No bugs out west?

[brownbear]

I see you western folks always rocking the tarps, floorless shelters, and tipis. Are there not spiders, ticks, and other bugs and bugaboons for which you are concerned?

 

[mtwarden]

can only speak of Montana- ticks a plenty in the spring and then they disappear; spiders but nothing too bad; certain times mosquitos/deer&horse flies- a lightweight bug net (or a bivy w/ a net) negates that though

 

[MuleyFever]

Concerned? Heh, a real mountain hunter rubs them between their palms and sprinkles them on their Kipper Snacks and Vienna sausages.

At least that's what I imagine. I run a tent with a floor. Theres spiders out there!!

 

[Desk Jockey]

My experience comes from backpacking in the sierras and Canada and Some army stuff from Colorado to California mostly so am not the authority for hunting seasons. Overall, I would say fewer creepy crawlies than the northeast or south east for sure. I can tell you that if you catch the wrong summer night, the mosquitos an be relentless.

I was a bivy bag guy for years. I camped at about 7k feet near a small lake I Sequoia on a super warm summer night and got eaten alive. I imagine fall temps would knock them out but man that night sucked bad. Too hot to get comfortable in my bivy sack but the bugs ate anything exposed.

 

[n8tivenv]

Nevada archery season seems to have red ants everywhere I hunt. Tent for me!

 

[brownbear]

Concerned? Heh, a real mountain hunter rubs them between their palms and sprinkles them on their Kipper Snacks and Vienna sausages.

At least that's what I imagine. I run a tent with a floor. Theres spiders out there!!

Hahaha. This is great! Totally had me at the first line- thought that this would be coming- at least what everyone would be thinking.

I tried sleeping under the stars or in inclement weather, under a tarp. Until I was eaten alive and ended up w lyme disease. Gotta love the mid-atlantic!!

 

[svivian]

I was just in Arizona and did have a few spiders come in for the warmth of the stove but they never bothered me.

 

[couesbitten]

Pretty much the same comments as mtwarden, ticks are generally gone by the time I can get into the high country, but the mosquitoes can be absolutely miserable!

 

[oldgoat]

All I ever seem to have problems with are mosquitoes in Colorado and during most elk seasons they aren't a problem but there's been a couple seasons lately we had a little trouble early in the season, but not at night when temps fall

 

[archer wapiti]

You never can tell. Here in the southwestern mountains it's usually fine away from water, but you just never know. An additional thing that helps us out here is that it almost always cools way down at night - high elevation, no air to hold the heat in - so even if there's an odd mosquito around at dusk, they don't often hammer on you all night. I've experienced horrible mosquitoes along the Rio Grande south of Socorro - as bad as salt marsh mosquitoes on the Gulf Coast of Texas or Alaska mosquitoes on the North Slope of the Brooks Range in June or the Yukon Delta in late May. If there was more standing water it'd be worse, but there are some advantages to dry conditions. I sleep on a cot if I'm car camping and like a hammock if I'm backpacking. My first night backcountry hammocking I sat in my hammock and as I was eating my dinner and listening to the owls, I watched a rather large centipede (6") on the ground beneath me snacking on a caterpillar. Made me feel better about sleeping off the ground that night, even though I know they can climb very well.

 

[jmden]

My idea of shelter while hunting or for any other outdoor activity includes keeping water out of it and creepy crawlies out of it. Most of us have homes that do this, right...? Thus, floors and sewn in bugnetting. The idea of shelter is that it supposed to be someplace you can rest and recuperate...at least to me. If I'm constantly swatting bugs or trying to keep creepy crawlers out of my sleeping bag or backpack, how much rest am I really getting? For hard multi-day hunts to have a real shelter to go back to is huge for me. Floored and bugproof for me, thank you. More weight than floorless? Absolutely! More rest? Yes! Some of the reasons I started making shelters... A well rested hunter is a better hunter, at least I think so.

 

[Sverimerica]

Growing up in oregon, it wasnt much of a problem, occasionally the mosquitoes could be thick on the deschutes river. Backcountry fishing in BC was terrible for the mosquitoes. Then, moving to sweden, at first I was too poor to upgrade my broken tent, so I used the rain fly tied to trees as a tarp. I suffered! Was always bitten. One time I packed up in the middle of the night and walked home it was so bad. Mosquitoes, ticks, huge beetles, snakes, deer flies. I switched to using a nest in the summer and floorless with open fire in the cold. Then tried the stove. The stove was honestly more hassle (for me) than it was worth. Picked up a discontinued hilleberg and am completely satisfied. For summer lightweight, will be a tarp WITH A NEST.

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[5MilesBack]

Several years ago I set up my wall tent and everything in it, then went hunting. I came back to a tent "covered" with spiders, inside and out. I was right at 11k feet and have no idea what kind of spiders they were, but they were all about the size of a quarter with legs. I'd guess there were about 200 of them all over the walls and ceiling, and found one inside my sleeping bag. I packed up camp and moved. Must have set up camp on a large nest of them or something. Never seen anything like it. I used to have a picture of them covering the inside, but that was before that hard drive crashed and lost all the pics on it.

 

[boom]

hiking out in the dark with a headlamp in AZ. you can see hundreds maybe thousands of glowing eyes of spiders. daytime..the damn flies and bees.

 

[dmoto]

Seems like in the fall, we always have a tarantula or two crawling thru camp. Doesn't matter if I'm at 1500' or 8000'. Not too worried about them, it's more the random fire ant or bark scorpion that crawls in your boot.

 

[ramont]

This is exactly why I refused to retire further east than the western border of Kansas...I don't like crawling critters. All I have to deal with is flys, mosquitoes, and occasionally a tick or two, not counting the bigger carnivores of course.

 

[RoJo]

In AZ it varies A LOT with location, season, weather, and proximity to water.

I have never gotten a tick in AZ...ever.

Spring is the worst, gnats down low (not much in the way of biting, just extremely annoying to the point of insanity at times), no-see-ums (just as bad as chiggers biting-wise) and gnats up high.

Mosquitos can be terrible in the summer and into fall if you are near any kind of water.

Fall and winter in the desert can be fantastically bug-free.

I'm not concerned about spiders, I have just never had a problem with them with the exception of one spider bite when gathering firewood in the desert one fall. I have never had issues with scorpions. We don't have horse or deer flies that I have ever seen. No chiggers. Other than mosquitos, I have never had issues sleeping under a tarp or under the stars.

 

[KMT]

I’m a fan of a tent in Colorado. Mosquitos can be brutal in the summer and even early fall. I don’t get the tarp with bug net. Seems easier to me just to have a tent that already has a bug net and floor. Some people don’t like change, and I must be one of them.

 

[Gr8bawana]

Nevada archery season seems to have red ants everywhere I hunt. Tent for me!

It's usually still quite warm during our archery season and remember one night we were standing around the campfire near Caliente NV and over the course of a few hours we watched a scorpion, a centipede and a tarantula. There are also rattlers around so no floorless shelters for me.

 

[PathFinder]

I've slept outside on the ground and in floorless shelters for the last three years in Utah and Idaho. I can only recall a couple of trips (in August) when the bugs got really obnoxious. Ants, flies, mosquitoes, and a handful of other things. I use a borah bivy to keep them off while I sleep and that handles it for me.

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