hidden dangers

[hammerstone]

you can move this to another forum if you like this is just where i go most.here in the lower mid.west we're in a drought. in dry years the ground hornets aka. yellow jackets nest almost exclusively in the ground.while out stump shooting ,i have almost stepped in several nests. had i not been there before i probably would have, its not a fun place to be.some of these nests contain hundreds of nasty stings.dogs will sometimes lay down when attacked,much to their detriment.keep an eye out for insects hovering 2 to 6 in. off the ground or flying directly into holes.ive seen my daughter with 6 clinging to her face when out cutting firewood. talk about a parent,s worst nightmare. 

[crooketarrow]

  I do alot of cutting shoots in the spring and sanging in the fall and run across them all the time. Seams I can't get through a year with out getting stung a time or 3.
    First thing I do is smash the hole closed.
  I had a moutain cure squrril dog when I was younger. He found a nest and would'nt stop digging at it.  He died from being stung 100's of times.
  I think they hurt worse than any other bee's. And I 've gotten stung by them. At least they won't chase (as far) you like hornets.

[Slackbunny]

The nice thing about the colder climate here (NB Canada) is that we don't get the insects like you guys further south. I've only ever run into one nest over the past four years of hunting and hiking in the woods. I've run into a couple nests doing some carpentry work on old houses though. Nasty buggers.

[Badger]

    Years ago my daughter was swarmed by yellow jackets when we were camping. I ran and through a blanket over her picker her up and started running. We were both in swiming gear fully exposed. I took about 1 dozen stings and she had about 6 or 7. I was surprised that as bad as it hurt it did subside fairly quickly with less side effect than a bee sting. It seemed like it burned for about 20 min or so then went away with no swelling afterward. How has it affected you guys?

[JackCrafty]

Yellow jackets were all over the place in NH where I grew up but I don't see many here in TX.  They are easily "angered" and will follow you out to about 20 yards away from the nest and sting you multiple times.  And they get better at defending their nest after every encounter.  I have a love-hate relationship with those buggers and all the other wasps.

I just use wasp killer bug spray.  Works good.  I also keep a small wood "paddle" handy.  They come straight at you... making it easy to swat them into left field.

[TRACY]

Not much of a fan of them. They are biters and don't die after just one bite. My funniest encounter was on an archery course when I retrieved arrows from the target for the group and I had shot over into a creek bank. I got that odd feeling when something's happening and your brain hasn't recognized yet. I got bit over 100 times when it was all said and done. One other guy got bit as he was the one left standing, everyone else stayed in front of me on a dead run. The ironic thing is that I was wearing a tshirt with a huge bee logo for a radio station. Moral of the story: don't shoot over the target into yellow jacket nest and especially don't be the last one in a group of guys fleeing angry yellow jackets

Tracy

[bowtarist]

I've got a yellow jacket nest right under my 3D deer target.  I love stinging insects of all kinds. 

In the fall I put a deally on my beer can called a "bug plug" to keep them out of my mouth.  Boy that hurts!  dpg

[Grunt]

Me and George and George's wife Sandy were digging in a wood pile looking for tomahawk handles and we got into a yellowjacket nest. I yelled "run' and we took off headed for the truck. Sandy was pretty fast and she got there first and got in. Me and
George grabbed the door handles to get in but Sandy had locked the doors. We beat on the windows while the yellowjackets ate us up but Sandy wouldn't unlock the doors so me and George had to run down the road to get out of the swarm. Watch out for "fast" women.

[cracker]

We sometimes use a reilroad flare to stun them block all the entrances but one light the flare and stick in the open hole juice em up good with smoke then you can dig up the nest. The grubs make fantastic fish bait. Ron

[beetlebailey1977]

I HATE those buggers......the bad thing is the bite and sting multiple times.  They do pack a wallop.  I have been into them more times than I care to speak of.

[TRACY]

Ran across this trying to find a reliable reference about biting, stinging or both by yellow jackets.

http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=236267

Tracy

[coaster500]

Here we call them meat bees...  kinda weird but if you are skinning a deer they will help themselves to meat and really don't sting unless you trap them against the carcass with your arm or body. On the other hand if you get close to the nest it's just plain bad!!! I was dragging a deer out of a canyon once and pulled it over a nest..... OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

We make meat bee traps by hanging a piece of meat over a garbage can half full of water. Put some liquid dish soap in and the greedy things grab so much meat they fall off and into the can and drown. We have half filled a can with the things, some years there are millions of them!!!

[bowtarist]

I've been told that back in "old" Europe people thought the yellow jackets came from butcherd hogs.

Also been told that it is because of the yellow jacket that the German beer steins have lids.  Yellow jackets are more aggresive in the fall...during October Fest. 

And...I'm pretty sure that the yellow jacket is a non-native wasp brought over here from the "old world".  White Man Flies.

I haven't looked @ Tracy's link, some of this may be old news.

Keep your sweet drinks covered, dpg

p.s. I watched the link...stining insects get a bad name. IMO

[Gus]

Wet lightly chewed tobacco, whether plug, stogie, or cigereet makes a good poultice to stop the burning and draw out the venom.
Also, Windex with ammonia is good for most stinging or biting bug bites and jellyfish stings.

In a pinch, if Windex or tobaccy is unavailable, urine works just as well.   

-gus

[mullet]

I've only got in them once. I was only stung by one,( i run fast), but it got way down in my ear and by the time I dug it out it had stung me about 5 times inside of my ear. Afterwards the bites felt like there was a piece of hot charcoal in my ear.