Before modern sprays.... what was used for bug repellant in the old days?

[Gus McCrae]

I've been wondering what people used back when they were discovering Louisiana.... heck, even during the Civil War or up to early 1900s.

What was used? How did they deal with skeeters?

 

[Hitman]

http://blog.ecosmart.com/index.php/...-through-the-ages-a-history-of-bug-repellent/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18272250

Naturally though you can plant some Citronella Mosquito Plants around your yard to help.

 

[Gus McCrae]

http://blog.ecosmart.com/index.php/...-through-the-ages-a-history-of-bug-repellent/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18272250

Naturally though you can plant some Citronella Mosquito Plants around your yard to help.

I'm not opposed to DEET, I was just looking for what do I do if I'm out in the woods and forgot my spray.... are there plants or something I can do to protect myself..... What would Daniel Boone or Davey Crockett have done?

 

[Booseman]

Lemon Grass works wonders. Just grab a hand full and mush it up in your hands and rub the juice extract on your skin. The great thing about it is it also has a pleasant smell.

 

[deafdave3]

A little bit of smoke keeps mosquitos away. That's what I do when turkey hunting.

 

[CrkdLtr]

a good coat of mud on your epidermis helps too.

 

[kcinnick]

http://blog.ecosmart.com/index.php/...-through-the-ages-a-history-of-bug-repellent/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18272250

Naturally though you can plant some Citronella Mosquito Plants around your yard to help.

OK, where do I get these at!

 

[themcfarland]

Please do not use castor oil as the one link suggested the Egyptian's used, Castor beans are deadly.. We can absorb the oil into our skin and it will make you DEAD..

The plants Are sometimes planted around the house for shade and have a stalk like a segmented tree or bamboo, but they are deadly..

Good questions though.. I use MUD if I forget sprays.. but it is bad at night when your all in bed and bud on ya.. at the camp.

 

[oleheat]

I'm not opposed to DEET, I was just looking for what do I do if I'm out in the woods and forgot my spray.... are there plants or something I can do to protect myself..... What would Daniel Boone or Davey Crockett have done?

If Daniel Boone & David Crockett had access back in those days to a ThermaCELL, they'd have used one.

This is pretty much all I use now for skeeters & most other critters that fly and bite. They work.

I still spray the ankles, though, for the ticks.....

(Yeah, yeah.... I know....this wasn't really the OP's question. But dammitt to hell anyway- ThermaCELLs work. )

 

[Gator 45/70]

Dried cow paddie's and buffalo chip's...

 

[themcfarland]

Dried cow paddie's and buffalo chip's...

for the fire or smoke>? lol

 

[charlie12]

Get a Flit gun.

 

[csbutton]

Beautyberry will work

My great, great grandmother taught me this one when I was little. There is a plant called beautyberry that is pretty common around here that is pretty effective. Just for fun, I used it a couple of times and it actually does work...crush up the leaves and rub them on your skin. Don't fool with the berries unless you are a rabid LSU fan because they will color your skin purple. Don't confuse it with pokeberry, which looks similar. Beautyberry kind of looks like the house/yard plant called verbina.

I read an account of a Yankee soldier at the Siege of Port Hudson who grabbed up all the beautyberry he could find and sold it to other soldiers to ward off mosquitos.

 

[csbutton]

Get a Flit gun.

That is a term I have not heard or even thought of in a looooooong time! I now remember Dad going through the house using a Flit gun with some foul smelling vapor of death...probably why my kids were born naked.

 

[Gus McCrae]

If Daniel Boone & David Crockett had access back in those days to a ThermaCELL, they'd have used one.

This is pretty much all I use now for skeeters & most other critters that fly and bite. They work.

I still spray the ankles, though, for the ticks.....

(Yeah, yeah.... I know....this wasn't really the OP's question. But dammitt to hell anyway- ThermaCELLs work. )

I have one. Yes, they are awesome.

 

[Gator 45/70]

Both...Those little coils that your dad would buy at the drive-in theater...Dried cow dung...

for the fire or smoke>? lol

 

[charlie12]

That is a term I have not heard or even thought of in a looooooong time! I now remember Dad going through the house using a Flit gun with some foul smelling vapor of death...probably why my kids were born naked.

I can remember yelling "Mama get the Flit gun" then covering my head with the bed covers and listening to her spray. Then the smell.

 

[stormrider54]

Try farting and tap dancing!!! It doesn't work that well but it is really something to watch!

 

[Mr_Willson]

funny a mosquito thread comes up, to remind me of the worst mosquito swarm of my life occurring tonight at the BZ.

today I learned that it's not a good thing to stay and shoot without bug spray after it gets dark out there....

 

[Mr_Willson]

My great, great grandmother taught me this one when I was little. There is a plant called beautyberry that is pretty common around here that is pretty effective. Just for fun, I used it a couple of times and it actually does work...crush up the leaves and rub them on your skin. Don't fool with the berries unless you are a rabid LSU fan because they will color your skin purple. Don't confuse it with pokeberry, which looks similar. Beautyberry kind of looks like the house/yard plant called verbina.

I read an account of a Yankee soldier at the Siege of Port Hudson who grabbed up all the beautyberry he could find and sold it to other soldiers to ward off mosquitos.

oh man, port hudson was a fun reenactment.

one of these days imma have to get back with the 16th inf.

if only I had known what to look for...