I don't know whether this is a proven advice, but I follow it and never been bitten again.
I've read somewhere that it's recommended to wear a white shirt.
Hollywood gave us a glimpse of the possibilities back in 1986! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdB02IufaW0
-Dr. Memory
It's a trap! But seriously... it works, we have one by the pool, many dead buggers in there on a daily basis. Over the course of the year, it reduces the horse fly population.
Unfortunately, going up a 6-8% gravelly incline kinda precluded any attempt to outrun them. The only saving grace is that they are pretty slow once they land, so easy to kill, but they've already bitten by then.
That's when you've got to dig deep. Don't you just love going into the red on a seemingly endless climb... Although I will recognize that as not the ideal place to get attacked. I was on a similar sort of ride in the rolling hills of Baselbiet yesterday, but didn't have any issue with horseflies. I suspect that's because the area is more arable than livestock-based.
Yea. That definitely needs to be fixed. It's one of the bullet points on my whiteboard.
Need to become swiss, at a swimming spot this weekend a local was getting harassed by a horsefly and another expat asked what the swiss call horseflies he just shrugged and said we grew up with them and let it bite him...
The Swiss call them "Brämen", the Germans "Bremsen".
As I have not seen one since I gave up horse riding, I guess the English got the proper name for them.
I read somewhere that, once trapped, they begin to breed pretty quickly. How and when do you dispose of the contents of the trap, so as not to facilitate their breeding?
I read the link, they die (drown) in the trap. Not 100% convinced it will work as well as they claim though!
I was bitten by a barn/stable fly this year in the garden, looked exactly like a house fly, it landed on my leg and bit me, hurt first then itched like a bugger for ages. I couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a normal fly, the hateful little sh*t.
Yes, I also read that the adults drown. Also, however, that they reproduce first. And that the larvae flourish in that environment. I asked because, if that is so, then when one tips out the waste, one would have a nice breeding ground all set up.
Someone told me the mass is supposed to be tossed into a fire. But I'd imagine that various substances inside the traps are more or less conducive to the development of young.
Stealth horsefly. Sounds like somebody else is up to tricks in their bathroom...
That's why I stick to only the finest Bordeaux.
No flies on me. Okay, there are a few in a jar on my desk.
They really have been barstewards for the last 4 or 5 weeks. I find they congregate in certain sections of trail, usually lower down and sunny spots. There's one spot near me I call ambush alley cos in about 10 minutes biking an unprotected biker can pick up 5 or 6 bites.
If you're a total mossie/horsefly (the 2 go together) magnet like me then forget Citronella and all the other natural stuff, they go right through it. The only solution is to bathe in DEET before you go and to try to complete the climbing part of your MTB tour before you're sweated it all out again (they can't keep up with a downhilling MTB). Oh and take an antihistamine cream for the 4 cm2 patch of skin that you missed but they will assuredly find.
Or find someone who is even more of a horsefly magnet than you to bike with you.
My rates are quite reasonable considering....
Maybe a stupid question, but yesterday i killed one and it seem it had blood on it? are these bastards sucking our blood or the one from the poor horses?
I might need a flamethrower... although small towels are quite effective as well xD
From both.
What do you think they sting for? Out of spite?
Actually mossies suck your blood, nice and neat through a fine tube. Horseflies tear a lump out of your skin and lap the blood up.
Now it makes sense...
Super idea. You aim that thing on your arm, where the horsefly sits, shoot and you are sure they will never bite you there again.
No arm, no bite...