Lions and tigers and bears oh my!!!

[LucyM]

Pat, you left off ticks and mosquitoes. In certain areas, ticks can carry life-threatening diseases. Use DEET and/or don't spend a lot of time in tall grass, or, if you do, check yourself thoroughly.

Definitely check yourself for ticks and remove asap - but definitely not DEET - if you've seen what it does to plastic,  waterproofs,  tent if you accidentally spill even a tiny drop you wouldn't want this near your skin.

[indyfabz]

Definitely check yourself for ticks and remove asap - but definitely not DEET - if you've seen what it does to plastic,  waterproofs,  tent if you accidentally spill even a tiny drop you wouldn't want this near your skin.

Seen what it does. Still use it. Been in too many places where they have just been too numerous. During my backcountry backpack tour in Glacier N.P. my guide liked to see how many skeeters he could kill at one time when he lit the stove to prime it. He actually refused to use DEET because he was constantly in heavy skeeter country. I can certainly understand that. But in my case, I use it so infrequently that I think there a lot of other things that are far more likely to bring about my demise.

[PeteJack]

DEET story. Climbing up to Sequoya NP a cloud of flies (not mosquitoes) decided to dance around my head. I got rid of them with squirts of DEET on my helmet and neck. It was very effective; the flies vanished like magic and didn't come back. Later that day I noticed a sticky black stain on my jacket. I though I may have let it brush against my chain somehow. It turned out that the sticky black stuff was from the DEET dissolving my helmet!

From that I learned a) DEET works b) make sure you don't get it on your helmet. c) It says on the bottle that it's OK on cotton and wool but I'd avoid getting it on synthetics if possible. My jacket, shirt etc. seemed OK however. Probably the best way to apply it is to spray it on your hand and rub it on the bits you want to protect. Hard to do when you're grinding up a hill.

[indyfabz]

but I'd avoid getting it on synthetics if possible.

Yeah. I had some helmet damage from DEET. Some leaked in a storage box in my basement and got on an old helmet that I didn't use anymore. Also in the box were some RCA stereo cables. Dissolved the cables' plastic coating.