If you live or vacation in the Northwoods, I’m sure at some point you been bitten by many flying insects, so this week’s topic is about three plus one of the most annoying insects with wings I have ever encountered, and I’ll guarantee, EVERYONE will agree with me on this.

I would say, there are three insect seasons, GNATS, BLACK FLIES and MOSQUITOES, but I’m adding the painful biting SANDFLIES to the list. The first insect to appear in the spring (May to June) is the GNAT. Although it is uncommon for these insects to bite, some species will, but to me these are more annoying than anything. Even though Mosquitoes would be next, their appearance could depend on the winter we had and spring weather. These blood suckers can show up in late May, but there are ways to protect yourself from this insect with a number of repellents. If I took a vote on the worst/annoying insect In the Northwoods, I believe most would say the two insects that really no spray can prevent them from their stinging bite and those would be the DEER and HORSE FLIES. I lost count of how many times I’ve been fishing and because of the sharp pain, thought I got stung by a bee, but then saw blood running down my leg or at times on my hand from being bitten on my neck. Although deer and horse flies can be active between May and September, June and July are the worst two months for deer flies and august is the worst for horse flies. They are found around marshes, ponds, streams, lakes and edges of woods, so that means these flies are pretty much all over the Northoods.

To make those future pain in our ass baby insects, (no offence to the ladies that visit or subscribe to our site), but they need blood for their egg development so only female insects bite and or sting. I thought these two black flies had some kind of stinger, but I read, part of their mouth has razorlike teeth to bite and use another part of their mouth to soak up our blood like a sponge. Then, we keep bleeding because their saliva has an anti-clotting agent. Deer flies are just a little bigger than the common house fly, and Wisconsin has two species of horse flies but thank God only the smaller one’s attack people. I’m thinking if any of us were bitten by the BIGGER horse fly, we might have to cauterize the wound and then get a blood transfusion. These annoying insects are attracted to movement, carbon-dioxide, and dark colors and as I mentioned above, there is no insect repellent that has been developed that will 100% keep these irritating flies from biting us, but repellents with DEET can provide a few hours of protection. Although some folks HAVE gotten a fever and/or had an allergic reaction from deer or horse fly saliva, this is uncommon, and I haven’t read about any SERIOUS health issues from either fly’s bite in the Northwoods. I will tell you, once you get the bleeding stopped, it’s going to itch and will get irritated or infected and will swell from scratching. I have found washing the area with soap and water, then putting ice on the bite helps and using antiseptic cream or spray for insect bites has always worked for me. If you don’t see any improvement to the area that was bit, go to a pharmacy for advice, but, if it looks like it could be infected, see a doctor. I have read, wearing long sleeves shirts, pants and a light color hat WILL NOT prevent you from getting bit, but you will notice a difference. Here’s three things of interest about deer and horse flies. 1) For reasons I can’t and for that matter no one can explain, these flies will not go indoors. 2) Deer flies bite above the shoulder and horse flies below the shoulders. 3) Male deer and horse flies live off pollen and again, it’s only the annoying female flies that cause those painful stinging bites and suck the blood right out of you. The last annoying insect and probably the most painful bite would be the sandfly. Like the black flies, only the female sandfly bite and suck blood for egg development. Ok, I’m sure there are a few jokes and more lines I could write about the blood sucking females, but I found out many years ago, a happy wife means a happy life.