[charlie sterner]

Found my second nest today in a week...the hard way. Was pulling crabgrass earlier today and noticed an unusual amount of yellow jackets around the yard. They were all around me, but not bothering me. Seemed as I disturbed the soil pulling weeds, they'd land on the dirt after something. Moisture maybe? I knew there had to be a nest, but couldn't find one.

Well this afternoon, the sun started setting and providing shade, I fired up the push mower. Third pass I found it. Mowed right over it. Sum bugger nailed me good on my calf. Obviously I got out of there in a hurry as they were all swarming around the nest. I'll fix their @ss after dark with gas!

Well, I figured I'd warn you all. It's bee season. You should all know your bees, so I'm providing a handy bee identification chart so you know if you find yellow jackets.

 

[ShaneG.]

I had carpenter bees drilling the shit out of the ceiling joist on the back porch this spring and summer. I need to paint it since its bare to see if that will deter them some. Got wood dowel hammered into dozens of holes.
I ain't had to tangle with yellow jackets and hope I dont.

Careful with the gas!

 

[Kermit in Va.]

Smoke'em Charlie...
I hate'em...


Underdog

 

[charlie sterner]

Shane, I live in a log house. I feel your pain on the carpenter bees. On top of that, the dang woodpeckers knock holes in my house trying to get them out for me. I dust the holes with sevin. And shoot the bees in the air with a BB gun. Good practice. If that don'twork, I use a tennis racket. Dust the holes before you plug them up so it kills the young when they hatch. There is a spray you can spray the wood to deter them. I tried it and it works some. But you need to do it a few times.

As for the gas, you don't need to light it. Fumes kill them them QUICK. I used to douse the hole with diesel and stuff a lit paper towel in the hole. Like to burn them out. But the last time it was under my flower bed and I darn near burnt the house down. Sue won't let me burn em anymore.

10,000 posts. Do I get a cookie or something?

 

[Trapper6L]

Not to be an alarmist but everybody should keep Benedryl in the house or in your truck. You may or may not be allergic to their sting but someone else may not be so fortunate. One wasp killed my dad when I was a teen. He literally choked to death as your throat swells and cuts off the air. My sister is highly allergic. She tried the shots to build an immunity. The shots almost killed her and put her in the hospital. My dad, the previous weekend, was stung several times as we were putting the tractor in the barn. Didn't phase him at all. So you never know. Benedryl is not expensive and can be bought without a prescription. You have 3 minutes to get it in your body so I would suggest anybody, allergic or not, take Benedryl if you get stung. We ended up as part of a study by Texas A&M about bee/wasp stings. You might be surprised that over 10,000 people die every year from wasp/bee stings, per their study.

 

[Kentucky Fisherman]

As a kid I used to cut grass and trim my grandparents' hedge for spending money. If I remember correctly when the hedge was actively growing I'd trim it every 3-4 weeks. Every summer I could count on yellow jackets "magically" building a nest in the ground around that hedge between trimmings. Thank God I could run pretty well in those days and I usually only got popped once or twice before getting out of range. About the only bug I hate as much are those big wasps that are so dark red they're almost black. Those devils are pure evil, too.

 

[jimp]

I just killed off a yellowjacket nest that was near/under the patio concrete slab. I think they used the soft dirt around the NG meter supply pipe so I had to be careful and not blow up the house as well. I just doused the area good with gasoline and eventually got 'em. It took a couple days for the fumes to work it's magic on 'em but I couldn't grill out either because of the fumes.

I use a badminton raquect for those wood borers, love to get a solid hit on 'em, and use the spray to treat the holes on the PT deck.

 

[Doug Roberts]

Stings

My parents had a neighbor die from "hornet" stings while trimming shrubs. Don't really know what got him but he went into seizures and was dead before the fire dept got there. Only got stung 2-3 times.

Buddy of mine sits on his porch and shoots the carpenter bees with .22 birdshot in a old revolver. Sounds like great sport to me.

 

[Paul Workman]

My parents had a neighbor die from "hornet" stings while trimming shrubs. Don't really know what got him but he went into seizures and was dead before the fire dept got there. Only got stung 2-3 times.

Buddy of mine sits on his porch and shoots the carpenter bees with .22 birdshot in a old revolver. Sounds like great sport to me.

Ah! My weapon of choice for carpenter bees was a Sheridan pellet gun.

Those "yellow jackets" really seem to be a pest, especially in the fall, and around MEAT, for some reason. While camping with my kids one fall, we were trying to cook bacon n eggs on the Colman stove. We ended up eating breakfast inside the truck as they wouldn't leave our bacon alone.

One time in deer season one of the group shot a deer and had gutted it and braced the cavity open with a stick to let the carcass cool. Those yellow jackets were swarming around and within a half hour hand carved out a tennis ball size chunk - right out of the tenderloin (of course!).

One summer we had a green hornet nest hanging about head-high. I was fixin to bag it in a trashbag, fogged with RAID (worked a couple times before at different times). But, at the time we were having more than our share of flies, due to a horse boarding operation next door.

I was BBQ'ing some bergers for dinner and the damn flies were really beig a pest that afternoon. And, after I shoo'ed one away from my dinner, I watched him fly off - got about 10 feet away when ZIP-SNAP! One of those hornets hit that fly like a Sidewinder missile, taking is prize with it!

After seeing that, I decided to postpone the destruction of that nest. Seems the buggers were ridding the yard of at least some of the unwanted insects! They were good neighbors: I didn't bother them, and they didn't bother me. I never got stung, but they always had a couple or so "standing post" at the entrance to their soccerball size nest that would watch me closely as I passed within about 5 feet with the riding lawnmower. They stayed put, and I didn't get any closer either. All was well all summer.

