The Biting Truth about Horse Flies
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- Have you endured the painful bites of horse flies? Just the threat of attack by these notoriously persistent blood-suckers causes great anguish, not only in people, but also among domestic and wild animals alike. Join entomologist Dr. Art Evans and VPM radio producer Steve Clark as they explore the fascinating world of horse flies, including the only green species that occurs in North America.
About the Series:
Entomologist Dr. Art Evans and producer Steve Clark, co-hosts of VPM’s popular and long running radio program “What’s Bugging You?”, have joined forces once again. Their engaging, wide-ranging, and often humorous explorations into the world of insects and entomology are presented now for the first time on screen as an animated series. For more episodes, go to vpm.org/whatsb...
==========
Watch the full episode online at PBS: bit.ly/3082rnT
Learn more about VPM at bit.ly/3zx3TmN
Follow VPM stories on Facebook: bit.ly/myVPMfac...
Get VPM News updates on Twitter: bit.ly/myVPMtwi...
Our community on Instagram: bit.ly/myVPMins...
The god damn yellow flies are so bad on my property, it's absolutely maddening. Fuckers definitely make me feel like I'm not on top of the food chain.
😂 I have them too.
First time I was bitten I was surprised because: 1) I did not know flies could bite and 2) it hurts SO BAD! Ever since then if I ever see a horsefly I go out of my to try to kill them.
The best weapon you can use to kill them is a tennis racket. They get shredded up in the mesh, and the wide striking area makes them easy to hit.
@@andrewsinclair7159 thx
They have a good pinch to the bite fo sure..
Tiny fly vs the horse fly 😭
@@andrewsinclair7159 don't you mean an electric racket
I was swimming one time and one kept landing on me every, single time i would surface. It did this for about 30 mins as i kept diving hoping it would fly away. Then i got out to dry off and it CAME BACK! I grabbed all my things and literally was CHASED all the way down the street home. Once you have a bad horsefly encounter and you see how strong, big, fast and persistant they are.. its something that will never leave you.
Yes, i believe this 100%. I was about 10 years old and during the summer i went to this horseback riding camp. When we would go out on the trails we would get attacked almost the whole ride. Also i lived in south korea in 2001 and i went to this pool and a horsefly attacked everyone. Same as you said, we would duck underwater and when someone came up for air it would attack them. We were prisoners in that pool for like an hour because nobody wanted to face the horsefly alone and get attacked😂😂😂
I fought one at my buddies pool a few years ago. The bite on my foot had a residual sting for about 3 weeks, no lie.
Hey, I hear you. I used to take my little niece to the cottage and we would go swim around the island. Inevitably, a horsefly would hone in on us and attack me - not her, me. I would keep going under but would have to surface. It never let up.
Ben's Insect repellent works great. Horse flies hate it
Imagine a group of 10-15 yellowflies (deerflies) doing that. This happened to me in FL at the back of a nature preserve near a river. I had to vigorously bike 3 miles to my car to get away from them. They wanted me dead.
Using one of those electrified swatters makes them pop nicely.
And then millions of tiny fragments go everywhere.
Lovely if you wanna be showered in that or your food if you have some close by.
@@GazB85 that won't hurt you.
@@yoyartube I know but it is gross.
@@GazB85 free protein
@@catsnads01 True.
"theyre really amazing animals" yeah okay there buddy
I feel that lmao.
@@TheSoulCrisis Literally 😂
😂😂😂
@@michaelororke379 something can be amazing and yet still be an asshole. At least I tell myself that 😢
They are “ Insects”, not animals,sheeesh 🧐
I had some horrible chemo treatment 20 years ago. No insect has bitten me since, and as someone who was always a tasty meal for insects, it was worth the 6 months of horror!
@@ghengis430 damn, you go hard! Love the glass half full attitude! I’ll keep this little fact in mind if I’m ever called to go through that ordeal. Glad you’re with still with us👍
Where I come, they're called "stouts". They can fly in wind that keeps other insects away. They're vile things. They bite through your clothes.
That's what they call the in Newfoundland among a few other names that I can't print, could be kids reading this.
@@patbrennan6572 Yes, you can. Children learn and say swear words in the playground.
