Another Yellow Jacket Story

[ksmmoto]

The yellow jackets have really been thick in Michigan in August and September. I have been spraying nests every day in my equipment.

I got stung last week once right by my right knee. Really hurt! After a day or so it itched a lot. Today I got stung by a hornet on my finger, that didn't hurt near as bad.

Way back in 1988 I was riding my Husqvarna 430 XC dirt bike on the 10 acres I owned then. I did a u-turn on the steep hill out back in the woods and stalled the bike.

Instantly I felt great pain. Looking down I seen that I was covered with very angry yellow jackets. Apparently I had been using their nest for traction. I dropped my bike and ran off about 100 yards.

I tried to brush all the yellow jackets off. I could feel the venom surging through my whole upper body. Thinking that the best plan would be to ride the bike back to the house as it was a quarter mile. I tried to get near the bike, but I was attacked again. I then decided to walk up.

I keep moving quickly and got back ok. I went in the house and hollered at my wife that I was stung. Took off my shirt and about 6 or 7 yellow jackets were inside and had been stinging me, I didn't notice anymore.

Ended up with about 40 or 50 stings. Put baking soda on them and I was fine, no reaction or swelling. This may be why yellow jackets stings hurt me so much, I may be sensitive.

I keep thinking about my bike, but decided to wait. The next day I went back with a can of spray and snuck up on the bike. Really seemed still and I didn't see any yellow jackets. I picked the bike up quick and rolled it away.

NO yellow jackets? I checked the gas tank that was full when I started and now it was empty. Seems it leaked out the gas cap vent right into the nest and wiped out the yellow jackets!

ksmmoto

 

[bjmad]

The other day I was putting siding on my garage. I got stung on the back of my leg. If anyone saw me they would have thought I was nuts. I was jumping around, took my pants off and cussing. It hurt. I thought the wasp was in my pants because it sure felt like it. I wanted to protect my jewels so I had to remove them. It burned really bad. I ended up getting stung several times. You are right. They are very bad here in Michigan. I didn't get as many stings as you did but they hurt for quite a while.

 

[HEC]

Ksmmoto ,you are very lucky to be alive after that many stings

 

[silverdollar6]

The other day I was putting siding on my garage. I got stung on the back of my leg. If anyone saw me they would have thought I was nuts. I was jumping around, took my pants off and cussing. It hurt. I thought the wasp was in my pants because it sure felt like it. I wanted to protect my jewels so I had to remove them. It burned really bad. I ended up getting stung several times. You are right. They are very bad here in Michigan. I didn't get as many stings as you did but they hurt for quite a while.

How did you remove your jewels?

 

[frank_f15]

Ksmmoto ,you are very lucky to be alive after that many stings

Yep you are right , if that was me the old girl would be making funeral arrangments . i am very allergic

 

[Trahere]

My wife would like to make funeral arrangements most of the time! Fourth post but who's counting?

 

[AchingBack]

Ksmmoto ,you are very lucky to be alive after that many stings

Years ago I was barely saved from certain death and destruction when late one afternoon I was brush hogging with a JDshift transmission tractor with no ROPS; I had been storing for a friend. It was late in the day, near dusk, and I happened to mow over a ground nest of yellow jackets. At first I thought there was some weird electrical problem, and I was being shocked. When I realized what I had done, and that I was being stung like crazy; I immediately shifted into what I thought was first gear, but I had put the tractor in reverse gear, and almost backed down over a twenty foot imbankment into a creek.

To me, this is one of the best arguments for a hydrostatic transmission. After less than ten seconds on a HST, I knew reverse was right under my heel, and I didn't need to take time to shift. I think HST is a real big safety issue in addition to being so very convenient, and easy to use. I believe if the tractor I was on that day had an HST I would have missed out on one of the biggest adrenaline rushes in fifty years.

 

[Trahere]

Thank goodness for HST!