By the first frost they had abandoned their nest. Out of curiosity I dissected the nest and was going to give it to the local high school science class. But, while it sat outside on the picnic table, something shredded it - nothing but bits of "paper" all over the yard.

 

[TinMan]

Years ago, I had a retaining wall of landscape timbers in the back yard of that house. The damhornets or yellowjackets burrowed between the timbers, and one of them nailed me on the leg while I was raking leaves around the walk. Raised up a lump on my leg about the size of a golf ball. The lump took about a week to go down. Ever since then, I keep a couple of cans of Hornet and Wasp spray handy - the flying insect type - if I am working outside. That seems to work instantly, if you can get out of their reach quickly enough.

Another data point, 22 birdshot will only penetrate plywood or 2x4s about 1/8". Had an occasion to shoot something flying around in the attic inside that house.

 

[charlie sterner]

Man I'm on a roll. Just walked out back to the shed to sight in Lillie's crickett rifle. She's going to get her first shootin' lesson here in a bit.

Walked into the shed and saw a wasp fly into some ratchet straps I had hanging. Sure enought, peeked around the side and theres a nest with about 10 wasps clinging. Then I noticed another nest, on the treestand I have hanging. This one was huge. Probably as big as your whole hand with probably 50 of them on it. Into the house, grab a can of wask and hornet killer and hit em from about 10 feet away. 95% dead on impact. Some stragglers flying in and out. I think they'll get the point and leave.

 

[TinMan]

Yup, works great! Get another can to keep it handy, and you don't want to run out.

 

[Markbo]

Synchronicity. I was on the patio doing my upper body weights and noticed several dozen wasps in the grass. Never seen so many. I couldn't even tell you what type they are. Too many windows on my house and neighbors to use a pellet rifle so I think I will try something different

www.bugasalt.com

They even sell a cheap clip on laser!

 

[acrow]

Clorox works as good as gas

Fyi

 

[s3gunner]

That reminds me of something that happened years ago...
My wife (I was still married to her then) and I used to come over to help my Mom mow her yard on weekends. It's a big yard and we did it with push mowers. I went in to cool off and have some of Mom's fresh made lemonade. Mom, my sister, my brother and I were chatting about whatever when my wife runs in thru the garage in just her bra and shorts screaming in a language we couldn't understand. She was there in the kitchen waving her arms yelling and screaming.... My brother turned and walked away as he thought the bra or shorts were about to come off soon.... Mom got a towel and fanned it over her as Steph and I looked on....confused. After she calmed down a bit, she told us she ran over a ground bee nest. We saw she left a trail of her headband, shirt, shoes, gloves, hat, etc. all the way from where she ran over the nest thru the garage and into the kitchen. She got bit several times over the back, neck, arms, legs and hands. I guess they were biting her all along the way. Now I wish they'd have bit her more!

Steven

 

[Iowa Fox]

Yellow jackets are a son of a gun. Had a hole along side of the house a couple of years ago and bought en wasp & Hornet wouldn't faze them. I filled a gallon oil jug with diesel fuel and poured it in. That got them but not before they nailed me at least a half dozen times Yellow jacket stings are horribly painful. Had them in our stone retaining wall this year, I mixed up some farm grade Malathion, HEAVY, and sprayed them. That really killed them and I didn't get bit. Lots of wasps here this year so I loaded some 357 cases with steel cut oats for the Contender. Primer, 1 grain bullseye, wad, steel cut oats, and a card wad. Pattern wasn't dense enough but I got a bunch of them and some trigger time in.

 

[Paul Workman]

Shooting wasps, etc., reminds me. Anyone ever use one of those "Bug-A-Salt guns? There are two versions - one advertised as 2.0 version, and the other as "Lawn and Garden" model.

I bought a few as gag gifts at Christmas time. But, from what I hear, maybe I should have bought one for myself!

Playing with one a bit, they aren't really powerful (even from 2') to spatter a wasp's body. BUT! They will do a number on their wings and drop them like a stone if you hit them on the fly from out to a couple feet or maybe a little more, I promise ya!

But, on soft-bodied house flies or swarms of 'skeeters, they will mangle those SOBs pretty good. AND, you'll get a lot of satisfaction out of REVENGE for being pestered OR STUNG!

 

[Markbo]

Here is a you tube comparison:

https://youtu.be/us1SkLhDiQs

Remember they also offer an attachable laser for >$20.
Heck you can even buy a scabbed on Amazon for $10 with 4 reloads attached

https://www.amazon.com/HelleX-Tacti...9&sr=8-14&keywords=bug+a+salt+lawn+and+garden

 

[Holedigger]

Many things'll work in the hole to kill em - sevin dust is prob easier on the soil around the hole, and effective. Being somewhat allergic myself, I SHOULD have epipens, BUT at somewhere around $200-400 each, I have held off. Have an old one around. New generics should drive that down now. Yellow Jackets, and a 3 artery blockage, AND the epipen the ambulance crew gave him, gave my father his first heart attack. And that was the only external yellow jacket nest I have ever seen - looked like a hornets nest under a picnic table. I hear cake sprinkles work well for insects when loaded, and are trouble free on siding and the yard. Be careful out there.

 

[45TAJ]

Yet right holedigger....you SHOULD have one. My little non life threatening ambulance 19 mile ride was $1200 and I pd $265 of it......if you need it, what's your life or weeks if recovery worth??????? You have home owners, car and health insurance. This is a one x deal, not every 6 months .