Yellow Jackets/Ground Wasps

Yesterday I wasn't swinging a detector, I was swinging a long handled sickle, cutting down 3 and 4 foot weeds. I had long sleeved shirt and long pants on and also sprayed down my clothes with Deep Woods Off........Thought about poison ivy and tics but yellow jackets didn't cross my mind.

I'm going along at a pretty good clip because the sickle was very sharp, all of a sudden, !! BAHM!! BAHM!! BUZZ! BAHM! BUZZING!!
Before I knew what was happening these bastards had me in their sights.They got through my gloves and a 2 inch tear in my genes.

I started running and looking down at my pants there was dozens all over my legs curled up in their stinging posture. They were stinging me through the back part of my gloves. They were all over my sleeves....I was scraping them off with the sickle. I'm 40 yards away and they're still around I haven't sprinted like that in a long time probably since the last encounter with these cranky creatures.

Well, that kind of put a kink in my day.

It's over 24 hours later and my hand is swollen and itchy.

So, swinging a detector or a sickle or a weed eater, remember those ground wasps, they're bad ass.

go back and nuke their azz

I'm glad that you're O.K.. I hate those darn things. Like Bey said, " nuke em"! We've had a lot of rain this past winter and the yellow jackets are thick this year. I'm on high alert while out swinging. Be careful!

Dean

stepped on one of those nests once while picking up golfballs during a run around a golf course, extreme pain, didn't know I could run that fast....

only one instance more painful, in Nicaragua volunteering at a coffee finca, hiked down to the Lake with locals, was taking a piss next to a tree, tiny red ants climbed up my shoe, bam, hit with excrutiating pain so bad almost went into shock, ran and jumped into the Lake, at least that got them off....

When we were kids 70 years ago brother stepped on ground nest...Multiple bites caused body to swell...dad took to family doc and gave shot..Would have died without medical help. Be careful out there...

I may have told this story once before but it is too funny to not share again.

I work with a guy that got fired from the head position of the city parks and recreational department. This guy is a talker and can tell some stories that will have you rollin' laughing. He should have been a comedian. Anyway one night on lunch, he told us the story of how he got fired. Story goes like this:

One day he was sitting in the rec office and a guy comes in. The guy says "Hey I just wanted to let you guys know, I was up walking on the walking trail at such and such park, and there is a huge hornets nest right off the ground beside the trail. I got stung a couple times...you might need to get someone to take care of it". He told where it was, and that it was on a tree that had blown over beside the trail.

They go up there and sure enough, spot the nest and the bees are going and coming out of it like mad when they got there. They decided it was best to close the trail and wait til dark for the bees to return to the nest and not be active, and then take care of the bees.

So he and this other parks guy wait til dark and go up the trail. The thing to keep in mind about this guy is that he is crazy as a bat. He will catch a snake with his bare hands....copperheads, and all, and not think twice about it. BUT...he has an absolute fear of bees. SO he was a bit jumpy about going up there. He said they didn't have any bee spray in a can, but scrounged around and got a gallon jug of gas and went up there to the nest. He said he had the gas can, and the other guy had a flashlight. The plan was to hold the light on the nest, while the other dumped the gas on the nest.

All was going as planned. Until one very unique thing about hornets occurred. Hornets will go towards a light source...especially those big ones that we call a Japanese hornet. We used to run into them while frog gigging back in the day. Anyway....that's exactly what happened about the time they got up there close to the nest. The guy with the gas jug was getting ready to throw the gas to it, when the bees went towards the guys flashlight and dude took off running and left the other one behind in the dark. So he panicked and threw the gas the best he could in the vicinity of the nest, struck a match and threw it over there and took off running too. He said he threw gas can down and all....remember, he is terrified of bees.

Well it was in the summer time and during one of our droughts. Everything in the woods was dry. It didn't take long for that fire to hit the gas fumes and then that dry tender....next thing he knew, he said he looked back and most of the woods were on fire in the park. By the time the fire dept got there, it had spread to over 5 acres. By the time they got it put out, it had burned most of the woods at the park...some 15 acres. Needless to say....the city didn't take too kind to him, and they fired him.

I know I left out some details that he told during that story but the way he told it, we were out there with tears in our eyes from laughing. We all knew about the fire at the park, but didn't know "the rest of the story".

Good story Daniel,....but you forgot about the part where they went back after the fire was out and the hornets nest was alive and active, lol.

Cont; I went back with foaming hornet spray and emptied the can. Can't have them buzzing around come family picnic time in a couple weeks....some in the family are allergic to bee venom.

Pick up a 10 foot section of 1/2 inch pvc pipe and a funnel that will fit into the end. Tape the funnel very well with duct tape so it won't come off in the excitement. Locate the hole where they are going in and out during the day. If you're brave enough while they are active, mark it somehow with a long board or maybe even lay your pvc pipe down so the end is at the nest. Go back at night with a flashlight. They don't seem to be "followers of the light" like some bees, but you never know, so be careful. Take a gallon of gas and with someone else holding the flashlight, put the opposite end of the pvc pipe as close or better, into the entrance hole. Doesn't have to be deep in the hole, just to the lip. Pour the gas into the funnel fairly slowly as it will overflow if to aggressive with it. Don't have to light the gas, and is not recommended. You could cause a ground explosion or at the least set the surrounding area on fire which you don't want to do.

This should take care of them, but there may be some that didn't make it back to the nest before dark, and may have to repeat the process a second time.

That's how we take care of them on the farm. Not recommended if nest is under foundation of your house as fumes can get inside.

No smoking while doing this!

Napalm them bastards

Damn bees, we had a yellow jacket nest in our front yard deep underground. Tried flooding them out with water, had the hose going for an hour, hole never filled up. Yellow bellies a few days were back like normal.
Tried filling up the hole entrance, they made another. After 4 months gave them a dose of gasoline and a match. Then hosed the hole down. Then filled the big cavity some where down there thru the 6" hole opening at the surface with 4-5 5 gallon buckets of
asphalt and dirt. Makes you wonder how big the nest really was, there was a depression in the lawn. Probably just a matter of time cutting the grass, a sink hole would have opened up that I would have fell into.

DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

Sven1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Damn bees, we had a yellow jacket nest in our fron
> t yard deep underground. Tried flooding them out w
> ith water, had the hose going for an hour, hole ne
> ver filled up. Yellow bellies a few days were back
> like normal.
> Tried filling up the hole entrance, they made anot
> her. After 4 months gave them a dose of gasoline a
> nd a match. Then hosed the hole down. Then filled
> the big cavity some where down there thru the 6" h
> ole opening at the surface with 4-5 5 gallon bucke
> ts of
> asphalt and dirt. Makes you wonder how big the nes
> t really was, there was a depression in the lawn.
> Probably just a matter of time cutting the grass,
> a sink hole would have opened up that I would have
> fell into.

duh, they just tunneled to your back yard....

Best thing I have found for those suckers is Brakekleen... fastest, safest method going.. and knocks them right down instantly

Micheal

Man, that happened to me last month, was just walking the GSD and must of stepped on a nest, both my dog and I were stung around 4 times at least, they were relentless chasing us.
I was kind of lucky another dog walker came by to help, even hours later my dog still had a few of the critters on it..man I will keep away from them. don't know what type of bee but they were quite small and nest can be just near the ground size of a small orange.


oj BC

Don't use gas for the reasons cited; use kerosene. You don't have to light it, but I do because I HATE those @#$%&.
And never harm a skunk; they dig up yellow jacket nests and eat the grubs/larvae/eggs.