Ground hornets, Not honey bees

[SPIKER]

The thing about the Yellow Jackets these buggers "Sting" and "Bite." Most of the time at the same time (bite and sting,) using their bite & legs to really push the stinger into ya. Then Bite Twist sting a bit and sting again (rinse and repeat...) The BITE can be worse than the sting as they eat dead stuff so can put bacteria into you thru the bite and can cause infection.

I posted my encounter 2 or 3 times in past if you "Search" for "Yellow Jackets" it is comical recall about walking my then 1 yr old Lab Husky mix pup. Needless to say I think I was stung & bit 15 or more times/places. The dog probably just as many times on nose, muzzle Ears & eyes/face in general. Most of my stings were elbows Knees & face/eyes. Not sure why but them (*&*&(% sure know WHERE to bite/sting to make you hurt the worst...

My Avatar is of my BEAR dog in question maybe 2 months later when he stuck his nose into the hole/nest

Mark

 

[Ken45101]

For a field that needs bush hogging, how do you find these holes to destroy the nest? I have one hillside pasture that I'm afraid to mow, I've been hit too many times and it's too steep to try to drive out of the area. I'd love to find these nests and destroy them. As it is, painful past experience keeps me away

One time I got hit a dozen times before I could bail out. Later that day I went back but stayed 75' away from the first problem. I got hit again!

I guess I would do better with an enclosed cab, LOL.

 

[Pilot]

We had a crew driving thru the woods when one of the guys hollered "Stop!" There was a hornet's nest hanging from a tree on the downhill side of the road, maybe 10 ft. higher than the road. The guy who hollered, jumped out, picked up a big rock and just as he was about to throw it, planning to jump back in the rig after hitting the nest, a hornet got him first!

 

[dmccarty]

The sting of those little devils is the worst. I got stung on the ankle twice; my foot swelled up such that I couldn't get my shoe on. The point of the stings ended up making a couple large scars, with deep pits. Bad boys, those hornets. Been stung by a bumble bee; it's bad enough, but can't compare to the hornets. Oh, BTW, juice from an onion will stop the pain from a bee sting almost immediately...no joke. Won't do anything for the swelling, but it does take care of the pain.

Stung on the ankle ain't noth'n. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I was clearing some land and there was a tangle of climbing vines, saplings and downed trees that needed cleaning. It was safer to use a machete so I climbed up on a log to reach up to cut down some vines when I noticed a hornets nest at least 20-30 feet away...

Can you see where this is going? :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I figured, figured wrong as it turns out, that the hornets would not be bothered by me whacking down some vines when there home was so far away...

I can tell you right here, and now, that Einstein is WRONG. Flat out, no if, ands, or buts WRONG. It is absolutely, positively possible to exceed the speed of light.

My machete cut the vines and I got stung. It was instantaneous. Wasps can exceed the speed of light.

So I got stung and stung bad. That little !@#$%^&*()_ landed on the tip of my nose, bent its big a.ssed, stinger filled fanny over, and stung me UP IN MY NOSE. :shocked::shocked::shocked: I instinctively swatted at the wasp which sent the machete flying. I swatted so hard, my watch went flying. I was surprised when I found the watch and machete later.

The air turned blue with adult verbal punctuation as I critiqued the wasp's parentage in a must colorful manner that would make sailors and Marines blush.

My nose and face swelled up a bit, turned red and my nose looked like W.C Fields. Or Bozo the Clown. Did I mention it hurt like heck? I had some itching cream in the truck and slathered that all over my nose so that I looked like W.C. Fields or Bozo the Clown with sun screen. I had to sit down for a good hour to deal with the pain and my eyes that were watering from the swollen nose.

When I had somewhat recovered, I sprayed the !@#$%^&*()_ out of that nest with wasp spray. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Oddly, this afternoon, I was out splitting firewood when I heard a strange buzzing sound 20-30 feet away from me. I went over to see what was causing the noise and found a big, old yellow jacket wasp attacking a great big flying beetle of some kind. I wish I could have gotten a series of photos but there was not much light and the bugs were in some tall grass. That wasp was stringing the heck out of that beetle and I was surprised how long the bug lived.

