Yellow Jackets!!!

[Moped]

I hate these things!  My wife was out working on the deck this morning and got stung twice.  So after applying some baking soda to the stings, We both went back outside to try and spot their nest, in the grass.  Spot it we did... after I got stung!  Little Bastards!  I'm going to fix their little red wagon this evening with a dose of gasoline and a match!

[hipower]

BEE Careful! lol, couldn't resist.

Really though. do this carefully. I did 2 nests the same evening a few years ago.

The first went ok. The second was in a large mound of dirt in our dog pen. There were several openings, and I tried to pour gas in them as quickly as I could.

Well...I might have overdid it just a bit. Had a pretty loud Whoommpp! when I stuck the end of a flaming broom to the saturated main(?) opening.

It did get rid of the yellowjackets for a couple of years though. I've just begun to see a few again.

[Murgatroy]

I was a kid. We used to drag a sled up the mountain and ride down. Snow? No. Leaves will let you get pretty fast. Fast enough in fact that I grabbed a tree and pulled myself off the sled. My cousin Jenny was in the middle, she grabbed my legs and we both got off. Mark, her brother rode to the bottom of the mountain safe. Jenny, holding my legs stopped right over a yellow jacket nest. I got stung about five times, Jenny, she got the brunt. Something like twenty. We went back up that mountain with a can of gas and fixed that ####.

 

Jenny was killed by a drunk driver a few years later. But that was a pretty significant memory for me. There was a massive Whooomph! 

 

[Moped]

Thanks for sharing such a good memory!  Sorry about you Cousin Jenny. 

[Raoul]

1 hour ago, Murgatroy said:

I was a kid. We used to drag a sled up the mountain and ride down. Snow? No. Leaves will let you get pretty fast. Fast enough in fact that I grabbed a tree and pulled myself off the sled. My cousin Jenny was in the middle, she grabbed my legs and we both got off. Mark, her brother rode to the bottom of the mountain safe. Jenny, holding my legs stopped right over a yellow jacket nest. I got stung about five times, Jenny, she got the brunt. Something like twenty. We went back up that mountain with a can of gas and fixed that ####.

 

Jenny was killed by a drunk driver a few years later. But that was a pretty significant memory for me. There was a massive Whooomph! 

 

Great story  and my condolences.

[DWARREN123]

Watch for flash, had a guy I know get burnt badly when his little burn job went bad! 

[Ronald_55]

I turned over a block of wood at Dad's woodpile when I was maybe 7. Happened to have a nest under it. I don't remember how I got over/under/through the barbed wire fence. I just know when I got in the house my Mom jerked my shorts and shirt off and several were on my underoos . She tossed me in the tub of water she had run for my sister and started sticking skoal all on the bites. She had stopped smoking by then. I can't remember how many I had, but we stopped counting.  Since tgat day I have hated those things. I just got done killing a nest last week where my son got stung on the leg. I was out of gas, but I sprayed an entire can of Raid foaming wasp killer down the hole. Seemed to do the trick. 

[bersaguy]

I have had dealings with them several times and yep, Need too be very careful when you get ready for fried Bees. I normally wait till it's dark before I go out and soak the hive. I fill every opening I can find with a flashlight and the do the road flare routine rather then lighting it while up close and personal. I noramlly pout a small stream of gas on the ground leading away from the entrance and then throw the flare onto the top of the hive. It always lights up their world and I am far enough away to be safe. I had my carport get infested with Red Wasps about 5 years ago and all my hummingbird feeders stayed cover up in them keeping the birds away. I went and hunted all the nests one night with a flashlight after dark and couldn't believe I had 11 different nests and some of them almost dinner plate size. Made a trip to Lowes the next day and bought 5 cans of that wasp killer that shoots about 20 feet and that next night I waited till about 10PM til I was sure they were all at home and I soaked every one of the nests and took a long piece of PVC pipe and knocked them down. took them out in the drive way and set them on fire Now I keep a few cans on hand and when I see a wasp on a feeder I go hunting that night.

Edited August 11, 2018 by bersaguy

[dralarms]

Thems mean little buggers. Even worse when they get drunk on fermenting pears. I had a nest build in the insulation under my wine shop, I’ve sprayed 10 cans in there trying to kill them off, well I got up one morning and something had drug the insulation out and ate them hives and all.  Caught a straggler flyin* around and pulled the insulation down and sprayed everything I could and then stapled the material back up that I used to hold the insulation. 

 

I did back back the riding mower over a nest a few years ago, they tore me up, I left the mower running and waited until dark and pulled it off with my truck. 

 

As as far as wasps, Lowe’s sells this thing called a trapstick. I put one in my barn (shed) about 3 weeks ago and the dang thing is full. I bet there’s 50 or 60 stuck to it. 

[MacGyver]

Be careful.  I had a friend in the first grade killed when his dad hit a nest with gas and  the explosion came up from under him 20 feet away and engulfed him in flames.  

He lived a couple of years, but ultimately the infections from the burns killed him. 

I’ll leave this here.  I just saw this the other day and filed it away:

 

[dralarms]

15 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

Be careful.  I had a friend in the first grade killed when his dad hit a nest with gas and  the explosion came up from under him 20 feet away and engulfed him in flames.  

