Ever Been Stung By.....

[greybeard]

I think what we have here is a case of different creatures being called the same name in different parts of the country. That photo looks like what I've always called yellow jackets. The fiendish insects that nest in the ground are ground hornets. They will both hunt you down if you disturb them and nail you before you know they're anywhere around. Yellow jacket stings hurt, but hornet stings feel like you got hit with a hammer.

And them ground hornets don't easily give up the chase either. If you do run over a nest with a mower, leave the mower over the hole--they're mean but I never seen one yet that can eat a mower blade.

 

[A.J.]

And them ground hornets don't easily give up the chase either. If you do run over a nest with a mower, leave the mower over the hole--they're mean but I never seen one yet that can eat a mower blade.

I always manage to find their nests when I'm weed eating. Evil things are so small and fast I don't know they're around til it's too late and they have started lighting me up. It usually ends up with a thrown weed eater and me running off hootin and hollerin trying to get away . I pay them a visit after dark after they settle down. A good splash of gas or diesel down the hole to their nest and my payback is complete.

 

[Nesikep]

Brake cleaner works really good on wasps.. insta-dead... If you've ever gotten it in your eyes, you know the stuff burns like the dickens

 

[ga.prime]

I think what we have here is a case of different creatures being called the same name in different parts of the country. That photo looks like what I've always called yellow jackets. The fiendish insects that nest in the ground are ground hornets. They will both hunt you down if you disturb them and nail you before you know they're anywhere around. Yellow jacket stings hurt, but hornet stings feel like you got hit with a hammer.

There are aerial yellow jackets and there are subterranean yellow jackets.

 

[1982vett]

I think what we have here is a case of different creatures being called the same name in different parts of the country. That photo looks like what I've always called yellow jackets. The fiendish insects that nest in the ground are ground hornets. They will both hunt you down if you disturb them and nail you before you know they're anywhere around. Yellow jacket stings hurt, but hornet stings feel like you got hit with a hammer.

There are aerial yellow jackets and there are subterranean yellow jackets.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7450.html

 

[Rafter S]

I think what we have here is a case of different creatures being called the same name in different parts of the country. That photo looks like what I've always called yellow jackets. The fiendish insects that nest in the ground are ground hornets. They will both hunt you down if you disturb them and nail you before you know they're anywhere around. Yellow jacket stings hurt, but hornet stings feel like you got hit with a hammer.

And them ground hornets don't easily give up the chase either. If you do run over a nest with a mower, leave the mower over the hole--they're mean but I never seen one yet that can eat a mower blade.

That works, but I usually don't know the nest is there until I'm past it and one or two of them have hit me on the back of my head.

 

[ga.prime]

There's a fellow here that swears yellow jacket larvae are the best fish bait there is. He'll put just enough gas through a hose pipe into the entrance hole to put the yellow jackets to sleep but not enough to despoil the larvae and then dig up the nest and make off with it before the adult yellow jackets wake up. I've never seen this done but I know people that have. It's something I would never attempt. When I put gas in a yellow jacket entrance hole, they do not wake up.

 

[M-5]

There's a fellow here that swears yellow jacket larvae are the best fish bait there is. He'll put just enough gas through a hose pipe into the entrance hole to put the yellow jackets to sleep but not enough to despoil the larvae and then dig up the nest and make off with it before the adult yellow jackets wake up. I've never seen this done but I know people that have. It's something I would never attempt. When I put gas in a yellow jacket entrance hole, they do not wake up.

when setting bush hooks I have sprayed red wasp nest and get them and use the larve for bait. they do work very well

 

[TexasBred]

Never knew why but my dad always called those "Guinea Wasp". Not as big as the big red wasp or black wasp. Find a lot of small nests around the eaves of houses and barns....they will wear you out !!!!

A guinea wasp and a yellow jacket are two different things. I've always heard wasps with that pattern of coloration called guinea wasps too, but those don't look small enough in the waist to be wasps. The nest looks like a guinea wasp nest but the wasps look like yellow jackets and they're the orneriest of the whole clan. Vette's dang lucky if only one stung him. I have seen yellow jackets build nests off the ground and they're not small nests by any means but usually around here, like sky said, the nests are in the ground in a rotten stump or some kind of other digs where there's a lot of decayed organic matter.

Only yellow jackets I have ever seen lived in the ground.

 

[greybeard]

I'll be happy to send ya a handfull of live larvae from some that make a nest like the one in the OP.
(btw, that's a small nest compared to some of the ones I've seen)

Fighting wasps and yellow jackets with a weedeater is about the same as fighting them with a chainsaw--it just don't work...

 

[Rafter S]

I'll be happy to send ya a handfull of live larvae from some that make a nest like the one in the OP.
(btw, that's a small nest compared to some of the ones I've seen)

Fighting wasps and yellow jackets with a weedeater is about the same as fighting them with a chainsaw--it just don't work...

Neither does waving a hat at them.

 

[skyhightree1]

Whats really funny is in my younger years I found a wasp nest and had some 3m spray adhesive I got on a ladder and sprayed them I think everyone should try it.

