Yellow Jackets

[Owly055]

Today I encountered the first yellow jacket nest of the season in my shed........ they'd tucked it away behind stuff......... My 3' scrappers torch and my tig torch were coiled up on a top shelf and I needed the 3' Harris. I grabbed it and they came boiling out of their nest looking for a fight. Having been a bee keeper in the past, I have zero fear of stinging insects, and they seem to sense it immediately like a dog or a horse. When I saw the nest, I reached up with the 3' torch and knocked it down on the floor and stomped it. Interestingly yellow jackets are real pussies, they act extremely aggressively but never actually work up the never to sting me. I've always found this fascinating. They understand aggression and seem to recognize me as a predator. Black hornets will try to hit you from behind but rarely take a run at your face or hands, yellow jackets just make a lot of noise and don't do anything. I always wear a hood when tackling black hornets. I've never resorted to spray or any kind of poison. With me and hornets it's mano a mano. Interestingly you would never get away with this with honey bees. They will sacrifice their lives to protect the colony. One sting and they are dead, and their sting is far worse. Down south (Memphis area), I encountered red hornets..... a dark "evil" red, and they are far more aggressive than our yellow jackets, on par with the black hornet.
For me it's sort of a game I guess......I'll wade into a pack of snarling vicious dogs, or take on a nest of hornets, ride a horse that is determined NOT to be ridden. At 60, my balls are not any smaller, but I break more easily........ or so I assume. I'm always amazed at the intelligence displayed by these creatures that don't even have a brain (insects). They interact with humans and other animals at a level one would not expect.
Insects like anything else sense or smell fear........... I have none. I recall a time many years ago (1974), when I was capturing a swarm of bees 30' up in a maple tree in Missoula, Mt. It was 80F out so I stripped naked, and dawned coveralls and full bee keepers regalia. I had about 25 hives at the time. I tied a a rope to the branch and arranged a hive directly below, and proceeded to saw the branch off. I was about 2/3 done and they found the pocket slot in the coveralls.. which I had completely forgotten, and began stinging me. I could not stop. I was holding the weight of the branch and 2/3 through. I gritted my teeth and continued, and lowered the branch with the swarm to the ground by the hive. When I went into the house, I stripped and my girlfriend began pulling stingers out....... the total she counted was 42. I was nauseous for an hour or so, but otherwise ok. I was young and stupid then...........now I'm old and stupid ;-). But I still refuse to be intimidated.

H.W.

 

[smurfjuice]

Well done ...

 

[Homercidal]

Years back I was going golfing with my BIL. I grabbed a piece of copper pipe that was laying across the top of my golf bag.

And several jackets came flying out of a crack in the paneling and one of them nailed me in the eyelid before I could hardly flinch.

I went inside and grabbed an ice cube and a paper towel to hold it and the can of spray and went back in the garage and fought my way to the clubs. I didnt' play too back considering my swollen eye.

We had jackets pretty bad back then. Lots of places for them to nest, and a huge pear tree to feast on. After some remodeling and taking down that tree (due to old age and rotten limbs) I hardly see any of them. I've had a couple of small nests set up in the door frames of a couple of cars that don't get driven much. Last time I had to drive to a town about 30 minutes away to rent a trailer. When I got there I found a decent sized nest on the door. The guy at the rental place was standing back with some jackets flying around trying to figure out where they were, and I just smashed the nest with my fist. The guys flying around just kept flying around. There was only one on the nest and I took my chance that I didn't get a stinger in the hand when I smashed it.

I find the yellow jacket sting to be slightly painful, and kind of itchy. More annoying for a couple of hours than anything else. But I don't recommend getting stung near the eye.

 

[TxBrew]

Red wasps are terrible this year and I swell up like crazy, even have Epipens for the big one. They are hyper aggressive too, I had two people over and warned them about a nest, they discounted my warning and got stung while running away.

 

[schiersteinbrewing]

I hate yellow jackets, I fight them year round. Under this, behind that, in this, in that.....grrr I go through 6-8 cans of spray every year. They love to drown in the pool. Been stung countless times usually not knowing a nest was there.

On a side note, wasp spray also will kill black widows (fight those all summer also).

 

[Zuljin]

Wasps don't sting me. I sting wasps.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I have a piece of picket from a picket fence that I use like a baseball bat to swat wasps out of the air. I find it quite satisfying to hear & feel the impact & see the offending insect go sailing away as a dead/severely stunned projectile. I once swatted a couple, then narrowly missed one, which then stung me right in the armpit. I killed that one too though, along with the entire nest. I Won.
Regards, GF.

 

[Owly055]

I have a piece of picket from a picket fence that I use like a baseball bat to swat wasps out of the air. I find it quite satisfying to hear & feel the impact & see the offending insect go sailing away as a dead/severely stunned projectile. I once swatted a couple, then narrowly missed one, which then stung me right in the armpit. I killed that one too though, along with the entire nest. I Won.
Regards, GF.

Bravo!! A few wounds derived honorably "tilting at windmills" (Cervantes), are a badge or courage! Poison is the resort of cowards!!

H.W.

 

[Zuljin]

We've a dense yaupon hedge in front our ops bldg. Wasps love it. Thing is infested with them. AC guys were working on a chiller system between it and the wall. They wanted wasp spray. Guess I was taking too long to get it. They torched a large nest, and the back side of the hedge.

 

[Dfitz]

I've had more that my share of yellow jacks this summer. That and grasshoppers! Damn things have been on my hops like crazy.

I found a nest in an old tv that was in my garage. The whole tv was full of them. I smoked em for a bit then slipped a plastic bag over the tv and tied it up tight.

Probably a half dozen large nests under the Eve's of my garage and house.

Best remedy I've ever seen when stung was break open a cigarette, or chewing tobacco wet it with saliva and slap it on the spot stung. It'll stop the pain dead and prevent any swelling.