Called Broms in Sweden
Yeah we call them Clegs here. Norn Iron
@@patbrennan6572I'm a Newfoundlander
When I was in the Army, I used to drive by a stream every day to work and I'd always see people down in it fishing. One day, I decided I was gonna try to fish it and went down to it only to discover there was nobody there which was odd since I saw tons of people there everyday. I decided to stay and fish anyway. A few minutes into it, I started seeing these flies buzzing around and didn't think much of it. Then they started landing on me and I'd swat it away, but then they started landing on my back and I'd feel these sharp stings, but I had never heard of flies biting especially through a shirt so I didn't immediately associate it with them. Then a minute later, there seemed to be a swarm of them around me, biting me so I literally ran back up to my car and got it with my back on fire from all the bites. Talked about it the next day to one of my fishing coworkers and he was like, "Oh yeah dude, you can't fish this week. It's horse fly hatching season. You'll get ate up out there." Had to learn that lesson the hard way. 😄
I really hate these things. They never relent unless you kill them. Impossible to shoo away and they hone in on you and follow you even if you try to run. They are also very fast flyers and can reach up to 60Km/H in speed, so they are impossible to outrun. And their bites REALLY hurt like hell.
I heard 90 mph
@@CHEECHMUN No Insect is flying at 90 mph lmao
@@CHEECHMUNThe fastest animal is the Peregrine Falcon which can reach a speed of 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom.
However no insect flies at 90mph, unless the poor bugger is in a hurricane/tornado.
I hold my breath while moving rapidly until I’m clear. :)
In my experience with deer flies they will land and only react to a flailing hand 2 or 3 times before just commit to the bite almost like the hand might as well be a deer's ear twitching so there's no real need to react. I have had mushed fly on my hand a few times now but there's a relief and gratification in knowing it is no longer capable of biting anything.
My dad explained it in a fun way. Mossies have a lovely small needle that you dont feel when they bite. Horse flys, they have a steak knife
@@wpjohn91 are you from the land down under?
Neigh, im a Pom
Always find horse flies really creepy as you don't know they're on you until you're bitten. You feel the bite and look down to see a huge fly on your leg.
I was biking the other day, it was a nice little ride up until my calf started stinging really bad and I look down and it’s a pesky deer fly trying to get my blood.
When I was a teenager I would have to cut back the weeds along hedgerows near a field of horses. I soon become well acquainted with horseflies, but never actually got bitten. Turns out many blood eating insects are attracted to dark colours, and I always wore black or navy. So the horseflies would land on my clothes and try to feed, rather than my skin. One other thing I found was that horseflies are surprisingly resilient to swatting. I basically had to squash them into my body to kill them. I later found a garlic based insect repellent that they didn't like the smell of.
I've been bit by a horse fly, it hurts because it's so unexpected how sharp it comes
I just started working at a warehouse that has a horse fly problem started carrying a fly swatter
They will bite the living day light out of you and give you a chase lol
@ineedlipbalm yeah, and they will still go after you as they get you. one time there was one gatekeeping the door so I couldn't leave without getting hunted down, SCREW YOU HORSEFLIES.
@ineedlipbalm it's not as bad as a wasp sting I'd say, it's just very sudden and sharp, it burns for a bit, but after a few minutes it's fine, unlike wasps which usually leave a longer lasting burning affect
@ineedlipbalm it's similar to the poke of a needle. One time I killed one on my arm and I had to really pull it out. But the swelling hurts more and lasts a couple of days
Amazing my ass. Traumatising, yes.
Ever been bit by a robber fly? On the face. I'm traumatized, too.
@@OnlyGetOneLife Once disrupted a yellow jackets nest by accident. Stung 27 times, mostly on my back. Didn't feel good for 3 days straight. That's traumatizing
@@MisfitsFiendClub138 I've never known yellow jackets to pursue while you are minding your own business in a pool, then reattack every time you try to come up to take a breath🤣
Was just bitten this past weekend by a deer fly for the first time in my life… I’ve been stung by bees, and been bitten by horse flies before… deer fly bite was surprisingly much worse for me! It felt like the fly was still in my shirt stinging/ biting me all over again even hours later. The pain would come in waves, it would fade out for about 5 mins… then suddenly flare up again just as painful as when it first happened. The next morning, the pain was mostly gone… but then it turned to itching. So here I am, 4 days later and I still have this itchy mosquito bite looking/feeling bite. I learned that Deer flies are no joke!! I had bug spray on, and the Sun had set, it was maybe around 9 pm. I believe the deer fly was attracted to light from my phone because I felt a bug fly down my shirt. Shooed it away, then felt it go down my shirt again… this time as I tried to shoo it, it bit me, right at the base of my neck. Felt like a bee sting but with the stinger still in my skin!! Ice helped a little bit but MAN I had no idea about deer flies! 🤷🏼♀️
Deer flies have an anticoagulant in their saliva that is very irritating to the skin. Not quite venom, but close.
damn boi
Are you sure it wasn’t a disgruntled bee at night?
