Went camping last weekend, can't help but wonder...

[Kaido]

My worst mosquito experience was trying to camp (KOA) in the south, in summer, next to the Mississippi River. Van converted to a camper, but didn't think to put add screens for the windows. By 3 am we just decided to leave and get back on the road.

Best mosquito trap I've ever seen is the box fan system. You can make it for like a buck, or if you'd rather have a pre-made bag with hooks, they sell them for like twenty bucks:

http://skeeterbag.com/

Bonus, you can run them off a car inverter pretty easily.

 

[Red Squirrel]

There was some TV show like this, Revolution or something, where all of the power worldwide goes out permanently. Everything reverted back to the old days where everything was manufactured manually. One of the characters was hiking along and said something like "I was worth $80 million at Google; I'd trade it all for a roll of Charmin right now"

Damn, toilet paper is one of those things we take for granted, but I can't imagine having to go without it. If I was on a show like naked and afraid and they don't let me bring toilet paper it would be a deal breaker.

 

[Spacehead]

Even just walking out to get the mail in summer sucked back at my parents' house. No more than 10 feet from the front door and a fly would start orbiting your head, prepping to land and slice right in.

About a week ago i walked down to get the mail & was attacked by deer flies. 1 on the forehead, 1 on my arm & 1 thru my shirt on my back before i made it back to my car.
Mosquitoes haven't been bad this year so far as it's been very dry. Some days the deer & horse flies are bad & some days i can be out all day without being bothered.

 

[John Connor]

If you're trying to survive an apocalypse, nature has you already covered (no pun intended) http://www.healthline.com/health/kinds-of-natural-mosquito-repellant#3

I'm sure native Americans had their remedies as well.

For me personally I would do what did as a kid. I'd cover my self with mud. When I was young I had all kinds of toy guns, up to and including a few M60's. I made the neighbor laugh his ass off with M60 in one hand and mud all over my chest. HAHAHA

 

[John Connor]

Someone mentioned Panama.

https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/history/panama_canal.html


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria_prophylaxis#History

 

[lxskllr]

About a week ago i walked down to get the mail & was attacked by deer flies. 1 on the forehead, 1 on my arm & 1 thru my shirt on my back before i made it back to my car.
Mosquitoes haven't been bad this year so far as it's been very dry. Some days the deer & horse flies are bad & some days i can be out all day without being bothered.

Raise your non dominant arm over your head. When the deer fly lands on that hand, kill it with your other hand. They like to land on the highest surface, and they're slow and stupid. Needless to say, it doesn't work on house flys. They're clever and fast :^D

 

[KMFJD]

I just had to camp in Labrador and Northern Quebec for a couple of nights and you have no idea how bad the black flies are up there, you almost welcome nigh time and the mosquito swarms. Whenever we saw someone working outdoors they were covered head to toe and had mosquito nets on.

fuck black flies

 

[zinfamous]

smoke, wind, and smelling like ass-sweat has always helped.

get back to nature, son.

 

[MongGrel]

Try fishing in the Everglades without bug repellent.

 

[feralkid]

If you're in the wilderness for more than a few days, you don't bother with bug spray. After you get over being bitten for a few days, they leave you alone.

Sure they do.

 

[DrPizza]

Camping, mosquitoes? You're doing it wrong. About the time mosquitoes come out - right around dusk, you should have a nice bonfire going. Sit where it's a little smokey for a while & you'll have few, if any mosquito bites. (Just got done with 2 weeks of camping, and 2 weeks of bonfires every night around dusk.)

 

[Red Squirrel]

Camping, mosquitoes? You're doing it wrong. About the time mosquitoes come out - right around dusk, you should have a nice bonfire going. Sit where it's a little smokey for a while & you'll have few, if any mosquito bites. (Just got done with 2 weeks of camping, and 2 weeks of bonfires every night around dusk.)

I can confirm that a bonfire does not really repel them as much as you'd think. If anything it probably attracts them.

It seems they come out around 9-10 when the sun is going down, sometimes they go away an hour later, but I've seen it where they just stick around all night. Tough it out for an hour till 11 then give up. Pics, bug spray, those Off fan thingies, at some point none of that stuff works. I want to try a bug zapper with yeast/sugar water though, I just keep forgetting to buy yeast to try it. Hopefully I won't get put on a moonshiner list.

 

[Worthington]

the bugs are the one thing that really get me when watching Naked and Afraid. Coming from S Fl i know all too well just how demoralizing a cloud of biting insects can be. Watch that show and think "eh, have no desire to do this but probably could if I had to"... then I see every inch of their bodies covered in bug bites and go "nope, definitely not. No thanks"

 

[Jeff7]

About a week ago i walked down to get the mail & was attacked by deer flies. 1 on the forehead, 1 on my arm & 1 thru my shirt on my back before i made it back to my car.
Mosquitoes haven't been bad this year so far as it's been very dry. Some days the deer & horse flies are bad & some days i can be out all day without being bothered.

What really sucks about deer flies and horse flies is how damned fast they fly. Mosquitoes are fairly lazy fliers, and if you can see one while it's biting, it doesn't stand a good chance of surviving the encounter.
Deer and horse flies are just all-around fast an maneuverable.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Mosquito born illnesses kill you slowly. Access to quinine in a apocalyptic setting should be much easier than access to antibiotics. When smallpox comes back, its going to kill 1/4 of the race. If smallpox doesnt get you, then the Syphilis has a very good chance of destroying you, and if you dont get that then something else will get you.

Mosquitos are a real bad dangerous threat, but, in the grand scheme of things, in a true hell on earth scenario, they are treated more as a nuisance than as mini plague-bringers.

 

[lxskllr]

mini plague-bringers.

I like to call those "kids"