Forums >General Running>Deer flies are here
It's peak deer fly season here. My deer fly hat is a big help, but provides less than complete protection. Just for grins and giggles, I ran an experiment to find if the hat collected enough flies to thin out the population. I ran a 5 mile loop, replaced the fly paper, then ran the loop again. The photo below shows the two pieces of fly paper. The fly paper from the first loop is on the left, the second loop on the right.
On the first loop, I whacked 85 flies that got past the fly paper. On the second loop, I whacked 81 flies that got past the fly paper. I was originally planning to run the loop a third time, but decided that enough was enough. From this experiment, I conclude the following:
Deer flies come in two varieties, dumb and dumber. The dumb flies get past the fly paper and attack. The dumber ones get stuck on the fly paper. There is a finite supply of dumber deer flies. There is a near infinite supply of dumb deer flies.
A deer fly hat is a baseball cap worn backwards with a piece of fly paper on the bill. It works well when the deer flies are not so thick. I did the last two miles on a blacktop road, where I collected 13 flies on the fly paper and only whacked two.
So much for science. I'm sticking to blacktop until the deer fly population thins out a bit.
an amazing likeness
Deer flies are the worst. They will harass for miles on end. Perhaps this might help, one runner's deer fly experiment.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
I love that you counted, mounted, documented, thought about, wrote about and shared this. You are a total weirdo (in a good way). Kudos.
Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and roguesWe're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
Holy crap that's a lot of deer flies. What state is this in?
That's a scary amount of deer flies. I just came back from three days of running in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Great Lakes Relay) and though there were deer flies it was nothing like that. I did see one lady with some fly paper on the back of her hat and she had maybe 10 or so on it. I might give up running if I had to deal with what OP shows in that photo!
It's peak deer fly season here. My deer fly hat is a big help, but provides less than complete protection. Just for grins and giggles, I ran an experiment to find if the hat collected enough flies to thin out the population. I ran a 5 mile loop, replaced the fly paper, then ran the loop again. The photo below shows the two pieces of fly paper. The fly paper from the first loop is on the left, the second loop on the right. On the first loop, I whacked 85 flies that got past the fly paper. On the second loop, I whacked 81 flies that got past the fly paper. I was originally planning to run the loop a third time, but decided that enough was enough. From this experiment, I conclude the following: Deer flies come in two varieties, dumb and dumber. The dumb flies get past the fly paper and attack. The dumber ones get stuck on the fly paper. There is a finite supply of dumber deer flies. There is a near infinite supply of dumb deer flies. A deer fly hat is a baseball cap worn backwards with a piece of fly paper on the bill. It works well when the deer flies are not so thick. I did the last two miles on a blacktop road, where I collected 13 flies on the fly paper and only whacked two. So much for science. I'm sticking to blacktop until the deer fly population thins out a bit.
This is really quite the thing to experience...nature's intelligence...amazing, beautiful and necessary. Even if domesticated runners don't like it...they are what they are. I have to see deer flies from their perspective. They are just being deer flies...doing what deer flies do. I wonder what the earths perspective would be of us if she had one...while we over populate, strip, pollute and tar over. That is what we do. And so I have to ask.... Who is a nuisance to who?
I run with the deer flies so I will learn a little something. I see no dumb in them at all.
In order to see the truth, sometimes you have to loose an eye.
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Another potential experiment: how fast do you have to run to outrun deerflies and is there something you can use to slow them down? (I can outrun mosquitos at 11 min/mile)
Also, what times of day are they most active? Seems like ~10AM - dusk?
Another potential experiment: how fast do you have to run to outrun deerflies and is there something you can use to slow them down? (I can outrun mosquitos at 11 min/mile) Also, what times of day are they most active? Seems like ~10AM - dusk?
The question is not how fast you have to run, but how far.
And the answer is, to Egypt.
Also interesting, only the female flies bite.
They still attack when I'm on my bicycle.
I started the run with all the deer flies at 7:42 AM, and hit the heavy concentration of deer flies at about 8:00 AM.
I love the scientific method being used here - good stuff!
We do not envy your deer flies in SoCal! You may not envy our earthquakes either. ;-)
If I end up running a race in such a region, I will try to make a deer fly hat!
Half Fanatic #846
A few summers ago while east of Bangor, Maine, I ran a couple of times from our camp down a mile or two of logging roads where the deerflies were terrible. But, when I got to the highway to do a few more miles, there seemed to be very few deerflies. My theory was that the semis going by every minute or so on the highway "blew the flies away", creating a mostly safe wind tunnel effect. After that, I just drove to the highway before I started my run. But I think there has to be a fair amount of traffic for this to work...which could be more dangerous.
"I don't always roll a joint, but when I do, it's usually my ankle" - unk. "Frankly autocorrect, I'm getting a bit tired of your shirt". I ran half my last race on my left foot!
This is quite incredible. Being bald the deer flies can be really tough for me to deal with. When I run in the woods or on roads by livestock fields I carry a microfiber cloth (I buy them in bulk at auto parts stores). When the flies start biting I put one on top of my head (usually just loose but I sometimes secure it to my head at the front with my sweat gut'r). The cloth wiggles around some and keeps all but the most aggressive flies off (with the aggressive flies going after my back/shoulders). That said I'm sure I don't come across 80+ flies in 5 miles of running.
Let me clarify. Those 80+ flies are just the ones that I squashed. it does not include the ones that got away, nor does it include the flies stuck on the flypaper, nor does it include the flies that I think I squashed but did not see the corpse.
And I did not into the area of peak deer fly infestation.
Monday, 7-24-2017, was a lot better. Only four deer flies on the flypaper in six miles of blacktop road. It may have been the temperature, which was in the low 50's deg F.
Funny someone would bring up how fast you need to run to outrun a deer fly, I actually Googled it today after my daily dose of the little buggers. Guess how fast you think they can fly before clicking this link, my guess is no-one will be even close... https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/aprilholladay/2005-02-11-wonderquest_x.htm
Interesting link. I would never had guessed that fast, more like 30-40 mph. Today my wife and I were riding our bikes into a 10 mph head wind at 15-18 mph and there was a deer fly that was zooming in for the attack like we were standing still.