I remember one year in 1970 something- we were walleye fishing Easter Sunday on the Wolf by the Winneconne bridge; my uncle had a 6-12 aerosol can in his Old Pal tackle box- the sun shinned through the clear trays and must have created a magnifying glass effect- heated the can enough to split open- we had tackle and shreds of Kleenex all over the boat… sounded like a .410 got touched off. I still have my Dad’s Old Pal they bought at the same time – good times!

Yes I remember it, that was pre-DEET.

Deet is the stuff that eats up the lures in your tackle box. Most stuff today has a small percentage of DEET, but there is Ben's 100 and some others that have high percentages of DEET.

Camping out as a kid, I would bathe in that stuff. The only real purpose I could figure was that it made you so slick that a skeeter couldn't land on you. Still got a bottle of it.

Well Pre DEET Bug spray took paint off too. Because we never had deet in the 60's and early 70s

I remember it well. Apply over sand and dirt and don't wash off for a few days.

In the early 70's,I was timber cruising in summers for the MNR. We were supplied with REPEX.Best bug repellent on the planet at that time.-100% deet.
Two or three drops out of the little bottle rubbed between your hands then over your arms and face and neck would keep the blackflies mosquitos deerflies and bulldogs away for hours.

I worked at the Soil Conservation Service right out of school, surveying. They had a bunch of cases of repellent left over from the Vietnam war... nasty stuff. Little short OD green cans... felt almost oily... 100% Deet I'm guessing.

I still use 100% deet. Works good, doesn't take much.

I remember those days, but in our house it was Amway everything.

I remember using it, along with OFF, then Cutter's and Muskol (DEET) came along. Muskol will ruin fly lines and plastic of many types.

For a long time people would buy a product from Avon called Skin so Soft and it worked pretty well, and really well for sand fleas on the beaches in Mexico and Central America.

Pete

Good stuff even worked

I think SSS just added a layer of oil they couldn’t penetrate, lol. I’m just thankful someone came out with the Thermacell, most of my hunts would be a bust without it.

Yep I remember and applied all of the above . What was in the little green bottles of skeeter dope we use to get at the ARMY surplus store`s . Seem`s like it was DEET ?
I know it worked fairly well , we had them little green bottles stashed everywhere .

I still have skin so soft. Don't get it in your eyes.

Another oldie, but goodie called "Save the Baby".

If you know any Vietnam vets.... then you probably know a few with skin cancer on their arms....I say no more.

That 6-12 is 95 % DEET,the patent ran out and the others came on the market.

That was Jungle Juice, 100% DEET. The only bug repellent I ever saw that really worked when the skeeters were bad. Oily and really made you sweat when it was hot out, and burned with a blue flame (boy scouts will learn these esoteric facts! ) I had some Muskol when I was older that was 100% DEET also, used it surveying on the coast. One of the guys I worked with got a new vest that had those reflective stripes on it. Found out that 100% DEET will eat those reflective strips!. Will also dissolve paint, remove labels off of anything, and generally eat anything petroleum based and some things not. Keeps the bugs off though!

Never heard of 6-12

I was given the same oily OD bug dope when I was doing topo surveys for SCS the 9'ish years I worked as a seasonal G-man (mid-to-late 70's on through maybe 1985???). That stuff would make your lips go numb and seems the more you would sweat, the more it would start to burn.