 

[ccsial]

To me, this is one of the best arguments for a hydrostatic transmission. After less than ten seconds on a HST, I knew reverse was right under my heel, and I didn't need to take time to shift. I think HST is a real big safety issue in addition to being so very convenient, and easy to use. I believe if the tractor I was on that day had an HST I would have missed out on one of the biggest adrenaline rushes in fifty years.

Makes one hellavu case for a cab.

 

[ksmmoto]

I have dug into several yellow jacket nests last summer with my loader. I was building a woods driveway for a customer.

When I seen the cloud of yellows I was understandably nervous because of all the stings I had back in 1988. I am sure that made me more sensitive.

But it turns out that when I dug into the nest, the dirt collapsed around the yellow jackets killing most of them. It happened on both nest I hit, so I haven't been as worried. I also keep a can of bug killer on the tractor.

Now hitting a nest with a brush hog could be totally different, hasn't happened to me yet. But I have 28 acres to brush hog in the next several days, so I will be on the lookout.

ksmmoto

 

[firemanpat2910]

I went to help a friend with her little yard in town, last night. Brought a push mower and weed wacker, she was mowing I weeded near a telephone pole. there was a stick wedged in the ground I bumped it with the weedeater and released the yellow terrors. I got nailed about 6 times. was fine lastnight but swollen and itching today. I dont know if some neighbor hood kids plugged the hole, or what happened. Finished my can of beer filled it with gas turned it over into the hole. (at a dead run) Kim said I looked like a sissy when I dropped the weedeater and ran away. She changed her mind when I said YOU go back and get it

 

[hockeypuck]

I was dropping a 18" pine tree today and it got partially hung up on another tree. While I was staring at it trying to figure out what my plan of attack would be, my focus was drawn from the tree to a shadow flying near me. Then I realized that I had a swarm of at least 30 Yellow Jackets around me. Turns out that I had been stradeling a hole while I was cutting my notch and back cut. I did not get stung, so I am waiting for morning. We are getting our first frost tonight and I am going to give them a morning wake up call with some of Exxons finest. HeeHee.

I will let you know how it goes.

PUck

 

[Pilot]

Was taking part in forest pathology seminar. Swung a Pulaski into a stump & instantly there was a cloud of the critters coming from somewhere near the stump, or maybe from the stump itself; I didn't stick around to find out. They didn't touch me even though it was a warm day & my face was just 3' from the stump when they launched.

Ripping out some blackberries one day 10 yrs ago, I backed the old JD over a nest. Was a cool day & I was being just as dumb as they were. Here they were flying all around me & I stop the tractor, shut it off, lower the cultivator to the ground, then I took off running--right over the nest. They didn't get me that time, either.

A few weeks ago I was covering a slash pile with plastic so I could burn it this fall after the rains come. Climbed up on the pile to spread the plastic, noticed a couple YJ's flying around about the time I got stung. Then I saw a lot more. Turned out I was standing right by the nest. I was just as afraid of falling & breaking a leg while scrambling off the pile as I was about getting stung some more. Got to the ground, rushed to the house, had my wife check me over & she found half a dozen more on my clothes.

A week later, I was dragging the cultivator along the fire line to improve it & ran over a nest. Didn't see anything until I was coming back for a second pass & saw the cloud 50 ft. in front of me.

Had a lot more encounters over the years; the most that got me at any one time was 3 or 4.

I put my traps out every spring & catch the queens & that really cuts down on the number of nests around here. Caught about 50 queens this spring and there were another 50 or so in the wood pile that didn't make it thru the winter. I might bait my traps this fall to catch this year's new queens. Haven't tried that strategy yet.

 

[hockeypuck]

I went out this morning when the temp was 40 and they were still coming to and from the hole. So I got some spray from my house that was of the foam kind. I unloaded a 1/4 of the can on top of the hole and then backed up a few feet. I did not see and action so I left for work. When I came home the mound of foam looked like a ice cream cone covered in choclate chips. There must have been at least 50 dead yellow jackets in the foam with no action except for a loan stray probably trying to figure out what the heck happened while he was out. I am not sure if the nest is dead but I will load up the entrance with another pile of foam tomorrow. A week or so of that should kill what ever is inside.

