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Comment by npsimons | Hacker News Reader

That's nice; get back to me when you find something portable, ie something good for hiking.

Avon Skin So Soft. The oil. Works so well that they turned it into bug spray. Never tried the bug spray, but I swear by the oil.

As used in Scotland for midges. I was wondering if it would work for mosquitoes too.

Locally most of the nature trails are built thru swamps (aka eco warriors holy wetlands). They're economically worthless, so they make nice parks and trails.

The point of the article is they can't fly faster than 2 mph or so. Simply move faster than 2 MPH. I've ridden my bicycle thru swamps and not gotten bit.

I also hike and between walking and a bit of wind there is not much problem as long as I don't stop.

A bug in the eye still hurts... wear sunglasses.

Got any solutions for horse flies? Those things are brutal.

Run!

http://www.deerflypatches.com/

I haven't tried them.

http://bugasalt.com

I staple a blue plastic cup to the top of a walking staff and coat the cup with a layer of tanglefoot. It's like a fly magnet. In the thick of the season I might catch 75 in an outing. This guy had it figured out years ago, http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/MizellRF/deer-fly-testimonial.htm

Midges in the Scottish Highlands are so sensitive to wind that the act of hiking itself creates enough of a breeze to prevent them from biting.

As I found out first-hand this week: just keep walking.

[Additional: Avon Skin-so-Soft seems to prevent midges from surviving a landing, but I didn't find anything to beat larger clegs/horseflies except a good slapping - they will bite through clothing]

What about anti-beastie head nets and jackets?

http://www.purpleturtle.co.uk/acatalog/Protective_Clothing.h...

Only hike into a head wind.

Camp at the end until the wind turns?

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