My girl wants to go camping sometime, I have concerns about encounters with these oversized biting flies now lol.
@@Astral_Aviation damn boi
Underrated video with a high effort put into it
I totally agree!
Yep!
I'm gonna turn that fly into a walk.
By pulling its wings off? 😂
As a kid i learned that some horseflies have some sort of defense mechanism against drowning. If you put them under the water they have an air bubble around them. Learned that when i got attacked multiple times while swimming. Just brush the air bubble away from them and they are not gonna bother you anymore :')
That is a nonsense story you have been told. The fly is covered with tiny hairs. The hairs trap air. That is the end of the story. They fly is not adapted to breath under water. You are confusing cause and effect. What you see does not necessarily infer any truth as to causal agent(s).
One reason you NEVER bob a horse's tail. They need that tail to swish away biting flies.
I had one keep with me as I was riding a bike. The things are predators.
Yes. In the natural world, one is either a predator or prey. How hard can it be to understand that?
@@user-pp4ve6qo1bI don't think they didn't understand it, just that they meant they are very persistent against larger animal's for their size.
and we humans are not?? lol
sometimes the pedantic, point-missing replies you get on ancient comments are as irritating as any fly bite
I recall being bitten by the English version of this obnoxious and persistent insect. I was around 7 years old and it was an exceptionally painful experience. It might have been that my general tendency of being a wimp may have exaggerated the memory, but it certainly wasn't one of my happiest childhood memories!!
the bites can be very bad and can take years to heal properly
They really are persistent.. almost enough to make me and my son turn around when we go hiking.. that is my biggest concern about hiking. Not the poison ivy, oak, sumac, or parsnip.. not bears or mountain lions.. but these horse flies! They hurt and they will not stop! Even with bug spray!
Although I believe the bug spray kept them from biting? They still swarmed our heads constantly. Now, when we hike we both wear hats so we can shoo them w the hats but still takes at least 5 mins and they always come back. Idk if it’s the same one or new ones but yeah..
Yes, they can literally ruin a day outdoors. 😅
A whole formation of them chased us on a ski boat for about 2 miles once when I was a kid. I never wanted to be on a faster boat so bad.
Grew up on Long Island New York. One summer, when I was 14, the blue claw crabs were out in force. Took my small skiff out on the Bay with crab traps and handlines ready to fill up a cooler of tasty blue crabs. Anchored up and was immediately attacked by about 20 horse flies. Twenty minutes later and 7 bites on my arms, neck and legs, I went back in with no crabs at all. BTW, a good insect repellent with DEET will keep horse flies, mosquitoes and ticks off of you. Ended up eating at McDonald's that night 😂
Yeah, we used to get nailed by horseflies at the town beach on the Sound. They were usually solitary and easy to kill once you knew one was around. But that meant someone had to be bitten first. Boy, they hurt! Interesting video!
Every summer at camp, we’d be at the pool and it was just an all you can bite buffet for them, especially when we’d have to do a head count of all swimmers periodically. God that pain, it honestly felt like someone threw a rock at my head
Screw that terrible camp.
Yep, amazing animals and they drive horses crazy. If you really want to see them en masse go to Slave Lake. My son maintains helicopters in the area for fire fighting in the summers. The a helicopter comes in to land the horse flies arrive as well and you can hear the blades strike them by the thousands. The helicopters aren't easy to work on once landed because the flies are attracted to the warmth of the engines. Not a lot of fun working in those conditions.
I was attacked on a lake shore around sunset. Weird how you remember it perfectly. Lots of arm/towel flailing. Splashes and submerge tatics. Real 1917 trench warfare stuff. Nothing worked. With the sun behind the trees and just the blue grey dusk as light, the thing was invisible. A buzz sound only one micro second shorter than a humans reaction time and then a sharp aerial straffing to the back of your neck. War is hell.
