+*%#@^&# Yellow Jackets

[Dozernut]

We have the Bald Face Hornets around here also. I have been stung by them while brush mowing and I think they hurt a lot worse than the Yellow Jackets, but they both still hurt and I am still swollen. I wouldn't have got stung in the ear if I had not pulled off the Work Tunes when they attacked me. My wife is now thinking that maybe a cab tractor would not be such a bad idea, so maybe the attack was kind of a good thing.

 

[Rmart30]

I dug one up last year with a open cab dozer ......It was the largest swarm of them I have ever seen. it was a moving mass covering a solid 20 ft circle. I got lucky with only 2 stings that day.
I got into one the year before on a back hoe which wasnt nearly as big but those followed me for 75 yards till i jumped in one of the guys trucks there watching me and some stayed flying around the truck for 20 minutes before leaving.

 

[jenkinsph]

I dug one up last year with a open cab dozer ......It was the largest swarm of them I have ever seen. it was a moving mass covering a solid 20 ft circle. I got lucky with only 2 stings that day.
I got into one the year before on a back hoe which wasnt nearly as big but those followed me for 75 yards till i jumped in one of the guys trucks there watching me and some stayed flying around the truck for 20 minutes before leaving.

I remember well operating open dozers and pushing on piles. Not bad work until you roll over a stump with a large yellow jacket nest attached. One of the reasons I have cabbed tractors now. As a kid I got stung often enough that I became very fearful of all wasps and bees, still bothers me a bit today.

 

[GManBart]

I hate yellow jackets! I got lucky, and found a nest by accident just the other day....before they got me. It's an area I brush hog, and was getting ready to go over this week. I foamed them at night, then dug up the nest the next night.....hah, take that!

 

[Guesseral]

I think we all hate ground bees! I found two different nests 3 years ago while plowing. It was on the same round, they were at least 300 feet apart on each one of them I shaved the nest in two the bottom was in the bottom of the feral and the top was in the ground that was folded over. Well need less to say my day of plowing was over for the day, and I didn't get stung so I wasn't going to push my luck! I went down at dusk and just watched for a while, then after dark when it seemed safe I went over and dumped about two gallons of gas in each one, with a 25 foot tail away from the nest placed the can way away from the tail and dropped a match whoosh both nests burnt for like a 1/2 an hour. I like it when the nests are away from burnable things that I want to save, it just seems so much more satisfying watching them burn than just dousing them with spray! Wow I just realized I just might be a little sick!:confused3:

 

[Beltman60]

My dads friend over 30 years ago died from a bee sting
He was bush hogging around his bean fields and got some worked up
he made it back to the house and wasn't feeling good
about 10 min later his mom said he just slumped over and was dead
they said he only got stung 3 times but one was at the base of his scull
thats the one that did him in
now I always wear a hat of some sort to protect my head

the other night I was going to check how much propane I had and low and behold there was a wasp nest under the lid
ran like crazy back to the house
only got 2 stings on the arm but it was days later before the heat went out of my arm
had to wait 20 min before I went back out to retrieve my cell phone

 

[GManBart]

My wife is now thinking that maybe a cab tractor would not be such a bad idea, so maybe the attack was kind of a good thing.

SCORE! :cool2:

 

[hawkeye08]

Posted before but with all the stories here, I went out last night and foamed the ground nest again and several of the nests on outbuildings. I was amazed how many were in those nests. I am glad I did it, thought I had gotten them all previously..

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I feel for you. I got into a nest of wasp while I was bush hogging about 30 years ago. They were the kind you see on the river with nests the size of dinner plates. I got 23 stings, but my exit from the tractor hurt my back so bad I {almost} forgot the wasp stings.

But yellow jackets are must worse. Once while I was deer hunting I happened across a nest that had been dug up by a bear. They were all over the ground, and gave chase. My buddy was behind me on the trail, so I ran his way. When I passed him, the yellow jackets left me and went for him. Isn't that what friends are for?

You don't have to be able to outrun the bear, or the wasps, just the guy you're with. ;-)

 

[droy]

Remind me not to go hunting with you

Was thinking along the same line, however it COULD have been worse for his buddy though- suppose it was the bear chasing Larro instead of a few insects? lol