 

[Rafter S]

Almost 20 years ago I was in North Dakota, working in a small town about 40 miles east of Bismarck. It wasn't big enough to have a store, but it did have a bar. (I think there's a state law that every town in ND with more than 10 houses is required to have a bar, but I'm not complaining. I was one of his best customers while I was there. There sure wasn't anything else to do.) Anyway, this bar had a small three-sided building beside it the owner used for a barbecue shed. It was a wood frame structure, with the corrugated fiberglass panels that are used for greenhouses. This small building had acquired a hornet nest up in one corner (the big round kind we used to see in cartoons). Anyway, one day the guy that owned the bar and a couple of his buddies had been sitting around drinking beer for several hours and decided that this was the day that the hornet nest had to go. So some brave soul got a can of wasp spray and soaked the nest down. Then one of them had another bright idea. "Let's set the nest on fire. That way we'll be sure to get them." They got them all right. The only problem is that none of them realized that wasp spray is highly flammable. While it's true that they got the hornets, they also burned the shed right down to the ground.

 

[Jogeephus]

Almost 20 years ago I was in North Dakota, working in a small town about 40 miles east of Bismarck. It wasn't big enough to have a store, but it did have a bar. (I think there's a state law that every town in ND with more than 10 houses is required to have a bar, but I'm not complaining. I was one of his best customers while I was there. There sure wasn't anything else to do.) Anyway, this bar had a small three-sided building beside it the owner used for a barbecue shed. It was a wood frame structure, with the corrugated fiberglass panels that are used for greenhouses. This small building had acquired a hornet nest up in one corner (the big round kind we used to see in cartoons). Anyway, one day the guy that owned the bar and a couple of his buddies had been sitting around drinking beer for several hours and decided that this was the day that the hornet nest had to go. So some brave soul got a can of wasp spray and soaked the nest down. Then one of them had another bright idea. "Let's set the nest on fire. That way we'll be sure to get them." They got them all right. The only problem is that none of them realized that wasp spray is highly flammable. While it's true that they got the hornets, they also burned the shed right down to the ground.

You gotta love those, "hold my beer" moments.

 

[beefmasters]

When i was a young boy of about 8(about a half century ago) an older cousin and myself were out horse back riding.It was hot summer time and we had ended up down in some pretty brushy woods,briars etc.We decided to get out of our situation by going up a pretty good hill that was covered in trees and brush.

It got so thick we decided it would be best to get off of the horses and lead them up the hill instead of fighting the brush.The older cousin and his horse led the way with me following close behind.I never did know if the nest was on a bush or down in the leaves but he apparently hit the nest and with me behind the yellow jackets swarmed me.

We were not far from the top of the hill at the time and believe you me i was stepping pretty high when i reached the clearing.I had also let go of the reins to my horse and left him in the dust.Can't remember if the poor horse was stung or not.

My cousin counted six stings to my head mostly on top of my head.I can still remember sitting in the heat beside some cactus and my head swimming so badly i couldn't stand up.It was quite some time before i felt able to make it home. Oh, the good old days. :lol:

 

[kerley]

I got hit real bad twice this month, First was during a Thunder storm when the lights went out. I went out and hooked up the Generator and when I reached behind it for the choke they got me, three in the hand and arm and three in the back.
I have only driven my Dodge/ Cummins six thousand miles in eleven years. Last week I went to buy mineral and salt but stopped for fuel, For some reason the wasps like to nest inside the fuel door and I not thinking reached in to remove the fuel cap and bang, I was had but good. Has several very painful bites on my left hand which hurt all day and the next morning I was swelled enough that I could not make a tight fist. Did I say I hate wasps of any color or size.

 

[Jogeephus]

I never knew a guinea wasp was a type of yellow jacket. Never thought about it but that's pretty interesting. They sure have different temperaments.

You know you can kill them with a cup of water with a couple of drops of Dawn added to the cup. Not as quick as gas but it will kill them dead.

 

[TexasBred]

I never knew a guinea wasp was a type of yellow jacket. Never thought about it but that's pretty interesting. They sure have different temperaments.

You know you can kill them with a cup of water with a couple of drops of Dawn added to the cup. Not as quick as gas but it will kill them dead.

haven't studied them enough to know the difference Jogee but I consider the guinea wasp a wasp as the name implies and a yellow jacket to a "bee". One makes paper nest the other lives in the ground. I'm sure someone can help us out.

EDIT: Looked it up and both are considered wasps, one nesting above ground and the other above ground. Hard to even find a difference simply looking at pics.

 

[Jogeephus]

I was going on what GP said that they are close to one another. Our yellow jackets also build paper nests but they are normally in the ground. Our yellow jackets are vicious and ornery and will swarm you whereas our guinea wasps are far more forgiving. If you mess with a guinea wasp nest here you might get stung a few times but a yellow jacket nest is much worse and they don't stop stinging even if you run away they keep sending others to sting you. They are my biggest fear in the woods. I'd rather come upon a hundred rattlesnakes than one yellow jacket nest. What's bad is they sometimes form mega nests when conditions are right. If you happen to be unlucky enough to get in one of these odds are they will sting you to death. Here is a mega nest I found a few years ago. The nest is in the ground but with a high water table they built their nest 16 foot up this tree. No telling how many of the demons this nest held.

 

[dun]

Call them whatever you want,if it stings or bites I hate them. Honey bee sounds so harmless, after all, the do produce delicious honey. I hate them too even though I haven;t been stung by one in probablt 60 years. I hate sweat bees just as bad. It seems like they just look for a spot to get to that they will get pinched. If pinched the sting like hezz. Ants are in the same category as far as I'm concerned.