Mozzies are not a big deal around here in the mountains. Use mine primarily to keep the mice out.
Mozzies are not a big deal around here in the mountains. Use mine primarily to keep the mice out.
Love is blind. Marriage is an eye opener.
Speaking of keeping the mice out, that actually happened to me earlier this week. I hate a bugnet, and I sold the one I had just a while back because I never used it. Don't hike when it's warm enough for bugs as a rule.
So there I was sleeping like a baby in my comfy Traveler with my swanky cuben fiber tarp overhead (it's tended recently to rain in the Ouachita's even when it's not forecast) but I digress...at 1 am I'm awaken to the sound of surprisingly loud, but tiny feet scampering across said cf tarp, then just as I'm about to get up and investigate, the little bugger is doing a tightrope walk on my hammock ridgeline, and as soon as I raised up, it becomes unbalanced (the rodent, not the hammock) and swiftly drops into said hammock...Well I don't know who was more distraught over this, but my main concern was that it would end up under my butt and get swashed and or in trying to fish it out, it might bite. OTOH, it's main objective was to escape asap, which it did by promptly flinging itself over the hammock and out. I spent the next few minutes shaking out my topquilt, hammock and underquilt for good measure, then processed to go back to sleep.
Needless to say, this has given me reason to reconsider the whole bugnet issue, since there are a plethora of other much less desirable creatures I'd not care to share my hammock with, none of which I ever gave the slightest consideration to until now
Leigh
aka LookinUp
He who would travel happily must travel light.
Antoine de St. Exupery
I am used to them, I am in Pest Control... Mosquitos kill more humans on the planet, than any other way to die. Locally - West Nile sucks.Originally Posted by Acer
Its a bugs world,,just get used to them,,,I very seldom use a bug net, except when I know going to get ate up with skeeters,,however,,most of the nites in the mts..are cool enough to not put up with them,,so use the nets,,and will ditch mine when I can,,to save weight of carrying excess..
But I will suggest this - here in PA - if the temps are below 50 - skeeters are taking a nap.
Thank's CLB - I saw your post.... Thanks for sharing!
Before the bug net - one night I had a Kaydid on my nose...
Last edited by Wise Old Owl; 11-25-2012 at 16:22. Reason: CLB
There was an Old Man with a owl,
Who continued to bother and howl;
He sat on a rail, And imbibed bitter ale,
Which refreshed that Old Man and his owl.WOO
The bug net goes for autumn (fall) and winter, I like to be as out in the open as possible.
I may change my mind though if I ever roll onto a mouse and squash it in the night
ticks are looking for blood year round. and Lyme disease is ugly as hell.
I'm with you...nets in summer and winter! Even with a net bad things can happen.I was packing up in the Smokies this Spring when it was snowing and discovered a mouse had cohabitated with me inside my Dangerbird. I'm just grateful I didn't discover the little bugger during the middle of the night or I probably would have had a heart attack! I never sleep in shelters so I'm not conditioned to the feeling of mice running over my face in the middle of the night.
In the immortal words of my dear old Mom..."For God's sake be careful!".
Miguel
Haha, after laying on the ground, in the open for years in the Marines a few critters don't bother me at all. Skeeters are terrible though, but rodents, spiders and such are fine with me. I have had tarantulas and all sorts of creatures share my bed.I'm with you...nets in summer and winter! Even with a net bad things can happen.
In the immortal words of my dear old Mom..."For God's sake be careful!".
Miguel
I thought the same thing about the netting on my WBBB. I figured that it would be good in the summer to keep the mozzies at bay. I found that I still use it in the winter because it keeps the hammock warmer. When I first bought the hammock I though that it would be fun to turn it upside down but I never have.
HYOH
I keep my WBBB zipped up when it's really cold even if bugs are not a factor....it reduces some of the breeze that robs heat but still seems to ventilate well enough that I don't get any frost buildup from my breath.
Jay
This unfortunately has been an informative thread for me. While I'm not excited about the possibility of discovering a mouse in my hammock, I'm much more disappointed to learn that ticks continue to be a threat in the winter, apparently, according to something I just read online, whenever the temperature is above 35 degrees, which it almost always is during the day when I'm hiking. I don't want to add the volume and weight of the bug net to my already-heavy winter loan, and I'd prefer not to take my WBBB instead of my Lite Owl in the winter, so I guess I'll just have to take my chances with the ticks (and mice and whatever else comes a calling). With regard to ticks though, do you guys tend to use Permethrin even in the winter? I hadn't been but might start.
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
--General George S. Patton, Jr.--
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