Given the fact that we have reports of crows being mugged by the skeeters in the SC Lowcountry, not sure that anything other than 99% pure DEET will help!

 

The scentless stuff doesn't work good, I've tried it all.

I use a minimum of 40% deet. Repel Sportsman max, with 40% works good, but you have to coat yourself in it and it smells. Repel has a 99% product in a small bottle, you don't have to use as much.

If you are staying in the same area and not moving about, set up thermocells, they work the best for skeeters without having to put something on yourself.

 

I have to move around a 100 yard sq area where I work surrounded by wet area, so the mosquitos & nats will be bad.
right now around the fields I cant get away from the ticks.

 

Use something with permethrin in it for ticks, the deets works good on skeeters but not as well for ticks.

This stuff keeps ticks and redbugs off very well for me. Treat your clothes in it. It doesn't have an odor. https://sawyer.com/products/feature/permethrin/
I use that with a combo of something with a high % of deet in it.

Skin so Soft, don't waste your money. Where I go by some of these swamps, they will lick it off to suck your blood. I've tried the Skin so Soft, it fails.

 

Skin so Soft by Avon (the unofficial choice of the USMC)

 

Testing has shown Skin so Soft to be less than effective.

"For decades rumor has held that Skin-So-Soft Bath Oil is an effective counter to mosquitoes, yet a 1993 Consumer Reports analysis found it ineffective for that purpose. Because so many people were buying the product for its purported mosquito combating properties, in 1994 Avon added a non-DEET repellent and a sunscreen to the popular bath oil and began marketing the new concoction as Avon Skin-So-Soft Bug Guard Repellent. Avon disputes the 2002 results posted in the New England Journal of Medicine study, claiming its Bug Guard Repellent works for three hours, not the 10.3 minutes for its Bug Guard Repellent and the 22.9 minutes for its Bug Guard Repellent Plus the study found, but a 2003 Consumer Reports analysis found the Skin-So-Soft repellent deterred mosquitoes for only one hour. "

 

1. the smell of DEET hasn't killed me, yet.
2. my uncle used to smoke his pipe while mowing...worked for him.
3. duct tape with sticky side out stops the redbugs/ticks at shin level.

 

Ticks also jump on you from nearby branches and plants, they don't all cone from the ground up.

 

Looking into some websites on this topic lead to another insecticide recommendation, one that I haven't heard of: picaridin. I also came across the eat more garlic, onions, and take vitamin B as a way to make yourself less tasty to the bugs.

 

For mosquitos you can try buying a bottle of artificial clear vanilla. It is cheap, smells good and mosquitos seem to stay away for me.
There are comments about spraying yourself with the original (yellow) Listerine - no personal experience with it.
Doubt either would work well for ticks so I'd try the permethrin product or duct tape.

 

Or.... you can do like I did when I was a kid back in the '70's. Wait until the bug spray truck comes into the neighborhood and get behind that sucker on your bicycle and ride in that big cloud trailing behind it. Just pray that it doesn't stop in front of you. Then you should be good to go for several hours against the skeeters. lol!

 

If it doesn't stink, why do you think it will repel anything?

 

i switched to Off Botanicals and it seems to be working. doesnt stink real bad, but it does only last for a few hours before you need to re-spray

 

I hear eating garlic or taking a garlic supplement will help keep them away. I use a thermal cell in the tree stand or fishing. All bets are off for yard work.

 

I second Permethrin. Sawyer is the brand I prefer. I do a lot of multi day hikes and spray my clothes, tent, and pack the day before leaving and never have an issue. The manufacturer claims it lasts 42 days or 6 washes.

 

+1 Qball....an it nver afected mi hat al.

 

Thermacell!

 

The SSS was all we had in the 80s, so we used it. Then, DEET became the answer for USMC FMF.
Seriously, if you'll take a shot of vinegar it works for a couple of hours until you sweat it out. That's the best I've ever found for skeeters.
For ticks, treat your clothes with the Permethrin; just not your skin.

 

+1 Qball....an it nver afected mi hat al.

Nap. Navr fectd mi tal. i sen luci n de ski end she haad dimands to.....lol.

 

Put vinegar on your skin, sticks, shoes et al. It does work, at least it does for me. All I ever did was eat some pickles, slaw the night before and they would not bite.

 

Garlique and take a B1 vitamin. NOT a B complex vitamin. A B1 ONLY supplement. After taking these for about a week, you should notice skeeters flying around you, but they won't land and bite.

 

I picked up some permethrin at Southern States. About $12 a bottle and I put 2/3oz in a spray bottle. Sprayed clothes and shoes. Smells for a few minutes and that's it. No ticks found after being in a hay field.

 

SSS keeps bugs, and most people away.