Later,
Dan

 

[cqaigy2]

Buddy of mine just told me about a nest i the ground that he ran over while mowing. Said they were mostly black with a little white on them. Pretty aggressive and he got stung a few times and they left stingers. I don't know what they were and i asked what he did about them. He said he found a foaming spray that used wintergreen, i think it was, as the active ingredient. He said the can looked like one of those small kitchen fire extinguisher. He sprayed it at the entrance it foamed up and appears to have killed all the insects. It's supposed to me non toxic.

 

[toppop52]

I have some old Halon extinguishers from my boating days, it kills the nest almost instantly by removing the O2 from the atmosphere inside for several minutes. No real leftover residue either. They're not available anymore I understand due to those that hug trees, but they were/are very effective for open fires and bees.

 

[cqaigy2]

I have some old Halon extinguishers from my boating days, it kills the nest almost instantly by removing the O2 from the atmosphere inside for several minutes. No real leftover residue either. They're not available anymore I understand due to those that hug trees, but they were/are very effective for open fires and bees.

I thought it was because it depleted ozone. Used to find them in computer rooms. It worked pretty well as a fire extinguisher, not as good as water, but it didn't get the equipment wet.

 

[toppop52]

You may be right, been about thirty years since I read about it, by whatever means it flat kills the nest.

 

[rekees4300]

For a field that needs bush hogging, how do you find these holes to destroy the nest?

Sure would like to have the answer to that question. Only way I can think of is to put on a bee suit and walk around until they attack. When they get excited, it's rather easy to see where they are all congregating around the hole.

 

[kdm0811]

I have some old Halon extinguishers from my boating days, it kills the nest almost instantly by removing the O2 from the atmosphere inside for several minutes. No real leftover residue either. They're not available anymore I understand due to those that hug trees, but they were/are very effective for open fires and bees.

Halon is not a poison. It is worked well as a fire suppressant because is displaced the oxygen, and was highly compressable. So you could get more cubic feet of halon gas in a smaller pressure vessel. It is still used to extinguish fires, but only where absolutely necessary (like systems built into passenger jets).

You could have gotten the same results with CO2, or (cheaper yet) nitrogen.

 

[toppop52]

Halon is not a poison. It is worked well as a fire suppressant because is displaced the oxygen, and was highly compressable. So you could get more cubic feet of halon gas in a smaller pressure vessel. It is still used to extinguish fires, but only where absolutely necessary (like systems built into passenger jets).

You could have gotten the same results with CO2, or (cheaper yet) nitrogen.

Yeah, I'm not a chemist and should have read again before speaking up, it's been the 80's since I read how it works, but work well it does and I had 14 of them paid for many years ago.

 

[SPIKER]

Halon is not a poison. It is worked well as a fire suppressant because is displaced the oxygen, and was highly compressable. So you could get more cubic feet of halon gas in a smaller pressure vessel. It is still used to extinguish fires, but only where absolutely necessary (like systems built into passenger jets).

You could have gotten the same results with CO2, or (cheaper yet) nitrogen.

using ANY fire extinguisher for bees is a big waste of $ AND where will you be when you NEED the fire extinguisher?

Now if you are bored you can kill them MANY WAYS. Even a propane (unlit) gas w hose down the hole will kill them as it also displaces O2, heavier than air so sinks into bottom of hole and fills it up. It works much faster to light it up and burn em out with no chance of escape for them too... really easiest way is the cup of gas in a small pop bottle with a bit of oil or old 2 cycle mix works great. Stick bottle upside down in the hole & leave it to seal hole up and anything inside is dead in a few min...

