. Ill continue to carry a small bottle for those days when the skeeters are just out of control. But I think ill stick with 20% Picaridin products for regular usage.
The health issues, the oily film, the smell, the possibility of melting stuff! Its just too much. I imagine in the future people will look back at using DEET against bugs and laugh, the same way we now look at using Asbestos in construction.
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I backpacked with an REI employee last weekend. He brought Picardin, DEET, and one other I can't remember. DEET was the clear winner. Picardin was close to worthless - they still hovered and some of them bit. Which jives with my previous attempts to find alternates. Eucaliptis junk or citronella bothered me more than the bugs.
None of them work against biting flies, which were out and biting every afternoon.
Clothes and a headnet trump it all.
I use 30% DEET sparingly on the backs of hands, and clothing and a headnet.
Im gonna bring one of those on the next trip. How did it work out? Was it annoying to wear?
A head net doesn't really bother me; much less than mosquitoes! I agree that you should use it with a hat, the bigger the better, so the netting stays as far as possible from your skin. This along with long sleeves and pants keeps me sane. I still use a bit of DEET (3M Ultrathon has been the best for me) when needed, which is usually early morning and early evening when I'm not moving on the trail yet.
I'm still rather convinced that you can achieve more than you've ever dreamed of if you just lower your standards.
Have attached this thread to several posts this past week, so now it is being
bumping back to life, this thread has some excellent suggestion on ways to
deal with those little blood suckers vampires, and making your backcountry
experience feel a bit better.
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer
I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.
Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member:http://reconn.org
I used to use deet and have even brought some the last couple of years just in case but now I mostly use nothing. What I do is use a head net and gloves. Then I keep my rain shell in an outside pocket of my pack so when I stop for what ever reason I throw my rain shell on so they cannot bite through my shirt.
Sometimes when they are bad and I am hiking they will land on my shoulders and bite through my clothes so I might put a single spray there but the last couple of years I haven't had to do that.
Last year I took some non deet style bug spray but then I read the fine print and I did not like how it said it causes severe but temporary eye damage.
Last edited by RoguePhotonic on Thu May 29, 2014 1:10 am, edited 1 time in total.