Apparently we are supposed to watch out for them. I never knew we had 'em around Wi.
http://www.weau.com/content/news/Officials-warn-of-brown-recluse-spider-bites-488443211.html

I've got three places on my legs from brown recluse spider bites, they are small 1/2 a dime sized brown hard skin areas that itched like heck for weeks after the bite. I just happened to see the first one bite me ( you'll not feel it, they inject a numbing agent) so I grabbed it up & went to the ER. Contrary to the popular belief they will not cause large flesh rottage as I was lead to believe. I'm allergic to to almost any venous insect bites/stings and it didn't effect me that way. Nor my daughter, one bite, same results. Just our results.

Harley, it must effect different people in different ways, because there was a kid in my high school that got bit and nearly lost his arm. Skin was stuffing off and he has massive scars on that arm.

A partner of mine was bit twice in the span of a few minutes grabbed the spider and headed to the hospital. Same terrible flesh damage as listed here. This was up by Grand Rapids MN, brown recluse. Just a couple
Years ago.

Osky

It must be different in different people, Yes! A lady here in town got bit by one and lost a pinky finger.

Story says only 10% have serious issue after being bitten.

I know I got bit by a rattle snake on Camp Pendleton years ago and had only two punctures. No venom. I was surprised to find out about 2 out of 5 rattlesnake bites are without venom. 30 years later there is two dots that look like moles where this happened.

I saw another Marine pickup up the severed head off about a 5 ft Pacific Red rattler. He stupidly put the fangs on his hand. 15 minutes later it was a red softball and he had all sorts of reactions going on, including a numb face. Ambulance took him and he was hospitalized.

I keep glue traps set out all the time for them. If you see one or two you will be surprised when you catch a dozen in traps.

Would not know where to look here we get the lake bugs (midges) here by the millions and along with that come the big juicy spiders by the thousands. I bet I kill 20 spiders a day here in the summer in the house. In the fall I have to broom the house the spider webs will just cover everything in webs, just letting the chickens out first thing it looks like a horror movie going through the webs in the AM. Went to put the truck in the shed yesterday and had to move the welder and 2 spiders were going at it where the wire comes out of the box so many they eat each other.

I got bit by brown recluse last year. Spent four days in hospital
Wish I could let load pics where my rotted bite spot was.

Been bite numerous times in AZ, after one trip to the hospital where they took a scapel and cut out bad flesh, then they packed 3 feet of iodine gauze into the hole and sewed it up leaving a teather, had to pull some out every day till it was gone. The scar looks like I was shot with a 22. I now use iodine and peroxide as soon as possible and frequently (hourly the first day of bite). The hardened scab covers the infection, not good. so I keep the peroxide and iodine coming till healed. Not fun especially when out in the wilderness. To many years in the Army and Navy with self medication as a norm. If you get bit get to the doctor.

Ugh......

I've also been bit twice and never had any major effects. The first was on my upper arm and felt like burn the next day with a big blister about the size of a dime and a half inch high. After a few days the blister went down and never had a problem. The second was in my groin. No blister but just sore for a few days with a little swelling.

I was bit twice by a water moccasin in 2014. Both were either dry bites or had very minimal venom injected. Ended up with a purple spot and some swelling about 3-4 inches in diameter. I do have a small scar on my lower leg.

My understanding from the dermatologist is Brown Recluse bites are pretty common but only a few have bad reactions. Some research published about 10 year ago showed that more than half of water moccasin bites are dry and on average it took upwards of 4 minutes of handling until they would bit. I don't know if anything has been done with rattler or copperheads or not.

I took a bite on the wrist in Alabama in '77 and spent the night in the hospital with severe pain, gruesome swelling, vomiting, dizziness, sweats and a blinding headache. Sick for a few days and the bite site was nasty and oozed for a few weeks, but I didn't have the terrible necropsy that many people suffer. I had a dent there for the longest time, but these days the scar is hard to find.

Some good information about brown recluse spider identification.
How to tell if a spider is not a brown recluse- http://spiderbytes.org/2015/06/08/how-to-tell-if-a-spider-is-not-a-brown-recluse/

I’ve heard the sentiments on Tman about global warming but I think it does play a role in insect and animal migrations. When I first studied brown recluse spiders in 1974, back in medical entomology classes, the spider was found deep in the south. In the 1980s, it was being found in northern Oklahoma. Today they’re found in Wisconsin and Minnesota! Aedes Ibopictus mosquitoes, often called the Tiger mosquito came to Minnesota via unwrapped tires from Mexico. Apparently our winters are no longer cold enough to keep them from hatching. The same has been found to be true with raccoons in Canada. I remember reading back in the 1970s and 80s that there might be a few in Canada. Now there are harvestable populations of them up there and Canadian Tman members talk about sizable catches.

Spiders often travel on the wind, on packaging transported from different parts of the country and so on. Favorable weather patterns allow it to thrive. It would not surprise me to see Zika virus become endemic in Minnesota in the next 10-15 years because the mosquito carrier eggs can survive here due to warmer winters.

A friend of mine was bitten by a brown recluse here in Wisconsin in 1981. He must have been an advance scout for the others waiting for the global warming.

Zim

There are advanced scouts, I’m sure. Back in 1981, medical detectives weren’t as well equipped as they are today. If you do a search, based on confirmed bites of the brown recluse, I’m sure you’ll find a map of movement over time.

Speaking of advanced scouts, I was just telling my wife about a tanned martin skin I was showing someone at the trapper’s booth at the Winona Co fair, last weekend. Anyway, when I was 15, in 1965, I came across a mink like animal that had been hit by a car. It had an orange patch on its throat. From descriptions in F-F-G, I knew it was a martin. This was near Eau Claire, WI and to this day, I don’t know if martins are found in any numbers there or not.

Lots of them around here. Seem to love old newspapers, mags and books in boxes in sheds. Brother in law belly rotten out a big hole cause of them Had one bite me on the leg one time, rotted out about the size of a dime. You can find lots of black widows around rocks and wood piles. Hate them evil little .......

Interesting, myself who quits breathing when stung by a common honey bee has very little reaction to a brown recluse spider bites and yet we see where different folks react so differently. Different type of venom effecting different folks differently. E. shell almost described the effects of a black widow spider on my wife although it was a brown recluse that bit him. Here's a potentially life saving technique for you all who are severely allergic to different types of venom or maybe it's just a screw it I got nothing to lose attitude. As I understand it the medical way to keep you from dying from an allergic reaction is to pump you with adrenaline to shoot the poison thru your system quickly and flush it out. I got busted in the Alagash wilderness way up in Maine by a bunch of bee's while clear cutting, by the time I cleared the 200 yards thru waist high downed tree's to my truck I was wide open and just exuding adrenaline. I was 20 miles from nowhere so why was I in a hurry to die beside my truck? Don't know but I dropped and did push-ups & sit-ups till I pucked and then past that. All I could think was adrenaline was adrenaline, get it going. I was 24 then, I'm 59 now, I'd probably saw 'well, screw it, at least I'm not dieing on a Beemer'. I just really don't like Beemer riders. Ask me why.