You’ve won the internet today! Well said! 😂
Thank you for your service.
Ben's Insect Repellent is awesome!
Never been bitten by a horse fly, but deer flies are very apparent in northern Michigan where we vacation.
I was young and working in construction. We were building a new home in a wooded area of New England.
The books will tell one that the larger species of horsefly do not attack humans. I'm here to tell you that they do. Two inch long horseflies.
I literally hit one with a two by four like using a baseball bat.
The thing hit the ground, shook its head for a moment and flew off.
(It was large enough to easily distinguish the body parts.)
I did not enjoy that particular job.
All of our tech and knowledge and we still do not have an effective repellent or a trap for these monsters.
The repellant we call 'Double glazing".
@@kevg3320 explain. What do you mean?
It's shaping up to be a rough year. I've had the back of my neck chomped by horse flies and am suffering my 2nd bout of poison ivy... in mid April
Hundreds of deerflies follow our vehicles on the road into camp every year, thinking the vehicle is an animal
No. They are attracted to carbon dioxide, not sports cars and suvs.
@user-pp4ve6qo1b I don't care what you have to say, I've experienced this for 60 years , as I said in July , August & early September there's literally 100s of them following the vehicle, it's the movement of the vehicle they think it's an animal, they don't just rely on sensing co2 they also use thier eyesight
@user-pp4ve6qo1b you probably think that when we're around ticks we should wear white or light colors is because ticks don't like white or light colors or can't see white or light colors
@@ericschulze5641they do that when I drive up my driveway 🤣🤬
@PerspectivePossibilities oh yeah, going through that right now,
I was in a forest in North Carolina. It was me and one other guy. And we got swarmed by like 5 of these. They kept trying to land in my eye. I felt them pelting my face. It was so bad we turned around.
Damn I used to live down there!! So it would have bit you right in the eye? Damn I'm happy I never ran into one and I've seen many insects around.........I was discussing going camping sometime but I dunno now lol.
@@TheSoulCrisis Use Ben's Insect Repellent. Horse flies hate it. They will land on you and immediately fly away once they get a whiff of the Repellent. Works like a charm 💯👌
I was living in NC/SC the past 6 years & would occasionally see horseflies but they neva bothered me. I recently moved back northeast & these mfs are RELENTLESS out here 🤬
I’ve discovered that the Doctor Flies (a species that is everywhere in the Bahamas) cannot bite through a 4mm wetsuit. So I spent most of my time outdoors during my vacation one March in a wetsuit. I suspect that the layer of water that gets trapped between the suit and your skin was what kept me surprisingly comfortable.
Short and to the point. Don't see enough of that.
Was in Utah swimmin in a lake.. and the moment i exited the water a Deer Fly landed on me and with a second it bit and I went back in the water..Dammm never encountered that before.. cause I live in SoCal..
This sounds like something from a horror film. I have seen horses in fields when driving past, but never thought they would bite, let alone that some can fly after me
When I was a lifeguard at a pool, we had a designation for horsefly kills: 5, and you were an ace! Towels were pretty effective. Later, as a part of a running group, we learned to wait until they landed, then try to smack them before they could bite. That was pretty effective, if you teamed up against them. They didn't seem to land on us until we stopped, and then we were more vulnerable.
Horse flies were the worst part of one of my favorite beaches in MA. Basically mosquitoes with the balls of bees. They want you to know they bitten you and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it 😂
Damn they sound persistent and annoying...... :O
@@TheSoulCrisis they really are very persistent
There are flies at a neighbors farm/ranch because they have horses. They have numerous fly traps around the property. One time I got bit. Damn, it felt like someone used a needle nose pliers on me. Every once in awhile when the wind is right, there will be a few at my place. They might not be the same as the ones in this video but the neighbors call them horse flies. They can get as big as my thumb. I have seen them flying across the yard, they make noise when they fly fast but when they get close they know how to fly quietly. They are smart enough to approach from behind you so you really do need to "watch your back". I heard one coming so I backed up against the garage. It was going back and forth trying to figure how to get behind me. I managed to swat it hard with my hand. It bounced off the cement and started flying again, didn't even faze it. So I ducked in the garage and got a tennis racket. Next time it came at me I smacked it hard as I could. The strings cut the damned thing in half. LOL
If youi are being assaulted by several of those you will need a can of Raid or a tennis racket or a 12 shotgun.
