The Dreaded Deer Fly

The deer fly- one of the most despised, annoying little creatures to ever exist on God's green earth. I would rather come to blows with a pissed off hourde of Texas-sized mosquitoes than to deal with just one of these pests. Once they find you they are persistent in their quest to sample your blood. One person was quoted as saying that "Deer flies are vicious painful biters that are relentless in their pursuit of blood to the point of a meal or death". Forgot bug repellents because they are not duped by this. I've read that those containing DEET will ward them off, but I beg to differ. I did come across an interesting product called the "Deerfly Patch". The ad says "It was discovered that deer flies typically buzz around your head in circles, lighting momentarily several times before biting. They attack moving objects from behind and high."
You place this flesh-colored patch on the back of your cap and as interested deerflies come to feast they land on its sticky surface and become trapped. There's a video showing how 21 deerflies were collected during a walk through the woods. Check it out.

New Mosquito Breeding Sites

Big Thicket- Warren, TX: I crawled upon a large oak tree that had been toppled by Hurricane Rita back in September 2005 in the woods of the Big Thicket. I'm in awe at the power it took to lay over such a giant. While looking at this tree I realized that it, along with every other tree that was blown over during this storm, formed a large "crater" in the ground where the roots had once resided. These craters then fill after each rainfall and provide not only a drinking source for the animals that reside here, but also, unfortunately, an excellent breeding site for west nile virus laden mosquitoes. Lots of trees were downed during this storm which means there are many of these mosquito "stews" scattered throughout the forest. West Nile Virus was first detected in a human back in in 1937 in Africa and eventually spread to the U.S. According to the CDC in 2003 there were 720 reported cases here in Texas alone.