# Antelope Island and BUGS!



## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

Antelope Island State Park is a nice place to visit with hiking, mountain biking, wildlife viewing and limited water activities with the drought conditions. In fact, I don't know if the Island will have available water on the east side forever.

Anyway, The biting gnats and Buffalo Gnats are horrible. I don't remember them being bad when I was younger. Are these no-see-ums a recent plaque explosion?

I get a kick out of the sign at the entry building which basically says: The biting gnats and Buffalo gnats have hatched. No refunds on park fees. This would lend me to believe people have actually asked for refunds because of the bugs.

Well, I would imagine that visitor numbers are down once the bugs hatch and most people who actually get out of their cars to pursue outdoor activities don't visit the island only in the colder months. So why not drop the access fee down to half $5.00 during the bug infested months? 

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe people still go out there and wear protective clothing. Bug sprays do not keep the buggers off. Any exposed skin is attacked and they love to get in hair work down to the scalp and do their thing.

Do any of you go out there in the summer months and put up with the bugs?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

I'll put up with most anything except Deer flys. Gawd I hate deerflys.


-DallanC


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

I unknowingly took the wife out there for a late morning horse ride a couple years ago. I think it was in June sometime. Got saddled up and thought dang I should have brought some spray for the horses. Well, we made it about 500 yards down the trail, then turned and kicked like hell back to the truck. Wont do that again. Horse rides out there are from oct - march. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

My nephew was out there on Saturday, he said that there were swarms of them. He couldn't believe the number of bites that his 2 year old got.


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## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

We reserved a camp spot out there years ago for Mothers Day. Couldn't figure out why all the camp sites were wide open, but figured "lucky us". Our crew didn't last 2 hours out there, before we packed up and left. I'm sure there's plenty of camp spots available this coming Mothers Day as well.....:shock:


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Yea. When I lived in Utah, Antelope Island was one of our favorite family places to go. We'd usually take the pop up camper out twice a year - once for our first camping trip of the year - usually in mid to late March, when it is still frosting overnight, and then not again until after the first 5-6 hard frosts in the fall. Some years that was mid to late October, other years it would be into November. We went in the summer once. Just once. We got there, set up the camper, walked down to the water to mess around, ran back to the car, and the kids all hid in the car while I packed up the camper and we headed home.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Went out there for a ride, look at birds etc.--- didnt last long!!-O,-


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Was out there Friday. Yes the bugs were getting a little bothersome. Probably the last time out until after the fall hunts.

But the Cedar nats down south and the deer flies up north in the summer are just as bad.

I finally broke down and bought a head net but it does cut down on the beer drinking.


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

Just wait...soon the hordes of spiders will show up to feast on the bugs!

It’s a fairly unpleasant place when it isn’t cold out.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

DallanC said:


> I'll put up with most anything except Deer flys. Gawd I hate deerflys.
> 
> -DallanC


I thought the same thing until two summers ago when I was on Fifty Mile Ridge and got attacked by sand flies. Holy crap they bite HARD and then the bites turn to itchy welts that lasted for several days.

The only way I could get them to stay away was to start a small fire and get a dried cow pie to start smoldering while I ate lunch.


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## wolflinen (10 mo ago)

Using the proper spray against these insects can be key for a good and healthy vacation. I know that people are coming to these regions without proper antimosquito sprays and mosquito traps. Personally, I like to exit my car and have never had any big issues with the bugs and mosquitos since I always use mosquito traps and proper sprays to prevent huge problems with them. If you are going on vacation, I recommend you to address the local pest company like mr mosquito pest control and consult with them about the proper tools you can use to deal with bugs and mosquitos in your area.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

wolflinen said:


> Using the proper spray against these insects can be key for a good and healthy vacation.


 Can you recommend a proper spray to keep them off the front of my truck? TIA


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

wolflinen said:


> Using the proper spray against these insects can be key for a good and healthy vacation.


where you from wolflinen?


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