Lindsey your bites could also be chiggers. They are notorious ankle-biters when you are wading around in the foliage, and make big welts that itch like crazy. Tiny little bugs you can hardly see.
I spray with soapy water once in a while around the areas that I walk through. Seems to take care of them pretty well. Soapy water will also knock down paper wasp nests, if you can spray them from a safe distance, in the evening when they're not active.
If it had been fire ants you'd have known it right away, same with wasps.
