Is there any way to get rid of horseflies?

[canfossi]

I know it's not the season yet, at least in my part of Ontario. So what can I do to get rid of horseflies and deerflies or at least keep them from biting me, but they sure do hurt when they bite. Thanks Chris

[raymilosh]

On a 2 occasions in my life, deerflies were present in such numbers that I put on regular insect repellant to keep them off me. It seems to work alright.

For every other time, though...
It seems that there are only a few around and they keep trying to bite me repeatedly, making for constant annoyance. I take a minute to stop what I'm doing when i see on land on me, I calmly wait for it to begin to bite me and carefully take aim and whack it. After getting 3 or 4 of them, it seems like there aren't any more for a while. Deer flies and horse flies aren't that tough to swat if you are calm and careful.
If you're cursed by fast flies, i have a helpful hint for how to catch flies. It really works, even for houseflies. I practiced with flies on a table to get it right. If a fly is on a table, put your right hand on the table, open it and hold it with your thumb pointing up. then sweep your hand along the surface of the table, passing the place where the fly is sitting on the table. As you pass that place, close your hand quickly. Usually the fly will have begun to fly up as you moved your hand and then you hit it with your hand and closed your hand over it and you have it trapped in your hand. If your open your hand to see if your caught it, though, it flies away. The next thing to do is to shake your hand vigorously and then throw the fly down. It gets dizzy and disoriented and walks in circles for a while. It's easy to swat before it recovers and leaves.

Another trick is to hold your hands over your head and clap. Flies tend to congregate on higher places on you and tend to get whacked by the clapping hands. It's funny how well that works.

[DixyDoodle]

The next thing to do is to shake your hand vigorously and then throw the fly down. It gets dizzy and disoriented and walks in circles for a while. It's easy to swat before it recovers and leaves.

Personally, when I catch them in my fist, I just squeeze. I feel better in getting some back.

Another trick is to hold your hands over your head and clap. Flies tend to congregate on higher places on you and tend to get whacked by the clapping hands. It's funny how well that works.

Cool, I'm going to try that next time!

[uncle Will in In.]

Are these flys going around your head called "Circle Flys??"
It's hard to fool those circle flys.

[noname]

Muscovy ducks.

[blufford]

To avoid insect bites the old time rail road gangs (Gandy Dancers) used to wear paper bags (pokes) over their head and face with small holes punched out so they could see.

[auntieemu]

Revenge Fly Killer is the best thing I've run across for dropping them quickly. Diatomaceous earth is good if you don't want a insectical spray. It tears up the insects shell or the larva skin and they die.