He lived a couple of years, but ultimately the infections from the burns killed him. 

I’ll leave this here.  I just saw this the other day and filed it away:

 

Dang 

[gary_boom]

A former co worker died after getting burned while burning brush with gas. He lingered in a coma for 2 or 3 months.

i never wil use gas for burning anything.

[Someotherguy]

I've made it one my life missions to kill every. single. wasp/hornet I encounter, hate them with a passion..The ground hornets on my property are pretty docile, it's the paper wasps that I've had the most trouble out of on the homestead...Very aggressive, and seem to hold a grudge after I swat at them with my hat lol, they have even gave chase a few times..

 

A can of carb cleaner on a nest will kill them faster than any bug spray you can buy...They curl up and are dead literally in seconds after contact with carb cleaner..

 

I have found gasoline too volatile/explosive for use on nests, kerosene is easier to use, and burns longer..

Edited August 12, 2018 by Someotherguy

[BrasilNuts]

Just a FYI, you don’t have to ignite the gas, the fumes will go all through the nest and kill them.

[peejman]

19 minutes ago, BrasilNuts said:

Just a FYI, you don’t have to ignite the gas, the fumes will go all through the nest and kill them.

Yep. 

 

I found a nest in my front yard at the base of a cherry tree while mowing. Two of the got me before I got away. That night I got the nest with wasp spray... just filled the exist with foam so they couldn't go in or out. I didn't use gas because it was at the base of the tree, but the tree died anyway. 

 

[Moped]

I'm happy to report the little bastards are crispy critters now. Stuck a 1" PVC pipe in the nest and poured gas in it.  Then my wife lit it up with a burning rag.  Problem solved with much satisfaction.

I will probably use the wasp spray next time though.  Thanks for the tips and stories!

[Moped]

1 hour ago, dralarms said:

Dang 

That's pretty cool!!!

[Ronald_55]

If I use gas I just put it in a water bottle and leave the bottle crammed in the hole blocking it. I knew a guy that got burned. He only lived because he screamed right as the gas fumes exploded. He was told most people take a breath and pull the fire into their lungs.

[Jeb48]

Years ago I ran over a ground bees nest and got chased off. I went back after dark as many have related and pored about a pint of gas or kerosene I don't remember. Touched if off from a distance and had the nicest little flame flickering away for over an hour. The next day I went out and the ground had caved in enough that it took a wheelbarrow full of dirt to level off the yard.

[Omega]

I always bushhog the trails and spray my hunting blind for wasps a few weeks before deer season.  I pulled up to the blind only to be stung quite a few times.  Luckily I had already prepped the sprayer, so I managed to kill most, if not all the nest.  Now I tread lightly and keep an eye out for nest to do preemptive strikes when needed.

[DaveTN]

I have an irrational fear of Wasps. I am serious when I say a criminal with a gun doesn’t scare me like a Wasp. Wasps are the devil.

[Moped]

8 hours ago, Omega said:

I always bushhog the trails and spray my hunting blind for wasps a few weeks before deer season.  I pulled up to the blind only to be stung quite a few times.  Luckily I had already prepped the sprayer, so I managed to kill most, if not all the nest.  Now I tread lightly and keep an eye out for nest to do preemptive strikes when needed.

We had no clue this one was there, until she got stung.  Which is actually kinda sad.  She has basically taken our deck and made a little workshop out of it. Yesterday she was hammering some nails next to one of the deck corner posts and the vibration from the hammer got the nest all stirred up. The entrance hole was almost 2 inches in diameter, so they had been there for a while.  We'll be more observant after this... I hope!

 

[owejia]

Back a few years ago was weed eating the fence line around a small cemetery on a farm that I rented and ran cattle on. They were in the ground by a small rotten stump, had already weed eat over the stump and was slowly walking and weed eating when they attack me. Set the weed eater down and started to swat them with my hat, buy this time they were on my face in my hair and crawling up my pants legs, stinging me all the time. Almost tore my hat up trying to beat them off, so jumped on my four wheeler and made a about a 1/2 mile run to the house, ran in and started to pull my clothes off in the bathroom, wife comes in and being in the cool air conditioning they weren't as active as out side in the heat. They then started to attack my wife and she started pulling off her clothes, now imagine two people in a small bathroom pulling off their clothes and swatting at. swarming yellow jackets. Was comical but still hurt like heck from all of of the stings. Have got into many yellow jackets while weed eating because you can"t hear them because of the noise from the weed eater, even got into a couple of bumble bee nest this way also, boy they really really hurt when they sting. I just put some diesel in a handsprayer  go back and watch to see where the entrance is and spray them as they return to the nest. Have bushogged hornets nest on a open station tractor and just shift to a higher gear and drive away as fast as I can. Keep Benadryl in my shirt pocket when out weed eating to counter- act stings now .

[dralarms]

13 hours ago, MacGyver said:

Be careful.  I had a friend in the first grade killed when his dad hit a nest with gas and  the explosion came up from under him 20 feet away and engulfed him in flames.  

He lived a couple of years, but ultimately the infections from the burns killed him. 

I’ll leave this here.  I just saw this the other day and filed it away:

 

Dang 

 

This was just a couple of days after putting this up

[BrasilNuts]

Anyone know if those traps will attract and trap honey bees?