How to Create a DIY Outdoor Sticky Fly Trap

Summer is here, and it’s horse fly, deer fly, moose fly and speckled wing fly season! Big time! If you live in a rural, wooded setting then you know every time you step out the door to take your daily walk or jog you are bombarded by these pesky, vicious, biting flies. For the entire walk you are constantly swatting at biting insects and trying to outrun the barrage. They seem to relish the flavor of most repellents. They can make your precious time outdoors just plain miserable. Want some relief? Try one of these DIY ideas and you’ll be amazed!

Get Relief By Creating A Sticky Situation

Take one of your old every day baseball caps and place two or three strips of wide, blue painter's tape on it, starting at the top of the cap and layering the strips down the back. Why use blue painter's tape? Researchers have discovered that flies are 3 times more attracted to the color blue than yellow. In fact, flies may even be repelled by the color yellow! A lot of fly and insect traps on the market are yellow in color, and this may be actually hindering your ability to attract and catch flies. Next,  use a paint brush to apply a liberal coating of Tanglefoot insect trap coating over the blue painters tape. Tanglefoot is a sticky insect trap coating that can be used in a variety of applications, is OMRI listed, and is long lasting and weather proof. 

Wear the cap on your walk or jog – the flies are attracted to the blue color, and are caught in the Tanglefoot insect trap coating, where they eventually die. Occasionally one will get caught in such a way that it can continue to flap its wings, and the buzzing is a tad irritating, but with a little patience or the light tap of a finger the buzzing soon ceases.

If you own an ATV, UTV, or even a bicycle, one variation on the “cap trap" is to use old coffee cans or plastic plant pots and either spray paint them blue or cover them with the blue painters tape, attach them in some creative way to your ATV, UTV, or bicycle, and then apply Tanglefoot insect trap coating.  Go for a ride down your favorite trail and let the traps collect all the nuisance flies!

 It doesn’t take many trips to significantly reduce the biting fly population in the target area to a point where your outdoor activities are enjoyable once again. You’ll need to go for a ride every few days to stay ahead of the pests, but going for a ride is a fun way to get outside and enjoy the summer while reducing the local fly population at the same time.

What do you think of our DIY Sticky Fly Traps? Let us know in the comments!