Will This Cute Dragonfly Hack Keep Biting Flies Away For Good?

While there are plenty of benefits to spending time outdoors, even the biggest outdoor enthusiasts know that sometimes it's just not worth it to go camping, fishing, or hiking in an area with lots of biting flies. This is because biting flies can not only drive you crazy with their irritating buzzing, but also ruin your day with their painful bites — some species of flies (like horseflies and deer flies) have saw-like mouths that they use to roughly slice you open and then drink up your blood. While you can repel biting flies with DEET, many people would prefer not to wear strong-smelling chemical repellents. On top of this, while there are natural insect-repelling alternatives like vinegar, they typically need to be reapplied often or simply don't work as well.

Luckily, there's another way to keep the biting flies away and it doesn't involve any smelly substances. Instead, all you need is a clip-on fake dragonfly. According to natural remedies influencer @macktopa on Instagram, if you buy a fake dragonfly connected to a metal wire and clip it to your hat, you can easily keep all the biting bugs away. While it might sound (and look) and little ridiculous, this claim is also backed up by tons of reviews of the product on Amazon claiming that allegedly works, explaining that "without fail if we are being bothered by flies, we pull these out and clip them nearby and the flies disappear."

While there is no scientific evidence that clipping a fake plastic dragonfly to your hat will keep the biting flies at bay, there seems to be plenty of anecdotal evidence that the hack works, with outdoor enthusiasts across different platforms trying out the trick and having success. So, what is the reason behind this?

As it turns out, dragonflies (the real ones) are the apex predators of the insect world, consuming large quantities of bugs, including all types of flies like deer flies, horseflies, black flies, and midges, along with other pests. This is the reason that dragonflies are often considered one of those insects you shouldn't kill in your garden and also why many people try to attract more dragonflies to their yard. On top of this, dragonflies have a 95% success rate of capturing and killing prey. As such, it makes sense why certain insects — like biting flies — would want to avoid them.

To use this to your advantage, you can simply purchase a plastic real-looking dragonfly and attach it to your body. While some people have attached their dragonflies to their hair, most folks opt to attach it to the sides or bill of their hat. This way, you can keep the biting flies away from your head and neck (which is usually the area deer flies target).

Because these fake dragonflies are said to be effective at deterring horse and deer flies, you can easily use them to protect your pets and livestock. This can be important because while some biting flies can spread diseases to humans, they are more likely to spread diseases to livestock. To protect your fluffy friends, you can attach a fake dragonfly to them, as well. In fact, YouTuber Michelle of Unicorn & Centaur did just that by attaching the plastic dragonfly to her horse's headstall and was impressed by how few flies bothered the horse during their ride. Alternatively, some users have begun attaching the dragonflies to their dog's collars, with one Amazon reviewer claiming that it worked on their dog because "as he walks, it bobs up and down [so] flies don't land on his ears and bite."

However, while many people claim this hack works well for flies, there seems to be much less consensus on whether or not it works for mosquitoes, with many stating that the plastic dragonfly isn't so good against them. So, to be fully protected, you will probably need to wear some type of mosquito repellent along with your clip-on fake dragonfly while adventuring outdoors.