That was simply an advanced scout. The main force was about a mile back. Consider yourself lucky.
If the south had been willing to allow horse flies to serve during the Civil War, it might have been a whole different story....Bedford Forrest was open to using them but the Confederate Congress voted it down.
Imagine Sherman's "March to the Sea" harassed by horse flies.
Get a hat with shoulder flaps. Also, get some tanglefoot and put on some blue plastic (cut out solo cup) on top of your hat so they stick if they land. Problem solved.
Nothing to do, it just sucks. Good for fartlek though.
used to deal with those F'ers up in MD. Was a great trail to run on except for those things
___________________________________________________________
Sure right. I used to run in Southern, MD on a farm. Deer flys, Horse flies so bad, you couldn't even stop for a piss or you would get eaten alive. No kidding, they draw blood
Bring chopstick on run! Catch fly with chopstick.
local man wrote:
They're attracted to movement and dark colors, hence it attacking your head. Unfortunately, they are omnipresent in all wooded areas between May and September.
I figured this out my first vacation where I did any running. Had dark clothes on the first day, hit the gravel roads and was swarmed. Day 2 I switched to the brightest shirt I packed and only had to deal with a couple. I now have some bright yellow shirts specifically for vacation running.
C'mon dude.
Run on a treadmill and the fly can not take off.
Castaway wrote:
Sure right. I used to run in Southern, MD on a farm. Deer flys, Horse flies so bad, you couldn't even stop for a piss or you would get eaten alive. No kidding, they draw blood
I used to go "Death Wish" on them. On a particularly nasty stretch of one of my loops I left a can of Raid hidden behind a tree. Whenever I approached the danger zone, I'd grab a can and lure those thugs into my trap. Suddenly I'd stop, turn around, then with extreme prejudice PSSSSSSSSSST PSSSSST PSSSSST PSSSST the little bastards to a horrific end.
Usually you could outrun them at a good pace, probably about 5:00/mile
I realize this is terrible naive of me to ask but do we really need these things? What would be the implication of them going extinct? I'd really like to f some of their days up.
Life Cycle
Adult tabanids are encountered in Florida between the months of May and September. Most species overwinter in the larval stage and pupate during the spring and early summer. An egg mass has been found as early as May 5th and as late October 13th. Most have a year-long life cycle but some larger species may take two or three years. Adult life span is 30 to 60 days.
Damage
Tabanids lie in wait in shady areas under bushes and trees for a host to happen by. Sight is the main host finding mechanism, but carbon dioxide and odor also play a role. Moving objects, especially if dark colored, are most prone to attack. Attacks occur during daylight hours with a peak beginning at sunrise and lasting three hours. A second peak is two hours before sunset and commences shortly after. Attack frequency is low on overcast days or at temperatures below 22 and above 32 ºC. On livestock, biting occurs on the abdomen, legs, and neck. Tabanids inflict deep wounds that cause a flow of blood. The mandibles and maxillae penetrate the skin in a scissor-like action. Anticoagulants in the saliva are pumped into the wound and the blood is ingested through the sponging labella. Pathogens may be transmitted from flies that are disturbed while feeding on one animal and begin feeding on another. It is known that deer flies can mechanically vector Tularemia and Loa loa, and horse flies transmit Anthrax. Fly attacks result in lowered gains and low milk production in livestock animals. In 1976, estimated losses in the United States were at 40 million dollars. One cattle ranch in Kentucky lost an average 100 lbs. per animal due to tabanids. It is not uncommon to see as many as 100 flies feeding on an animal at one time. Twenty to thirty flies feeding for six hours are capable of taking 100 cc of blood.
Biological Control
There are no effective biological control programs for controlling tabanids. There are native beneficial insects that target tabanids. Eggs are parasitizied by such Hymenoptera families as Trichogrammatidae, Scelionidae and Chalcididae. Diapriidae and Pteromalidae (Hymenoptera) and Bombyliidae and Tachinidae (Diptera) parasitize the larvae and pupa. Tabanid adults are used as provisions for nest building wasps. Cattle egrets and killdeer are also tabanid feeders.
Management
Currently there are no adequate means for managing populations. Traps are sometimes effective in control of small areas such as yards, camping sights, and swimming pools. Trapping of nuisance flies has reduced their numbers on the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Traps have been effective when used around cattle that are confined to manageable areas.