Puck

 

[KEG]

I put my traps out every spring & catch the queens & that really cuts down on the number of nests around here. Caught about 50 queens this spring and there were another 50 or so in the wood pile that didn't make it thru the winter. I might bait my traps this fall to catch this year's new queens. Haven't tried that strategy yet.

Can you tell us more about your traps? What do you use? I would love to reduce the number of nests at my place. Last time I got stung I almost bought the farm - so to speak!

 

[Pilot]

I use the traps from Sterling: Sterling RESCUE!® -Rescue Your Backyard. Protect your family from foraging yellowjackets.

Get them at your local hardware store or Home Depot and garden places.

These have worked well for me for about 10 years now. They give you a packet of pheromone (attractant) which they say lasts a couple weeks, but in reality still works a lot longer. You can buy more attractant.

There are other makes of traps that provide some kind of attractant, but these have worked so well for me that I have't tried the others.

In the spring, you want to put them out when the high temps get up around 75 degrees. One year we had a freak warm day in April forecast with east winds. I got the traps out the evening before & caught about 26 of the queens in the one day. The rest of the spring I only caught about the same number. Queens are the only ones that survive the winter, so any caught in the spring are queens. One queen can pump out up to 1,000 or more babies.

 

[hockeypuck]

Nice!

I got to get some of those. Thanks for the info.

Puck

 

[ksmmoto]

Update on the last two weeks worth of yellow jackets. I found three nests in my MacLander Trailer, one in my landscape rake, one plugging the exhaust on an old Kawasaki and a very large nest under the seat on my backhoe! Luckily on the backhoe nest I found it when I was checking it over and NOT when I sat on the seat. There were close to 80 yellows under there!

I also found a nest at the base of a large bush out in the field. It had been ripped up, not sure what got into it. It might be different then the yellow jackets in my equipment, the cells looked larger and I couldn't find any bodies to check them.

ksmmoto

 

[Pilot]

There are hundreds of kinds of wasps, of which yellow jackets are only one kind. Yellow jackets nest in the ground, rotting wood, etc. Nests under your eaves, in your tractor, etc. are some other kind of wasp. This is important only in that the yellow jacket traps won't attract other kinds of wasps, only yellow jackets. some may get caught by accident, but the overwhelming majority of the catch will be yellow jackets, attracted by the YJ pheromone.

I had some wasps nesting in my old JD every year. I cured that by putting a tarp over the tractor, sealed around the ground with sand or dirt & set off a bug bomb under the tractor.

 

[roxynoodle]

My only yellow jacket attack came when I was about 10 and my youngest uncle was 14. We stepped on a nest picking blackberries. We ran as fast as we could into a neighbor's backyard and jumped into their pool! We each got about 4 stings. I do, however, contantly get attacked by hornets on my property. But, there are all kinds of black and yellow wasps. There are some living in my clothesline poles that have very long back legs. I don't know what they are but they are fairly peaceful. A bunch were also in the top of my TV antennae and I was worried they'd come after me while I was putting on siding last year. Well, the housewrap concerned me more than the siding. Figured that would start swinging around in the wind until I could get it on the house and they would go nuts. They totally ignored everything I did and just kept doing their work (whatever that happened to be). Only time I had a problem with them was when I bumped a clothesline pole with a ladder. THEN they all came out! No stings for me though. However, the same uncle and I were attacked by something neither of us got a good look at doing the housewrap on the first floor. I was on a small extension ladder putting in nails when whatever it was attacked me from behind. It got stuck in my ponytail and stung the back of my head about 5 times before I swatted it out. From there it flew straight into my uncle's face and nailed him below his eye. We have no idea what it was. Anyone know of good hornet traps?