The worst is if they get you on the toes. A half hour of pain comes with it.
Bitten many years ago in some damp woods and never forgotten it. Very painful and my arm developed a deep bruise from shoulder to wrist presumably from a broken small blood vessel.
We were feeding ducks by a pond in Southern Indiana and a horsefly started chasing my husband around the pond, biting him through his shorts. He couldn't think of anything to make it go away so he threw the loaf of bread at it! 😂
😂😂😂😂
The shores of Lake Superior can be bad for beachgoers when horseflies are around. They seem as big as hummingbirds and are relentless. Even if you can swat one they might just shake it off and fly away. They follow you into the water and hover around when you go under and are right back at it when you come up.
If you want to ever experience horsefly bites...any body of water at dusk in Louisiana!!
Y'all might want to reconsider that 10 Commandments thingy. God has a wicked sense of humor and word on the street is he ain't fond of humans.
I’m bitten by horseflies twice every summer- this is usually 2-3 bites at a time. I end up with huge lumps on my body.
I seriously hate them so much and want them all dead and I’m a vegan.
Same, and so do I... My only real phobia.
I almost get bitten by them when i go fishing. They are huge looking flies.
@@Hey_its_Koda how do you manage to not get bitten?! What sorcery is this? I go outside my front door for 5 mins without spray on and I get bitten!
@@xenia171 maybe we should join forces and find a way to stop them
I've just been bit 3 times and I can't stop fucking ITCHING
I was stung by horse flies in a swampy area, it defiantly hurt. That was when I was young boy and I never forgot what it felt like.
Thanks for educating us, those flys hurt like hell
I love kayaking here in Minnesota, the dates vary but every year there is an EXPLOSION of deer flies on the rivers, im guessing hatching out of dead fish on the banks. It's to the point when you pull up your vehicle and the flies attacking it sound like rain and you know you just have to wait a week or two to go back out. Its not constant the entire stretch of the river, but definitely not a good time to go out.
Horse fly's biggest weakness against humans is its persistence. Too easy to swat
Dude I work on a farm and these f*ckers take uppercuts to the face multiple times and still come back for more!
@@Divineretribution7777 Get yourself a cheap tennis racket and smack em with that. They won't get back up.
@Paul Whitcomb We call them clegs in Scotland random info. Yeah I was working on a farm and I could never notice their approach, so I developed my reflexes for swatting them while they're biting. so unfortunately gotta wait for the first initial sting or seeing them by luck and a clear murderous intent makes you more ferocious imo, don't fear them, destroy them! Does make me sound like a sith Lord from star wars a bit but yeah that's it for me. I see my feud with them as a war, gotta get that killer mindset, makes your reflexes sharper and dulls the fear. Easy to become afraid of them cos they're so aggressive.
When they're biting they lose their subtlety in my experience so gotta catch them lacking while they're biting. I swear when you're trying to look for them they don't attack, only when your mind starts to wander! Nasty wee beasties but I do soemtjems feel bad about my high kill count at this point, hopefully I'm not out in a cage of horseflies in the afterlife as punishment 🙀
@Paul Whitcomb Tennis racket.
@@andrewsinclair7159 lot of area and easy to handle, seems fair. Unfortunately I don't swim with a racket
Ah memories of the summers in rural Illinois near a dairy cattle and horse farms.
I was in camp around 30 years ago and we were in a van goin back to the site and a Horse Fly was literally chasing the van and would not let up
Like Jason waiting for the teenagers to come out lol (damn).
They seem to be able to tell where your vision is and avoid it. They ALWAYS attack from behind. No matter how many times they get swatted away they always come from behind and attack
Old trick, use a 4 ft long thin branch with leaves at the end only, stick the branch inside the back of your pants/belt, the leaves constantly sway over your head and it helps A LOT. You do not feel horseflies when they land before taking a real bite out of you, it's not a sting, it's a bite.
Some bugs just don’t deserve the bad press but blood sucking bugs do deserve the bad press. I’ve been bitten by a horse fly and I had a huge welt a few days after, way bigger than a mosquito bite. I don’t care if they are a bug they don’t have the right to take my blood so if I catch them they will cease to exist.
