To the folks who know:

I will be traveling to the Trapper Creek area in July. Just how bad are the mosquitoes, gnats, etc. I live on the Gulf of Mex and have heard the mosquitoes are worse there than here. Is this true?

thanks & regards
Mike

I haven't been to the gulf of Mexico, but my presumption would be, yes, the mosquitos are likely worse. On the up side, I don't think the biting flies really come out until August, and I find them more troublesome. Personally I find mosquitos more of an annoyance than anything, but people react to the bites differently. My wife gets big welts from bites, I get little dots that don't itch much at all.

I certainly wouldn't cancel your trip, just bring some bug dope and a head net. The worst I can remember was fishing on the Gulkana River. Even waded out in the river with bug dope on, I had ~50 on each arm, doing their best to poke me right through a long sleeve shirt, and mostly succeeding.

Ughh-

I headed to the Galkana in August. I assume headnets are a must? I have seen bug-outfits in Cabela's, any experience with them?

Sorry to piggyback this thread, same concerns though

The little biting flys make me swell up pretty bad, especially on the ears. Once I was even so swollen from them that I had fluid ozing out (sorry for the graphic description, but this makes me nervous)

Under the catagory of stupid things I've done, was a move last year when moose hunting. After the first 1/2 week of rain, it cleared up. I was sick of wearing my ankle fit hippers, so did my typical, there is no snow on the ground, I'll wear my Teva's w/o socks thing. Well, we ended up wandering through tundra and black spruce about 1/2 mile out from camp then back. I never felt the flies bite my feet, but had a good 20-30 bites per foot. Not only did the bites scab and swell up, they also itched really, really badly.

I can't stand head nets, so accept the occasional bug in the nose or ear. Bug dope generally keeps them at bay. Which isn't to say you might find a bug net a neccessity.

I agree with Paul H: Usually, but not always, misquitos are annoying more that anything else, although I know people who are miserable without protection and I have been in couple of places during the summer where all of my attention was given managing bugs (Chatanike River north of Fairbanks and out at Kotzebue). Not often though. Some folks do not like putting serious bug dope on their skin because it is a nasty poison itself. Instead of chemicals, or in addition to chemicals, moderately thick clothing can be worn to keep bugs from biting...you can be dressed head to toe in whatever cloths/boots/gloves you have. Sometimes the bugs are really bad and sometimes they are not. It is best to be prepared for bug management and not need it than to arrive and find out you have lousy tolerance and no chemicals or gear to protect yourself.

The little biting flys make me swell up pretty bad, especially on the ears. Once I was even so swollen from them that I had fluid ozing out (sorry for the graphic description, but this makes me nervous)

---

Thoes little S.O.B.s sound like White Sox, Big oozing itching welts that take 3-4 weeks to heal!!

The mosquitos are irritating to say the least. The black flies on the other hand are just plain maddening. Plan on bug juice of some kind.

Mike,
July will be warm to hot and may or may not hold a lot of rain. Any DEET based repellant with a high % of same will be usefull. Make sure to have the headnet; it more than likely will not be used but trust us when we say have one anyway. Also, bring along 50 pounds of lead weights...a scuba weight belt is good. That's for when the "buggers" try to take off with ye!

You should be fine with that. The closer to August you get, the worse the mosquitoes and other biters will be. Avoid swamps and creek bottoms if you can.
best,
bhtr

I drove up to AK with a friend two summers ago in July. No flies, but the mosquitos were pretty bad in the low areas. Fishing with out protection consists of reel, reel, reel SLAP...reel, reel, SLAP...reel, SLAP...SLAP SLAP SLAP EXPLETIVE... etc. I used the OFF lotion. It's better than any spray I've used and it really stays on and gets in your pores, which may or may not kill me some day. I don't think it had a lot of DEET, but it worked.

We slept in the back of my friend's truck topper, during the nights, and once one mosquito gets in it's like he tells his buddies, cause in two seconds there are twenty, then seventy. It sounds a lot like sleeping under powerlines, B. Colombia was the worst for bugs though in my opinion...some kind of dracula gnats from hell down there.
---The Son Of Sam/44 Cal. Killer said a dog barking drove him to kill... it wouldn't surpise me some day to see a crazy blame skeeters when he goes postal.

I was raised in the swamps of south Alabama and have seen the worst they have to offer. After my first August hunt here in AK, I figured those years in the swamps were just good training - skeeters here can be much worse. No-seeums and white-socks are worse than the skeeters, though. I've had good success with the "Shannon's" brand jackets, but never felt I needed the pants. Always carry one since they dont really weigh much at all. One note: these annoyances are one of the reasons I dont hunt caribou in August anymore.

MAnderson,

Try some Pemanone or Duranon on your clothes. I use it quite a bit and it works for me. You still have to use Deet on your exposed skin but.................

Joe

My last caribou trip was out of Sparrevohn. Bugs weren`t bad until I started cleaning the caribou. Within 5 minutes there were hundreds of black flies EVERYWHERE! In that scenario, no bug juice that I`ve found works very well. The best I`ve found though is Uncle Ben`s, I believe it`s 100% DEET.

Milo: I have had misquitos attack me in the 3rd week of April while setting out bear bait stations on the Kenai in 5 feet of snow. Who knows where the little buggers were coming from...they are tough.

State Bird : Alaska : White sock



I heard last year 53 people visiting Alaska were carried off by the state Bird Whitesock Even the noseems

get big enough to carrier off straglers .



A better place to go is disney land or New York or etc etc



Also Alaska has the saber tooth guppys so dont even think of swimming



Pottsy

HI,

I am going to AK in August,SE. I was looking around and saw some rain gear, called AK Anorak, it is breathable and has a mosquito net in the collar when needed.I thought it was a nice coat to have, just wondering if anyone has heard of them before. It was around 129.95,It also had a large front pocket for a map and adjustable sleeve, I thought it look great. Kev