They suck

WASILLA — When dealing with “Alaska’s state bird” and other blood-sucking summer pests, Valley residents arm themselves with everything from vitamin B1 patches and chickweed gels to lip-numbing deet sprays and expensive backyard traps powered with propane.

“We don’t mess around when it comes to mosquitoes and those annoying no-see-ums,” 3 Rivers Fly & Tackle Manager Steve Runyan said Wednesday when asked about his store’s supply of bug repellant products.

And when you’re facing 35 different species of mosquitoes alone in Alaska, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation you can expect twice that many different ways to repel or slay them.

At 3 Rivers, the most popular weapon seems to be the ThermaCELL Mosquito Repellent that uses butane to heat a scent pad in a portable clip-on device.

“They’re great,” Runyan said of the hot-selling, patented item. “It creates a 5-foot zone around you and you don’t have to worry about dealing with sprays or lotions. We use it when we’re berry picking or butchering animals after a hunt. When it’s hot out and bugs are swarming around, it can be pretty unpleasant. It’s also good when you’re filleting fish.”

Other items deemed safe for small children and those wanting to avoid exposure to chemicals include a bracelet called a Bug Band, a B1 vitamin patch called Defend, and a propane-powered Mosquito Magnet trap that sits in your yard and costs anywhere from $400 to $800.

All About Herbs store owner Dori Cranmore swears by the Defend patches.

“I’m here to tell you, I used it in Belize when everyone was bit by swarms of sand fleas and I never had a one,” Cranmore said. “I use it when I’m traveling or out at the cabin. Each patch is good for 36 hours. I’m not sure why vitamin B1 wards off bugs, but it does. But only with the patch. You can’t take a vitamin pill and have it do the same.”

Cranmore, whose store also sells a variety of essential oils as repellants and natural after-bite remedies such as chickweed gel, said she used to have the Mosquito Magnet in her yard until she realized it was more trouble than it was worth.

“We were going through more gas and weren’t really seeing a difference in the number of bugs,” she said. “But the bag was cram-packed with dead mosquitoes, so I guess it was doing something.”

Longtime Palmer resident Jeanne Winjum, however, wouldn’t be without her backyard buddy after first hearing about the Mosquito Magnet from her brother in Minnesota.

“I love it,” Winjum said. “I don’t have to put on bug dope anymore when I’m at home. The downfall is, when I go to someone else’s house or go out to a lake or something, I get attacked because I forget to wear repellent. I’m so shocked and amazed.”

Winjum said she was proud of herself the other day when she remembered to put some trusty deet in her car when she took a trip to a nearby lake.

She was halfway down the trail when she realized she’d left the repellent in the car.

“The bugs got worse and worse the closer I got to the lake, but by then it was too late to go back and get the bug dope and it would have meant an uphill hike back to the car,” she said.

She was glad to get back home to the safety of her back deck, where her loyal Mosquito Magnet whirled softly nearby.

“I tried a lot of gadgets over the years, but this seems to work the best,” she said.

For the hard-core outdoors enthusiasts, however, many never leave home without something like Ben’s 100 percent deet spray.

“Ben’s can’t be beat for those hardest-hit mosquito areas,” Sportsman’s Warehouse camping associate Colby Wilson said. “We’ve got big mosquitoes here, so we need the big guns.”

Wilson said that although his store also carries a variety of non-deet items like Bug Bands and a clothing spray called Ultrathon, he happens to enjoy his Mosquito Magnet and his ThermaCELL at home.

“I think everyone who works here has ThermaCELLs,” he said. “They’re completely portable and hunters don’t have to worry about spooking game because they don’t have an odor like other repellants. But I could go on and on about all the different items we have. We even have stuff for ticks and snake bites even though we don’t have those issues up here.”

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.