Insect repellent shirts

[Nevada Mike]

My PH is recommending 'insect repellent' shirts for my Tanzania trip. Anybody used them? Do they actually work? What brands/models would you recommend?

Thanks.

Mike

 

[JimP]

I've heard of shirts that already have Permithin on them and I understand that the military is using them. But have no idea of a source for them.

I just plan to use commercially available Permithin spray on my next hunt

 

[Wyatt Smith]

I have seen military surplus shirts (British I believe) advertised as such, but I assumed that the chemicals had been long washed out.

 

[slam8031]

I have used this brand in the southern United States deer woods and swamps—
https://rynoskin.com/. It’s a thin tight fitting shirt to be worn under your clothes without repellent that prevents the bite from multiple critters
Exofficio also sells a lot of insect repellent shirts.
They worked well. The problem is I don’t like to listen to mosquitoes flying around. So I tend to use a thermacell when sitting in a blind.
I have used commercially available permithin sprays for my shoes and clothes in South Africa and Namibia.

 

[Nevada Mike]

Slam -- Thanks. I'll investigate these. Fly country where I am going.

 

[Red Leg]

I have yet to see a Tsetse fly impressed by anything.

 

[Randy F]

I remembered reading this awhile back so had to find it again. If true, you'd want to avoid the colors black, blue and especially violet (which I doubt violet is an issue). Apparently cotton fabric dyed in those colors is what is used in attracting Tsetse flies to traps.

Fabric colour discovery to help control deadly tsetse flies - Aberystwyth University

www.aber.ac.uk

 

[baxterb]

I remembered reading this awhile back so had to find it again. If true, you'd want to avoid the colors black, blue and especially violet (which I doubt violet is an issue). Apparently cotton fabric dyed in those colors is what is used in attracting Tsetse flies to traps.

Fabric colour discovery to help control deadly tsetse flies - Aberystwyth University

www.aber.ac.uk

this is correct. I saw many fly traps in Kenya that were blue and black.

as far as a treated shirt, buy some Sawyer permethrin spray and you can treat any clothes. I sprayed my clothes and set them aside until I left. permethrin is very effective. It’s why chrysanthemums are grown in Kenya - the flowers contain pyrethrins which is the natural form of the stuff you spray on your clothes.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Buy some permethrin and spray clothes you already have.

Soaking Clothes In Permethrin

I am goin to fly to Johannesburg and the hunt in Limpopo with my brother in a couple of days. I just soaked my hunting clothes in permethrin 0.5% home made solution and waiting for them to dry. Are there any safety concerns regarding permethrin? Thanks for any advice Sjakon

www.africahunting.com

 

[Hogpatrol]

I use this, soak my clothes in it. Works for ticks when deer hunting. A little goes a long way as in use as directed. Don't know about the flys.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/gordons-permethrin-10-livestock-and-premise-spray-8-oz?cm_vc=-10005

Wallyworld sells camo bug repellent long and short sleeve shirts in the sporting goods department.
Check after turkey season, they're usually marked down. IIRC, five bucks.

 

[Happy Myles]

I have spent a lot of time in bad Fly country and as Redleg says nothing impresses them, but here are a few things that seem to give them pause. I wear long shirt and pants of dense weave Egyptian cotton treated in Permethrin. No bright colors and some polyesters reflect bright light both attract the fly. Black does also. I wear gaiters long enough to stuff my pants legs into, this keeps the rascals from crawling up and biting my legs. I use Avon So Soft plus Deet which sometimes slows them down enough for me to knock them off. I keep on my belt a head net that stuffs into a pouch the size of two golf balls. REI stores carry them. My wife takes a mesh bug jacket which she treats with Deet and Permethrin, as she is extremely allergic to Tsetse bites. Also take Benadryl cream and pills in evenings for bite relief. Nothing stops them, their bites make me angry as well as hurt. Good luck and remember good hunting in Fly country

 

[Nhoro]

Just make sure that your skin does not get irritated by the sprays you use. Like others above, I have not found anything that stops tsetse except standing next to my wife-they do prefer her to me !

