Worried about wasps and bees

[AllenArmory]

Thanks, everyone. You've convinced me. I'm getting a cab.

 

[rekees4300]

I'm getting a cab.

:thumbsup: And don't forget the A/C and radio.

 

[RSKY]

Any time I am working near trees I watch very closely for hornets nests. Have had two or three close calls over the years but never been stung by one. Yellow jackets are the problem here. They nest in the ground, are ill tempered, and will empty the nest to swarm you. You can usually outrun them but get three or four stings. They generally quit chasing you after thirty to fifty yards. As with jeff9366 I still take Benadryl asap and quit for the day.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

Just remembered a story a blind friend told me a few years ago. Said he was walking on the bank of Kentucky Lake when somebody hit him in the forehead with a baseball bat. Knocked him flat on his back. Guy with him said a single hornet had swooped down and nailed him. All you had to do was mention hornets and he would refuse to get out of the car.

 

[C4Ranch]

Thanks, everyone. You've convinced me. I'm getting a cab.

Adda boy!!

 

[Fawken]

I'm just a bit West of you in Rockwall. Learn where the wasps and bees are (although bees are likely not going to be your issue). Learn their habits. Wasps like cedar trees in spring, overhangs in summer and even underground in very dry spells. They're inactive if temps below 50F and have poor vision at night. If you have fruit trees wasps are very beneficial.

 

[dmccarty]

For whatever reason, it seems ground bees prefer chainsaws to tractors. Not once did anyone get stung while cutting trees to clear our land. The moment I used the tractor to lift a dead rootball - stung multiple times. Those little sh**s hurt when they hit you in the face....

The bees on our place don't like chainsaws OR tractors....

Years ago I was working in a clear cut with the chainsaw. I needed a break so I put the running saw down on a pine stump. Our pines have deep tap roots and I think the running engine on top of the pine stump was like beating a drum...

Something hit me in my side and I pulled up my shirt and I had this huge bump/welt already. At the same time I noticed there was a bunch of somethings flying around me. :confused3::shocked: It took a fraction of a second and maybe another sting to figure out I was near a bee nest. I made the executive decision to RUN! :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I ran.

The #$%^&*()_+ bees followed me!

I ran further and FASTER!

:shocked::shocked::shocked:

I got away....

Problem was I left the Stihl behind.

Soooo, I waited for a few minutes to catch my breath, ran to the saw, turn it off and RAN as fast as I could with that big saw. Pretty much down chainsawing that day.

Chainsaw chaps are good bee sting preventors. T shirt, not so much.

Next post... Hornet sting...



Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Just remembered a story a blind friend told me a few years ago. Said he was walking on the bank of Kentucky Lake when somebody hit him in the forehead with a baseball bat. Knocked him flat on his back. Guy with him said a single hornet had swooped down and nailed him. All you had to do was mention hornets and he would refuse to get out of the car.

I was clearing some of our land one day with the chainsaw. There was a bunch of vines, brush, and downed limbs that needed to be cleared before I could keep on chainsawing so I got out the machete. I noticed a hornet/wasp nest 15-20ish feet away....

I figured the nest was far enough away and the vine I was cutting down would not bother the rather large, flying, stingy things.

The machete hit the vine and something hit my nose. Felt like I had been hit by a baseball bat! :shocked: My eyes watered up, the air turned blue with adult punctuation, and I was swatting so hard my watch went flying as I ran away as fast as I could not being able to see real well.

I figured out real quick, that my figuring that nest was far enough away was, in a word, WRONG. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

The wasp/hornet sting was IN my nose. :shocked: That little, well big, bugger had sat on the end of my nose, swung it's sting inside my nose and stung the ^&*() out of me. To say it hurt is an understatement. :shocked: My nose turned red and swelled up like WC Field's proboscis. :shocked: My eyes were watering from the swelling and pain so I had to sit down for an hour or so. I had some anti itch cream which helped a bit but it was a good thing I was alone and nobody could see me because my big red, swollen nose with white goo on it looked rather odd. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[EddieWalker]

Dan, I feel your pain!!!! The Mahogany Wast, or red wasp, is the one I fear the most. Nothing else like it. Pure evil and absolute pain!!! The hate noise, and they love the extreme heat found int attics. Soffits are their favorite way to get into houses, and if you're working on a house under the soffit that they has their way in and out of the house, it's just a matter of time until one of them attacks. I've learned that you get one warning. They will buzz you first before hitting. When this happens, I hear it close to my ears. They know where your eyes are and they always attack from behind. I stop what I'm doing, get my can of wasp spray that I always carry in my truck and I go hunting. I chase them in the air and knock them down while flying, then stop on their bodies. I watch for their entrance into the attic and I spray into that hole. If I see a nest, I spray it and then knock it down and stomp on it. I'll go through the can pretty quickly, but when I'm done, it's safe again.

Worse sting was when I had a small dock and some boat chairs on it. I don't even know why, but I was in the water and had waded up to the end of the dock and noticed a red wasp nest under the chair. About the same time I noticed it, I got buzzed from behind. I spun around to swat it away with my hands and started backing away from the next. It was like a Movie when sombody is going to get hit in the face with a baseball. I saw it coming straight at my face just like a missile. It hit me right between my eyes an just about knocked me over. I spun around and ran as fast as I could out of the water and to the house to get some wasp spray. That pain was horrible all day. Both my eyes swelled up enough to make it hard to see. then the next couple of days it was just a throbbing reminder as the swelling went down.

 

[jdzaya]

Thanks Eddie, now I'm going to have nightmares for a week! I lived in Texas for a while down Lufkin way. I remember seeing those red wasps but never got stung, they look absolutely terrifying!