Yellow Jackets = Satan's Army

(Long story but I enjoyed writing it)

Friday I was doing some yard work and notice a lot of yellow jackets were flying by. I followed them across my yard to a log I had stood up to put a birdbath on. They were flying under some plants by the log. I got some spray insecticide that really didn't think would work on these suckers but sprayed the whole area good anyway. About noon I checked and none of these devils were coming in or out. I quickly kicked the plant and immediately got stung on the ankle.

50 years ago I got stung with one of these while torching a hive with an gas, fire, and M-80s (I grew up in the good old days when you could have real fun). I was rushed to the hospital by my mom because I couldn't breath. Turns out I'm very allergic to wasp/hornets/bee stings. I went through 3 years of 3x a week shots to build up my immunity. That's something that to don't test to see if it works.

Back to the present - No one was home so I washed the sting with soap, water, and alcohol then sat on a chair with ice on it waiting to call 911 if needed. My epipen had long since expired and turned brown. Nothing happened. Maybe the shots at 6 years old worked.

Friday night it still had a bump but was feeling pretty good. Saturday morning my friends and I played in a golf tournament. No problem at all with the sting. It was better. A couple of hours later my ankle started to itch. Then it hurt. Then it got tight on my shoe. I took off my shoe. I couldn't play the last 2 holes. When I got home I took off my sock and my ankle had swollen to the size of a baseball, was darkish red, and covered in yellowish blisters. Thinking it was a reaction to the poison I took some antihistamine and kept icing it.

Sunday afternoon it was really bad and looked like zombie flesh. Off to the emergency room. Now these insects of death are meat eaters and get into everything. Dead mice, rats, spiders, flies, cockroches, rotting garbage, etc. They are flying petri dishes of infection. Turns out it's not the poison of the sting that got me but the infection on the stinger itself pushed down into my skin. I had a severe infection from my calf all the way down to my toes. I got an IV Sunday night, a shot in the butt on Monday, and a regiment of pills for the next 2 weeks. By Monday my foot could fit in a shoe and I was walking just fine. I looks and feels much better today.

(Now what to do with these suckers).

Trip to Home Depot and 20 oz of wasp/hornet killer. Got a 1/2 bucket of moist dirt ready to go. (Get the non-foaming kind so it goes down holes). The suckers all head into the nest at night when it gets dark. They don't see well at night but will attack something they do see if they can. Time for some covert action. I taped a flashlight to a lawnchair and aimed it at the hole from the 3-O'clock position. I could see 2 guard wasp at the hole entrance on gate duty. First I had to take them before they notify the army. The flashlight at 3-O'clock was there so if the came out they would go away from me. The first shot was dead center on the 2" hole entrance taking out the guards. Next I emptied 1/2 can of killer down the hole until the liquid came to the top. No activity except 2 squirming guard bees on their sides. After the poison went down the hole like a turd in a toilet, I emptied the rest of the can in the hole, dumped the dirt on top and jumped on the pile to entomb the suckers.

Next morning zero wasp activity. I gave it another day to be sure. Today I pushed over the log and it revealed an 8" nest. The first picture is the top attached to the bottom of the log and the rest is in the hole. I got them suckers without being stung again. They had no idea what hit them.

 

Reminds me of last summer. I was watering new trees in the yard with a bucket and all of a sudden i heard this strange buzz. I literally looked to the sky as it got louder and louder. I seriously thought it was a plane. And then I saw the swarm. And I ran like hell. They followed me and started stinging. I could feel them hitting my arms, legs, face. I just kept running and screaming for help. Ran about 35 yards before I either got away from them or they stopped following. My plan was to jump in the lake. I was covered in stings. Some I could see and pulled them out with a tweezers. Others were too deep. I think i ended up with about 25-35 stings. My whole body was on fire. Don't know if it was adrenaline or a histamine reaction. Prob a combo of both. I consider myself a lucky guy. If I was allergic, I'd be dead right now I'm sure!