Actually, they do have every right to take your blood. They have been on this earth for millions and millions of years longer than humans have.
@@user-pp4ve6qo1b actually, they don’t. It’s my blood and their stay on this planet does not give them automatic rights to steal from my body.
You wanna see the March Flies ( oversized Horseflies) in Australia….they’ve got green eyes.
This is why winter is better
My dad once said, it's not so much the bite that hurts from a horse fly, it's the long drop to the ground after they lift you up and carry you away.
I don't know what is worse, the severity of the bite itself, or the fact that the fly thinks you taste like a horse! 😅
Wash with soap and water immediately.
One was pestering me while I was mowing by the pond yesterday .,. It got me 4 times before I was quick enough to end its life, while driving my zero turn. All 4 bites swelled up, and hurt for an hour. I put cortisone 10 on them but that didn’t phase it, so I washed thoroughly with soap and water and the stinging finally abated. I should have done that first! Works for ants too.
I was bitten by a horsefly between my toes. It was the most intense pain I have ever experienced and I am a skateboarder (And not good at it) I have quite the pain tolerance. These things singlehandedly proof the devils existence.
I came through the Great Dismal Swamp one July on my 30 ft sail boat. The green headed horse flies were constantly swarming us. When we reached a rest stop in NC I had an idea to take down the bimini cockpit cover. That reduced the flies by 90%, they were using the cover for shelter and then attacking us.
A friend of mine saw one for the first time, then it bit him, leaving a small bleeding welt. He considered it to be his introduction to Canada “where the flies get so big, they literally take tiny bites out of you”…
Both are out in Maryland, found out Off doesn’t work for the Deer Flies. Cutter Deep Woods, works for Horse Flies, Deer Flies and all Ticks.
Chased off a New Jersey beach by them. Me and everyone else. Nothing worked, Off, sprays nothing deterred them. The flies cleared the beach 😢. We all left running. Hurt like hell.
Very persistent. I was walking my dogs and one followed us for a quarter mile. I had to stop, let it start to bite my hand, then smack it. Damn that bite hurt but the fly died. So I won.
They are incredibly persistent.
Hah, i saw this video and thought i could learn something. You were on Fentress Rd in Chesapeake. The area where i have the most problems is on Elbow Rd right down the street from there. I work for a utility company and was doing work on a right of way in the woods last week. I thought the deer flies were going to fly away with me. it was horrible.
We would have these green horse flies at our community pool. I don't know if they are "Green Horse Flies", as they were out all day and night. They were awful. We would dive down under the water, and when we'd come back up, they would still be waiting for us. And SO fast. I'm not proud of it (we were kids after all), but we would take the cue sticks and smash them against the glass sliders at the pool house with the tips of the sticks. Sometimes, we would only get their head, and they would go right on flying around. Zombie green horseflies.
I’m from the biggest city in the east and my dad told me about them while upstate that they bite hard and leave holes that bleed down your arms and legs. As a city girl I haven’t seen them, just mosquitoes but now outside of the city in a more rural area, I see them in the summer and just got a dog a year ago and these flies pop up in specific areas on our walk and keep up for quite sometime. That is until we turn around on our walk back. This morning 2 of those flies started up around my dogs neck and ear as a couple of mosquitoes flew around his open mouth. I tried swatting the horse flies away and off my dog but one of them landed on his ear and before I could get to that one, my dog jumped up 2feet or so off the ground and cried out and whimpered and was about to roll over on the street. That’s when I was certain one of those 2 horse flies got him and we weren’t walking fast enough. I about had it with my morning walk and those horseflies that show up like clockwork. I’m just looking to see if they really are biting into their victims and now about to look up what can I use on them to kill them or make them go away without harming my dog. I hate bug spray and the residue and feeling it leaves on the skin for humans so I only use bug spray in myself if I have no choice because I’m at an outdoor event. I’d like to find something to spray directly at the horse fly to kill or make them stop chasing!
Horse fly bites tend to go septic as well. Nasty things.
They cost me a doctor trip and a pharmacy visit each year
Why? It's just a horse fly bite. I've had thousands of those in my time. Never needed to see a doctor. Are you a snowflake?
I have been bitten by horse flies many times. They are quite common in my country
Maybe you should tell us what country that is???????????? Useless comment.