Mark

 

[AchingBack]

While we are on the subject of stinging, flying insects, here is one of the best sites I've found on the subject of Baldfaced Hornets: Baldfaced Hornets : College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences : Clemson University : South Carolina

 

[francessca135]

Good Morning, I have tried a number of different "save myself from stinging" strategies... all very time consuming. I use our ATV with bed and drive up and down the tall weeds with my weed whacker. long pants tucked into socks then boots long sleeves and gloves armed with marker paint if i stir something up. I then ride over with my wheelhorse lawn mower...I should only be using the tractor and brush hog but I am NOT great at it and am afraid of flipping it,,and if I should have to hurry and get out of there I know i will flip it. The other 5 nests seemed to have not rendered any more wasps after my multiple treatments. I found another under some treated lumber stacked outside next to a utility shed.. SOB's came right out at full force all over my shirt, in a panic i ripped of my shirt and started running for the big barn, only got bit on the palm of my thumb. I maintain/manicure over 30 acres of grass/weeds around the house and 3 barns, so it is hit or miss. Once I find the nest and if I am lucky to catch a cool morning or evening, I pour diesel down one access hole. Ultimately there are a number of exit holes with one nest so I try and cover up the others prior to treating. I am sure they can smell me a mile away because I am so allergic i have to use an epi pen if stung multiple times. So in summary I try to work smarter not harder and am always prepared. I have learned to not wear muck boots because those sob's go down in the boot. Good Luck Ken 45101. treatment after a sting is to get the stinger out immediately by "scraping the site" with a dull knife. if you try and "tweezer" the stinger out you will squeeze more venom into your system, then i make a baking soda paste on the site Works awesome!:thumbsup:

 

[francessca135]

Thanks for the article!

 

[francessca135]

I have done that also jumping off to save my life and leaving the mower running..either way I waste gas it seems. Thanks

 

[SPIKER]

Other day I found one where I park the tractor & Rider all the time. I wipped up to the area and seen one of these dang vines I hate that spread like crazy so was going to hop off the rider & pull it. I stopped hit the safety clutch loc and started to swing my leg and out came about 10 yellow jackets & I mashed the GO peddle to get out of there but the clutch/brake was still SET So that just happened to be about 15" from the hole I was in SHORTS and had to stab the thing to un-set it so I could get out of the area... I went in grabbed a empty ATF bottle, added mix of 1/3 of old chainsaw gas & ATF & Mineral Spirits. Walked back out and watched them for a bit to see if they calmed down some. They did so I went in and grabbed a new can of BRAKE CLEANER and the 1/3 quart of mixed up hydrocarbons. if ya watch them they run in Cycles a bunch in/out then not much for a minute then a bunch in/out again. When it hit a lull of activity I start to spray the cleaner and move in with the mix & jam it into the hole upside down & run...
a bunch will gather around the outside & bottle wondering what the %#*&&$* is in their hole. Anything inside is dead in a couple minutes from the fumes of the Gas/Mineral Spirits. I went out hour later with a light board and knocked the quart bottle over & left the board. Next morning there was about 30 stragglers hiding under the board! I should have taken the big Weed Burner out when I went to look, would have cooked em in .0125 seconds Just a bit dry around here and next to some high grass...

Mark

 

[Pilot]

Found 4 nests this year, 3 of them because a skunk or raccoon found the nest first. Dug up an area about 15" across. The critter didn't kill them all, but it came back 3 or 4 times, each time at night and really cleaned up 2 of the nests. The 3rd one still has some activity & I'll gas it some cool evening. The nest I found (just luck I happened to see the bugs going & out of the nest while I took a leak in my forest several feet away) I poured gas on it that night & saw no more activity. A couple nights later the skunk/raccoon dug up the nest.

One of the nests had honeycombs and the others had a paper nest like hornets produce.

 

[forgeblast]

I found a ground nest a week ago. I was 15' up in the air taking down my ladder stand. I got to the ground and was walking the ladder down when I though I got tangled into a picker bush. I kept going and then saw the hornets. Got me about 4-5 times. I figure this was the best case because if I was up in the stand strapped in and they got me it could have been really really bad.