 

[Philip Glass]

My PH is recommending 'insect repellent' shirts for my Tanzania trip. Anybody used them? Do they actually work? What brands/models would you recommend?

Thanks.

Mike

Mike
they do work and can save you some real headache. You need to buy Sawyer brand permethrin spray. Follow the directions as it takes more spray than you think. Do the spraying in the garage or similar and wear and mask and gloves.
I’ve been burned by not spraying my clothes for a RSA hunt where it was going to be cold but there were still ticks. I’ve had the best luck in a Cameron where tsetse flies left me alone the whole trip until the last day (13 day safari) or so when the treatment began to fade.
this along with Avon Skin So Soft insect repellent lotion and you will be set.
PG

 

[Nevada Mike]

Mike
they do work and can save you some real headache. You need to buy Sawyer brand permethrin spray. Follow the directions as it takes more spray than you think. Do the spraying in the garage or similar and wear and mask and gloves.
I’ve been burned by not spraying my clothes for a RSA hunt where it was going to be cold but there were still ticks. I’ve had the best luck in a Cameron where tsetse flies left me alone the whole trip until the last day (13 day safari) or so when the treatment began to fade.
this along with Avon Skin So Soft insect repellent lotion and you will be set.
PG

This is good to hear. I am hunting for 21 days in west central TZ - fly country. Maybe I need to bring additional, treated shirts. My PH strogly recommends Avon Skin So Soft insect repellent as well. Thanks!

 

[thriller]

I love permethrin on all my stuff

 

[Bert the Turtle]

The sheep/goat dip is less expensive and stronger than the sprays intended for clothing. Dilute to 1%, soak your clothes, let them dry, and live happily ever after. Can wash them many times. I usually retreat every spring but that may be overkill.

 

[thi9elsp]

As others have mentioned, I deep soaked all my shirts, pants, hats and socks in permethrin and let them dry. This substantially helped on a 11 days in Niassa Province Mozambique. I also purchased RID insect repellant out of the safari store in UK. I sprayed my exposed skin and collars, cuffs, etc. multiple times each day. I don't remember getting bit at all while the trackers on the high bench were slapping at tsetse flies most days.

https://www.thesafaristore.com/en/p...ngth-insect-repellent-spray-safari-and-travel

 

[Boyd Brooks]

My father used this when working in the bush when I was a young lad. I used it to when I was younger, but then couldn’t find it for sale anywhere after 1980ish. Found it again couple years ago. Works awesome, but has a very distinct aroma. Nothing better for mosquitoes and black flies in the bush of northern Ontario. Does not eat plastics like DEET does.

 

[Lone Star Bluegrass]

I can definitively attest that nothing U. Sam issued me (OIF/OEF service) that was hyped as insect repellent clothing had any such benefit (even when new in the Southeast US).

My grand dad used to put his farm clothes in a shopping bag and add a generous helping of black flag, then tie off and leave it in the garage til he needed a set of duds fr work. It was so generous a helping of Black Flag he started getting a rash, unexplained until his physician connected the dots. The man never complained about bug bits though!

Read with an authoritative voice:
(Results may vary. Ask your doctor before using Black Flag as a topical. Do no take Black Flag if your symptoms worsen or if your clothes melt the bag before use.)

 

[JimP]

I'll attest to the effects of Permithin spray on clothing.

On my first safari we had taken a long hike and came to a location where we could do some glassing of a few herds of animals to see if there were any worth putting a stalk on. When I sat down on the ground I rolled a rock over with my boot and didn't notice anything. A few minutes later I looked down and my boot was covered in ants, I had disturbed a nest when I rolled the rock. I had sprayed my socks and pants with Permithin before leaving the US and those ants knew it. While they were all over my boot none of them ventured onto my socks or pant legs.

At another location we were hunting in tall grass that had a lot of ticks in it. After a days worth of hunting neither I nor one of my hunting partners had any ticks on us. The next day another hunting partner went into the same location and came back with more of those little black ticks all over his belt line than he could count. Both my first partner and I had Permithin on our clothing, the one that went the second day didn't and he paid for it.