Some traps are spherical, black and shiny balls. The flies are attracted to these objects as the wind moves them. Malaise traps can catch large numbers of flies by simply being in their flight paths or by the use of attractants, such as CO2 and octenol. These traps are mostly useful for sampling. For personal protection, long sleeve shirts and pants in combination with a repellent containing diethyltoluamidae (DEET), citronella, or geraniol are affective. For livestock, pyrethroid pour-ons function as limited repellents. Self-applicating methods are not effective for horse flies. Ear tags and head collars impregnated with insecticides have had success in control. For removal trapping, recent research has shown that blue cylinders (inverted cups, for example) coated with sticky material and attached to slow moving (<7 mi/hr) objects (the front of a truck or riding lawnmower) or on top of a cap worn atop a person's head are effective at reducing the abundance of these flies See Trolling Deer Fly Trap for more information..
I hate these flys- and I think they are indeed deer flys. They're not just a southern problem, although it sounds like you have to deal with them for more of the year. I used to live in central MN, and for the month of July the woods were afwul. If you went early they were better, but you could look back and see this cloud of flys tracking you.
If I pushed it (6 minute pace or so), they could just follow, and not land. If I slowed up, they would try bite, and I'd be constantly slapping the back of my head. Used to keep track of how many I'd kill in a 10 mile run, was usually over 60. I never noticed a benefit from spray, and if the spray/sweat mixture got in the eyes, it was pretty bad. Now I'm a city dweller, and I just have to worry about getting run over.
White Wine Vinegar. It's especially effective if you run wearing hat & sprinkle it liberally on the headgear.
Sprinkle the stuff on your head, neck, shoulders and arms.
Don't be shy about it either.
It works. I use it. We have deeflies up here in the Northeast and they are persistent little b*stards. They will buzz around your head for miles, literally. Love to catch them then pop them with my fingers, filthy little bloodsuckers. The Deerfly actually has slashing little mandibles rather than a suction unit akin to a mousquito.
DIE you aggravting nuisances!!!
The deerflies are also known to cause STS (Seasonal Tourette Syndrome), not to mention Kentaro Ito - itis. Wish I had thought of Malmo's solution, terminating the buggers with extreme prejudice.
We never had horse flies on a trail run. There were horses all along the run and they kept the flies for us.
We ran on horse trails and the runs began and ended near a series of stables.
We did run in the snow, but not on the trails, as footing from the hidden hoof prints covered by snow was too treacherous. We ran indoors then or on remote roads.
They are deer flies and we have them in NY too. I would wear a cap on backwards (not my usual look) and that would help. I found that if you ran under a 7:30 pace for a bit you would lose them.
Also if you spun around fast you often can surprise them and kill them with your hands. They seemed to like to come close by your neck and the back of your head but would only circle the front of you above the head making it harder to get them.
Thou puny ill-nurtured pumpion!
Get an electric fly swatter!!!! :)
Nothing is more gratifying that bringing one of those on your runs and electrocuting those annoying vampire bitches!
I've always wanted to catch one with my hands and rip of its wings and watch it suffer in pain lol
Conundrum wrote:
They are deer flies and we have them in NY too. I would wear a cap on backwards (not my usual look) and that would help. I found that if you ran under a 7:30 pace for a bit you would lose them..
There's no way in hell you can lose a deer fly at 7:30 pace.
They drop at about 5:30 pace.
W. Mitty wrote:
The deerflies are also known to cause STS (Seasonal Tourette Syndrome), not to mention Kentaro Ito - itis. Wish I had thought of Malmo's solution, terminating the buggers with extreme prejudice.
Originally, I started out with one can of Raid, but I'd forget which end of the death zone I left it, so I added a 2nd can. That cut down the number of times I went defenseless but soon enough the cans would stack up at one end or another.
But it was very satisfying to have control over the little bastards.
Those things suck. They used to follow me on this trail growing up in Massachusetts. Things that worked were wearing a hat (which I hate); when had no hat, I would wrap my shirt on my head during that trail; getting to an area with some breeze seems to work. Once in a while they would get caught in my hair and I would nail them.