Ground hornets! [emoji2962]

[WinterDeere]

I can not remember the last time I was stung by a bee. Neither a honey bee, nor a "Bumble"bee.

It's the yellow jackets and the white face hornets EVERY DANG TIME!

If I recall correctly, the different types of insect stings and bites take different relief treatments. Something about acids and bases. I'll need to leave that to the chemist.

Same. Our mailbox is completely surrounded with flowers that attract so many honey bees and bumble bees that accessing the daily mail means literally stepping into a swarm of them, and I never get stung. Totally different animal, than wasps or hornets.

We used to have a lot of holly around our patio, and the wasps loved that. Never understood why, but I pulled it all out a little over a year ago, and that really cut down on the wasps pestering us on the back patio.

 

[WinterDeere]

@WinterDeere, yes, I do know that there are a few species around. I would file the ones here in the generally "shoot first and ask questions later" category. I believe them to be the Western (aka Eastern) Yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica. However, there are the German ones around (V. germanica) as well. Both are definitely "shoot first" yellow jackets in my book.
View attachment 919602
Photo from UC Riverside.

We do get stung by the ground dwelling yellow jackets, especially at horse (endurance) rides. By the time half a dozen horses have trotted or cantered over the top of a ground dwelling yellow jacket hive, the yellow jackets are pretty wound up. One of our poor horses got stung thirty or so times, and his rider half a dozen more. The trail was narrow and the horse/riders in front weren't clued in on what was happening. The poor horse spent a couple hours on IV antihistamines before perking up. I rode him the next year on the same trails, and we got stung again, but luckily as soon as I was bitten, we were out of there. He was such a level headed horse, and a complete pleasure to be around and ride. He would trot down the trail like a metronome, all day, and, if needed, all night. My wife rode him on the Western States 100 (Tevis), and he just got stronger all day, and night. I think that horses are such amazing athletes.

All the best,

Peter

Hey, that's a great photo comparison, Peter! Except, I think they're not in the same scale, the penyslvanica is substantially longer than the tiny germanica. I would guess their abdomens are the same diameter, with the germanica being shorter than the pensylvanica, whereas the photo gives the appearance the germanica is kust fatter and similar length.

The pensylvanica presently have a nest in the cedar shake roof of one of our fireplaces, and they've been making their way into the house the last 3 days, peaking at 14 killed on Saturday. But they're relatively docile, they just buzz around and let me whack them with a fly swatter inside the house, or spray them with foaming wasp spray outside. I haven't been stung even once.

But those nasty germanicas are the ones that have hit me multiple times, just for walking within 10 feet of their ground nest. I've even had them chase me 100 feet to my barn, follow me into the barn, and sting me there! I hate those M.F.'ers.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

We have Bell Hornets...big dam things! One stung my Mother years ago she said it was like a hypodermic needle!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Yeah, I need to go mow my bottomland not excited about the prospect of hitting a ground nest. I did that 2 years ago and got zapped a handful of times.

 

[WinterDeere]

We have Bell Hornets...big dam things! One stung my Mother years ago she said it was like a hypodermic needle!View attachment 919605

We have had just a few Giant African Hornets get into our house, in the dozen years we've lived here. I still remember the first, somehow got brought in with a rug that had sat rolled up on the porch for a few days after delivery. I'm unrolling the rug, thankfully in bedroom slippers rather than bare feet, and I step on something the size of a thumb. It was one of those hornets, a little slow and docile due to being out in the chilly fall weather overnight.

I've heard they rarely sting, but at least one account said it felt like firing a framing nailer into his leg, the one time he got stung by one of them.

We have a lot of cicada killer wasps, as we have a lot of cicadas. They're big and scary, but also nearly totally harmless to people.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Our racoons dig them up and eat the larvae

 

[Dftodd]

I was out walk behind roto-tilling when I went over a ground hornets nest. The problem is that you don't see them coming, and by the time you realize what's happening, you've been stung half a dozen times. You were lucky to get by with 3!

I'm now allergic to bees because of a ground yellow jacket nest.

I got into them in the back corner of my yard push mowing.

I was mad, fighting with the wife, so I was trying to work off some aggression and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings.

Ended up with 32 stings on my legs.

Then I had to go get my wife while she was probably madder then the yellow jackets, and get her to drive me to the clinic for a shot since my ankle had already swollen to the size of my thigh

That was a wonderful day

 

[Dftodd]

Save your money - you only need a couple oz of gas. Take some plastic and a rim out there at night. Slap the plastic over the nest and plop the rim on top. Inject the gas through a small hole in the plastic. The fumes will kill them overnight.

Then light a match!!!

 

[WinterDeere]

Then I had to go get my wife while she was probably madder then the yellow jackets, and get her to drive me to the clinic for a shot since my ankle had already swollen to the size of my thigh

Like "make-up sex", but for old married couples.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

When I was 13 in the woods playing "Superman" pushing over about 8" dead trees when these bald faced hornets attacked me. As I ran home I was swatting them with my T shirt and got about 12 stings.
They held on, biting & stinging. Very aggressive! Lucky I didn't go into shock.