For years I have been advocating natural insect repellents. All these years I thought cedar blocks and cloves did the trick, until today.

About 6 months ago I packed up my tying goodies in preparation of selling the house and buying another. In addition to the cedar blocks and cloves in each plastic container, I placed additional cedar blocks and cloves in the storage boxes and sealed them up with heavy duty strapping tape all along the perimeter in an effort to stop bugs from getting in. Today I opened the boxes and removed the content in preparation for a fly swap I signed on for. I noticed several of my capes looked to have dandruff flacks. Upon further inspection it was the carcasses of dead bugs! When I opened one of the bags I found some of the carcasses to be as big as or bigger than rollie pollies. I was shocked! I called Denny of Conranch Hackles. He told me to place all my materials in plastic bags and put them in the freezer for about a week and to kill the dormant eggs and prevent further issues to buy and cut up bug strips and place them in the storage boxes.

I wanted to stay away from chemical deterrants, but today proved what Al Campbell, Ronn Lucas and Denny have been telling us all along. That more potent means are necessary to protect our materials from bugs.