Do I need to worry about insects?

Hogpatrol said:

Just an FYI for those taking doxy, a possible side effect is more sensitivity to sun. Recently was taking them 12° south of the equator and even with spf 70 sunscreen, still got sunburned.

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Did the same thing, sunscreen didn't even act like it was on.

My experience has been sunscreen not needed during end of August Eastern Cape even during the drought.

Yes you should be concerned about insects and take proper precautions.

Soak all of your clothes in permethrin and let them dry. It is so easy to do this and it will make a bigger difference than almost anything else you do. I don't only soak my socks as some people do because they can come off brush onto pants, or taller brush and trees onto shirts. I soak them vs. spray them to get it to last longer. It has been my experience that soaking them gets them to last an entire "season", as in all of fall, or all of summer, etc.

Some of the animals seem to not have any ticks on them, and some seem to be absolutely covered. When you roll over a Kudu and see their skin crawling from all the ticks running around in the hair trying to relocate, you will be glad you used permethrin.

I also take a couple small cans of spray in case flying bugs or something else are thick and aren't warded off by permethrin. But it isn't usually necessary.

Talk to your doctor about travel meds, if your hospital has a travel clinic that usually makes it easy. Often they will give you 2-3 prescriptions like an antibiotic for stomach bugs and also doxycycline (also an antibiotic) which is a prophylactic for malaria, but it is also a treatment for tick borne illnesses. There are possible side effects to Doxy that are worth considering, such as it can discolor your teeth, and it can make you sensitive to sun. I have taken doxy with me, with the plan of only taking it if I found a tick bite. I would have considered adjusting my plan if I were going to be in a very malaria prone area, but most of SA is not.

I don’t think there is a better repellant than simple 100% deet. It doesn’t smell great, it eats plastic, it always seems to leak out of the bottle, but it always works if you need it. I buy the little pump bottles and pack them in two or three ziplocks because they will leak and you don’t want it on anything you like.

If they are bad a head net is worth it’s weight in gold, but thats usually a fly fishing issue rather than elk hunting.

I don’t care for any of the bugs so you’ll only find me in a tent with screens.

You’ll have to let us know how it turns out and if there were more of the little buggers.

Big guns said:

I don’t think there is a better repellant than simple 100% deet. It doesn’t smell great, it eats plastic, it always seems to leak out of the bottle, but it always works if you need it. I buy the little pump bottles and pack them in two or three ziplocks because they will leak and you don’t want it on anything you like.

If they are bad a head net is worth it’s weight in gold, but thats usually a fly fishing issue rather than elk hunting.

I don’t care for any of the bugs so you’ll only find me in a tent with screens.

You’ll have to let us know how it turns out and if there were more of the little buggers.

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You need to try Permithin on your clothing.

On my first hunt I had sprayed down my clothing including socks. One day while we were out after kudu we sat down to do some glassing. I kicked over a rock with my feet and didn't notice that there was a ant bed under it. A few minutes later I looked down and my boots were covered in ants, but they stopped at the top on them where my socks were. We also hunted in a tick infested grass land for our impala. Two of came back with zero ticks on us or our clothing that had been treated. A fellow hunter went into the same area the next day, he came back with more of those little pepper ticks on him than his wife could count, they were on his clothes along with embedded on his body.

Permithin isn't for your skin, so a good bug repellent loaded with DEET is required on your exposed skin.

Spraying your clothes with Sawyers (Permethrin) and yourself with (Picaridin) is cheap insurance.

I took bug spray and a script of doxy last May just in case, I never had to use either.

I saw plenty of ticks on animals but did not get any on me.

One of the house ladies did get stung by a scorpion fetching wood for the fire in the boma one night. Might want to shake your boots out in the morning before you slip them on.

I've just always brought bug repellant with deet.It slowed the mopani flies down but they still swarm you just don't stay on you.

wvfred said:

I've just always brought bug repellant with deet.It slowed the mopani flies down but they still swarm you just don't stay on you.

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Mopani flies? What mopani flies????

This is what I use both home and abroad. I mix it in a sprayer and soak my clothes. It will last a long time and is highly effective.

I would treat 2 outfits of your primary hunting clothing with Permethrin before you go.

I think 3M Ultrathon lotion is the best insect repellant to use on your skin.

Better safe than sorry.


IME, the sun seems very intense in southern Africa in August (I almost couldn't stand using the dark brown boots, that I normally hunt with.)

I would use sunscreen as well.


I just had a little of the top of my left ear removed because of a skin cancer...