Sweat Bees

I have a lovely home, beautiful gardens, a nice pool all nestled in the beautiful Shenandoah Mountains BUT the sweat bees are so bad that it is almost impossible to enjoy it. I have almost trained myself not to jump when I feel a creepy crawly on me because it is when you jump that they sting. I havent found much that seems to work on them. DEET for a while but DEET on a daily basis multiple times worries me, citronella candles help but only if you are sitting nearby. I have read they are ground dwellers but unlike other ground they don't have nests. We could bombard the entire yard but we'd wipe out the butterflies and honey bees as well.

Does anyone have any idea about how to control these beasts?

 

http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/0506/sc0506-repellents.html

 

Hmm, learn something new everyday. Never heard of them and never seen one. Goggle & find there are a 1,000 species in the US, Canada & Central America.
Not here in SE WI.

 

Thanks folks. It entered my mind that moving may be the only answer but Wisconsin is too cold in the winter. I just came from visiting fam in Alabama, no sweat bees but and I think I prefer Virginia with the sweat bees - no offense. Lived there and went to college there but I've been away too long.

 

Yes winters where it hits -20 and 50 inches of snow, do control a lot of our insect problems.