The 2013 Deer Fly Season Has Ended

I have to admit that I was not very diligent about going out and trapping deer flies every day this season.  One reason for this is that I was out of town for several stretches this summer, and other days I stayed inside because it was raining (we had a lot of rainy mornings this summer).  But the biggest reason for my inconsistent trapping efforts is because there were relatively low numbers of deer flies this season and so I didn't always get motivated to go out trapping.  I kind of wish they had been worse so that I would have been more motivated to go outside and trap them.  (Oh my goodness, did I really just say that?!?)  For instance, Fly Trapper (see the comments he has left on some of these posts) was very very dedicated and determined to trap every deer fly that dared to exist on his property this season.  Fly Trapper lives in the same county as I do.  I applaud his efforts!!  I, on the other hand, did not match his dedication this year.  Naughty me!!  I promise that next season I will go out trapping every day regardless of how low or high the deer fly numbers will be.  I hope I didn't make next year's numbers big by allowing those pesky deer flies to breed while I wasn't trapping them.  I guess I'll be paying for it next year.  I'm also predicting that the wet conditions this year are going to yield a huge juicy crop of fierce deer flies next season.  So I'm guessing we'll all be trapping lots and lots of deer flies in 2014.  (I hope I'm wrong!)

In any case, below are my numbers for this year.  While the total number is not a good reflection of how the season went (because I skipped so many days), you can still, nonetheless, see the trend of how many deer flies were around at each stage of the season.  This season surely lasted a long time.  Remember, I spotted the first deer fly on June 16, but didn't start trapping until July 8 (see previous post).  And yet I was still catching deer flies as late as Aug 28.  So while the numbers were lower on any given day this season (again, I believe that is due mostly to the fact that last season was so very very dry), the length of the season certainly wasn't shortened.

And the deer flies that did exist this season seemed so timid compared to all previous seasons.  I don't know why.  I continued to be able to be outside and not be bothered by a single deer fly all season.  But when I'd go out trapping with my umbrella, I would get significant numbers of deer flies trapped.  Much to my surprise most days, because, like I said, they never came out and attacked me this year whenever I was out and about.  Very strange.  Again, that's why I often felt unmotivated to go trap them.  But I won't be fooled next year.  I'll go trapping even if I think there are none of them around!

Until next season, happy end of deer fly season 2013!!

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