I’ve experienced these as a kid on the beach. So painful.
green horse flies bit me during the day.
We get these in Scotland. They will bite through clothes especially on shoulders where the clothes are tight. The bites often swell for some people. Only way I've ever noticed to reduce instances of biting is to take your hat off and rhythmically whip your shoulders like a horse's tail. I've tried everything spray, foods etc but the self flogging offered a deterrent. But don't ever decide to have lunch where it's happening walk another mile
Got bitten by a deer fly. Do not recall ever getting one from a horse fly, but *man* that one hurt and really bruised up 🥺
I get bit daily by them I work in the woods and if you not out by dinner time or when it gets hot ull have these giant flys to deal with. I seen one that was so big I thought it was a humming bird
They fricking hide behind things until you look away. Hateful.
No. Insects are totally incapable of hating anything. Seriously, are you on drugs?
I'll never forget how once when I was having a swimming party there was a very aggressive horse fly that zoned in on one girl and kept bothering her. Finally it dived down and hit the top of her head so hard and blood squirted out the top of her head in a stream. I kid you not. I'll never forget it.
Get out
wOAH
Jesus christ these horse flies are no joke
WTF
Haha what a joke
Wow that comic book filter looks fantastic
I remember my first encounter when I was a teenager riding my dirt bike in a remote area. I had stopped for a cigarette. It wasn't long after stopping that horse flies started to land and nip at me. I jumped back on my bike and kicked it over as fast as I could and took off. As I got up to speed and turned around to look behind me I was shocked to see they were following me after a few hundred feet!
in the baltic states horse flies are everywhere
Bloody things go for me every time, chase me round the garden. I have to get indoors
we have horse flies, deer flies, black flies, no-see-ums, and every other biting bug here in new england
Bite starts to itch about 24 hours after and can go on itching for up to 4 days. I hate the bloody things
WHY ARE THEY SOOO PERSISTENT!!
Two species are common in Sweden, and I have been bitten by both. One of them is kind of small, and the bite hurts, but not insane. The bigger ones (about half an inch), THEY truly hurt! Both of them also fly very silent, they don´t make the same noise as other insects of the same size. They are just suddenly there. ON you. Stealthy buggers!
We have these in Australia but they are known as March or Marsh flies. A big reason why I don’t camp in summer!
Another truth about horse flies is that they can only fly upwards initially when they start to fly from any given location and that they are attracted by round things, that's why the best horse fly trap is a white ball with a net on top of it.
We really should do something to reduce biting flies. I think if we did more biological farming, insecticidal soapes & powders, & some electronic stuff we could do that.
We used to get bit by them all the time as kids mostly when swimming they loved the wet hair and would buzz our heads.
I am the kind of person who picks up and isn't bothered by all manner of bugs and other creepy-crawlies...spiders, junebugs, centipedes, bees/wasps. There's not many bugs that make me nervous or disgust me... except biting flies. There is something so nasty to me about the way they bite/feed, and I just can't get past it.
I live very close to the Great Dismal swamp and we get the mutant size horseflies around here. I had one fly through my open car window the other day that was so big my car tilted to the right a little when it landed on the dashboard. It’s wings flapping sounded like the rotor blades of a CH-47 Chinook inbound to an LZ. Fortunately my frantic flailing around with an empty paper towel tube finally encouraged the beast to depart my vehicle out the other window. The PTSD is real. 🫤
I got chased by a deer fly in Wisconsin once for at least a mile when I was jogging. The only thing that allowed me to get it away from me was jumping in the lake!😅😂
Little buggers are relentless!!!!
They have BIG biting mouthpsrts & they can get through horse's skin, so when they bite US, they are more than well equipped to get through human skin. It really hurts!
The silver dollar sized ones are my favorite
Yep, got bitten once and am now always on the look out.
I was bitten by a horse fly a few weeks ago. Very painful and not only that, l got cellulitis which meant l had to take antibiotics. Also, there is still a hard area where the stinger got me.
Deer flies are horrible here in northwest Indiana. Painful bites. I fear what the bite of a much larger horse fly would be like.
Got bit 2 times consecutively in the exact same location on my calf muscle. The bites immediately swelled my leg and I had an Allergic relation to whatever it was that got in me. Never in my life had I experienced a bite from a horsefly such as these. Crazy.