Crazy nest there OP!

 

Knayarb, my son was at grandma & grandpa's playing with the dogs when he got stung twice. No allergic reaction thankfully, but still pretty traumatic for an 8 year old. Further investigation out in the back somewhere reveals this little abode...


Needless to say, the high octane bug killer was later employed to great effect.

 

I was removing tree stumps with my skid steer. One of the last ones had a nest under it (I was not aware of at the time). Upon attempting to push from the top and rock the stump out, I opened up the nest. All Hell broke loose at that moment.

Being stuck inside the cab of a skid steer while 1,000's of these bastards attack is not any place you want to be.

Thankfully, I was only stung about 5 or 6 times. They seemed to go after the machine! I was very lucky that day.

 

except for when you run your mower over their nests in the ground

 

I got stung on the legs when I was a kid. I still have a few scars from those sobs.

 

I admit it was stupid to kick the plant over the entrance. The hive was in the ground so I didn't exactly know where it was. I didn't see any of the suckers going in and out so I thought I got them. Curiosity got the better of me. Leaving them along wasn't an option because it was about 10 feet from my neighbors kids swing set.

 

Lmao throughout the hole story. It took me back to when my buddy Eric and I threw spears at a hive. (I grew up in the good old days to). The wasps started coming and we started running. My buddy got stung between his upper lip and his nose. I laughed my ass off. All he could says was foooyouu. He couldn't say fuck you because of his fat ass lip.

 

SNAP!

is that a yellow jacket nest??!! they get that big??

 

wasps, yellow jackets...fuck 'em all. They were bad this year in central Texas. Wife and I were out on a ride when one got in her jersey. Tagged her 3 times in the armpit. She survived, but once we got home the adrenaline wore off. Think it was red wasp.

Yellow jacket got my dog a few weeks later. I didn't know at that time, all I knew is that he was itching real bad and couldn't sleep. Then around 3am his face started to swell. I didn't sleep that night.

It's pretty much been war on those fuckers since.

And that colony hanging from the tree...yeah, flame thrower.

 

Prepare yourself to get stung a few times, plug the hole with a rock and dig in a coffee can of tannerite right next to it. Then slap some Copenhagen on the stings and get back with your centerfire rifle of choice. God I fucking hate living in the city.

 

Was hunting back in the day. My rifle barrel hit a branch as I was walking & disturbed a nest. I was lucky & only got stung once. On my trigger finger. Couldn't shoot worth a shit after that.

 

Had a buddy that was killed when an under ground nest got hit by his tractor. My buddy was forced to hop out of the tractor when they attacked him and he tried to hop the fence that he was brush hogging next to. He didn't make it over for some reason and the fence and him where fed into the brush hog.

 

I was stung in the head by a wasp when I was spraying a nest concealed in a wall one night about 15 years ago , went into anaphalactic shock and almost died , spent the following 5 days in hospital

 

yes, leave them bee

 

my stepfather did this a few years ago and got mauled! Hes highly allergic as well. I hit a nest once with a scag turf tiger. Good thing commercial zero turns go 10+ mph

 

my biggest concern is drinking a can of soda outside. No explanation needed here. I always sip carefully.

 

I was stung this summer while out camping 3 hours from town. Went into anaphylaxis and almost didn't make it out of the woods (no pun intended). Luckily my sister was there (Dr.) and we eventually came across some fire fighters that had epinephrine. Required an additional epi shot in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Funny thing is I was stung a few weeks prior and barely swelled. I've been stung a few times throughout my life and have never reacted. I'm doing immunotherapy now. Scary stuff.

 

I'm more than a little, "proprietary" about my house, yard, and ranch. That being said, I'm pretty much a live and let live kinda guy, I never shoot coyotes etc. However, if I don't approve of something sharing my property, it needs to make plans to hit the trail, and I mean Right Now. Stingers fall directly into that category. Rattlesnakes, also.