Originally posted by Samoth:

don't go at night. pay attention to the blue swirls. raze the land between you and your target location. use camp fires if you intend to stay at night. Notice fires, plural. Or if you have access to Bonfires centralize some and fan out camp fires. Remove or destroy any object that breaks your line of sight. And don't sleep there.

That will all work, but dealing with them isn't the point. They're not tough to fight, even in groups. My complaint is that, rather than being challenging or interesting, the never ending tidal wave of the little @#$!'s is irritating and distracting.