how bad are bugs in montana? (2013, camping, move)

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by MTSilvertip

That's why you put it on your clothes, not on your skin.

It's called "Bug Swat" 100% DEET and it says to put it on the skin. Stuff is super strong and messy

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by nowhereman427

It's called "Bug Swat" 100% DEET and it says to put it on the skin. Stuff is super strong and messy

It can be absorbed through the skin. I'd never do that. Clothes only.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by MTSilvertip

It can be absorbed through the skin. I'd never do that. Clothes only.

I will get myself a mosquito suit for protection.

[Reziac]

I'm near Billings. Generally bugs are not too bad, but this year the mosquitoes have gone overboard (out all day and all night rather than just in the evening). Summer grasshoppers are so thick the ground sort of heaves in waves around you as you walk. Watch out for assassin bugs coming in the house.

I generally use pyrethrin horse spray on myself, has the advantage you don't need to worry about leaving it on your skin, but it doesn't last like DEET does.

For when I need to be working outside during the evening (when the mosquitoes carry away small children) and don't want to bathe in DEET, I bought a full bug suit from these folks:

https://www.bugbaffler.com/

I have the hooded jacket, pants, separate hood, and separate gaiters.

The jacket and pants run large to go over clothes, also keeps 'em from being too stiflingly hot, as the mesh is tight enough to keep out gnats.
The hood fits perfect.
The gaiters are a new product and still, uh, in development (they work but need to be longer for general use).

[DrunkenUFOPilot]

I lived in Michigan all my life until grad school in Indiana, then back to Michigan until Colorado around 2002. I've also been in Florida, southern California, and the Bay Area "Silicon Valley" and the Portland Oregon area. And New Mexico. Now in Montana, near Eureka, which is close to the Canadian border. So, I've been around a bit.

The bugs are not a problem except summer nights those very tiny flies that can just glide through wire screens in windows. They're just a nuisance, not real trouble. Bees are common in spring, summer and early fall. I like bees, but some people don't. There have been a lot of grasshoppers everywhere since July to now.

The insects that bother me most are mosquitos. I *hate* mosquitos! Michigan, Oakland County or anywhere we camped up north, has been the worst place for mosquitos in my experience. Florida might be much worse in places, but I lived in civilized areas with spraying and natural predators.

I live in a rural area, almost all ranches and forest. Lots of nature. Few mosquitos. The only mosquitos I've noticed, or been bitten by, was in May and June when I got water from our pump outdoors. I do this every 3 or 4 days. Not every time, but 1/2 those times maybe, all the water splashing around and puddles that sit attract mosquitos. From July on, the weather has been dry. No mosquitos, even if I make puddles while fetching water. I haven't been here long enough to know whether or not 2020 is a typical year.

Also, horse flies. Those go by various names. Looks like a large regular housefly. Nasty bites. Saw one once, chased it off, and that was it for horse flies so far this year.

Plenty of butterflies, various types, all of them pretty. I've seen dragonflies at streams, lakes, ponds.

Overall, bugs are mostly the good ones, pretty, very few annoying ones, and those are seasonal only for a month or two, and even then nothing compared to Michigan.

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by DrunkenUFOPilot

I lived in Michigan all my life until grad school in Indiana, then back to Michigan until Colorado around 2002. I've also been in Florida, southern California, and the Bay Area "Silicon Valley" and the Portland Oregon area. And New Mexico. Now in Montana, near Eureka, which is close to the Canadian border. So, I've been around a bit.

The bugs are not a problem except summer nights those very tiny flies that can just glide through wire screens in windows. They're just a nuisance, not real trouble. Bees are common in spring, summer and early fall. I like bees, but some people don't. There have been a lot of grasshoppers everywhere since July to now.

The insects that bother me most are mosquitos. I *hate* mosquitos! Michigan, Oakland County or anywhere we camped up north, has been the worst place for mosquitos in my experience. Florida might be much worse in places, but I lived in civilized areas with spraying and natural predators.

I live in a rural area, almost all ranches and forest. Lots of nature. Few mosquitos. The only mosquitos I've noticed, or been bitten by, was in May and June when I got water from our pump outdoors. I do this every 3 or 4 days. Not every time, but 1/2 those times maybe, all the water splashing around and puddles that sit attract mosquitos. From July on, the weather has been dry. No mosquitos, even if I make puddles while fetching water. I haven't been here long enough to know whether or not 2020 is a typical year.

Also, horse flies. Those go by various names. Looks like a large regular housefly. Nasty bites. Saw one once, chased it off, and that was it for horse flies so far this year.

Plenty of butterflies, various types, all of them pretty. I've seen dragonflies at streams, lakes, ponds.

Overall, bugs are mostly the good ones, pretty, very few annoying ones, and those are seasonal only for a month or two, and even then nothing compared to Michigan.

I hate those mosquitos that are aggressively that come after me. Also those aggressive flies that bite me. I got that tennis racket with batteries in it and electrocute those flying insects and knock them out of the air. Snap, crackle, pop

[Threerun]

I don't know about you guys but I found some spots in Montana that had more brutal mosquitoes than the eastern bay portion of Maryland! Jewell Basin was a mosquito infested high mountain alpine lake with black mud and puddles and we literally hiked through thick black swarms of blood suckers. We had to have DEET AND our rain jackets on! They were so bad that the sound of the cloud outside my tent kept me up 1/2 the night.

I'd imagine they would be bad in mountain areas that held lots of snow until early summer like that place.

Oh and Glasgow near the Missouri in the summer!?! Jesus they are THICK.

[Reziac]

Yeah, the lower end of the lake at Townsend can be like that ... so many skeeters that the air looks hazy, and you don't dare show any scrap of skin. I thought I'd died and gone to Alaska (where they use thick goop called "bear grease" as a physical barrier, cuz nothing else will keep 'em off).

[nowhereman427]

Originally Posted by Threerun

I don't know about you guys but I found some spots in Montana that had more brutal mosquitoes than the eastern bay portion of Maryland! Jewell Basin was a mosquito infested high mountain alpine lake with black mud and puddles and we literally hiked through thick black swarms of blood suckers. We had to have DEET AND our rain jackets on! They were so bad that the sound of the cloud outside my tent kept me up 1/2 the night.

I'd imagine they would be bad in mountain areas that held lots of snow until early summer like that place.

Oh and Glasgow near the Missouri in the summer!?! Jesus they are THICK.

[freestoneangler]

Montana has lots and lots of bugs. Doubt me? Have a close look at the grills on our vehicles.