Tired of being dive bombed? Here's how I get rid of deer flies when I'm working in the yard or woods. Yes, it looks weird, but it works.
Deer flies like to attack from behind and land on your head or neck. Put on this double stick tape, and they tend to aim for the strip of kinda sorta flesh colored tape instead of your neck. Then their feet get stuck in the tape. No more deer flies buzzing you.
Being the DIY guy, I first bought this online, and I thought, I can get rid of deer flies myself. So I went out and got a roll of double sided carpet tape. But it doesn't work nearly as well. I'm not sure what's up with this special tape, but its cheap enough that its totally worth it for peace of mind.
I can't stand the dive bombing of the flies. And while I do get stung while beekeeping, the deer flies drive me crazy. Not sure why. Their bite seems to last longer.
According to Wikipedia, only the female deer fly will bite. The male eats pollen. And the deer fly can be a vector for anthrax, nice! But the deer fly also has predators: nest building wasps and hornets, birds such as the killdeer, and dragonflies. This is why I don't remove wasps nests unless they are in an area where we are walking around. Leave them be to get the deer flies!
Linda
It looks like these might be safe if only used on clothing worn on the body where birds will be hesitant to go after the flies. I've seen another similar product that reportedly was pulled from the market. Birds would swoop in on the bugs but ended up with wings and feet getting trapped on the sticky surface.