Attacked by Hornets nest

[OntheLevel]

So I had a funny adventure this summer I haven't shared yet.

I was cutting some small buckthorn. Algonac state park.

Cleared a good patch and all of a sudden I feel sharp pain in my face, neck, head, everywhere.

Didn't know what was goin on immediately so I dropped my saw and started swatting my face, and head where they were lighting

me up. Ran 15 feet away and started pulling hornets out of my hair. One got me 1 inch from my eyeball.

So my boss and the other cutter I find out are both allergic to stings and we're 3 miles into the woods

The hornets kept coming for me, even from a distance. We had to leave the premises. My baby 261 idling in the woods covered by

hornets.

I came back to the scene of the crime 1 hour later. My saw still idling and covered by the whole hive.

3 hours later I came back. it finally ran out of gas. Still covered by hornets though..

I said there is no way my baby is spending the night out here. After some thinking I cut a really tall 20' small diameter stick.

It had a branch with a hook like projection. I carefully hooked it around the handle and pulled it back a few inches at a time.

After a pulling it 15 feet closer they lost interest and grabbed her. :msp_smile:

I found out that day that hornets have gound nests.

Adam

 

[2dogs]

I'm glad you are OK. We get into ground hornets aka Bald Face hornets on occasion. They are very aggresive and the stings really hurt. It is much more likley to run into Yellowjackets living in ground nests. there lots of Yellowjackets but their stings are milder than those of the hornet.

I carry sting swabs or a bite eraser and Benadryl in my IFAK.

Yellowjackets and Other Social Wasp Management Guidelines--UC IPM

 

[OntheLevel]

Most of them were pretty small. I got right back to work after we moved locations. But that one sucker almost got me

right in the eyeball!:msp_mad: That could've really sucked.

I felt worse for my saw. I took it apart later and there were 4 dead ones buried in the fins on the engine. Plus I don't think it's good to

idle for 3 hours. :bang:

Wish I didn't drop the saw or thought of the 20 ft stick idea earlier.

 

[nmurph]

True hornets and Bald-faced hornets do not live in the ground. BF hornets build large nest in trees and the eaves of buildings, etc. It sounds like you go into yellow jackets. They are ground nesting and are aggressive. As bad as their sting is, it is not nearly as bad as a BF hornet (who is actually a type of yellowjacket).

 

[OntheLevel]

True hornets and Bald-faced hornets do not live in the ground. BF hornets build large nest in trees and the eaves of buildings, etc. It sounds like you go into yellow jackets. They are ground nesting and are aggressive. As bad as their sting is, it is not nearly as bad as a BF hornet (who is actually a type of yellowjacket).

Yeah murph you guys are right. It was yellow jackets then. It didn't hurt bad. But god darn they did not like my saw.

Once there was 200 of them on her: I said "well so much for that idea".

Adam

 

[half_full]

first time I found them was elk hunting in Idaho. Moved a log to fit into a perfect ambush location and they stung my left hand/wrist four times. It swelled up and looked like I had a softball with five little stubs coming out of it on the end of my arm. It was an archery hunt, couldn't put my shooting release on.

 

[w8ye]

Many years ago I was at the cabin on the big lake. It was a dryer year and the water level was down 4' or so. At this lake there are often Willow like bushes around the edges out in the water and when the water goes down, hey are out on dry ground at 5-6' high.

I cannot remember what I was doing around the bushes but suddenly it felt like someone hit me behind the left ear with a ball peen hammer.

After backing off and looking, there was a paper wasp nest in one of the bushes I had brushed against. These were the Red Wasps I think they are called.

When I was about 12, we went boy scout camping and a bad day of rain caught us the second day. Then the third day when we were leaving, the car was stuck and we couldn't get out. The scout master walked out to the main road and got a farm hand to come down there to the river with a two mule wagon to pull the car out. I jumped up on the wagon to ride as it was a unusual treat. After the car was pulled out, The farm hand went back to unhook the car, and suddenly yellow jackets were swarming all over and stinging me. The left mule's hind legs were right over a yellow jacket nest and the mule was stomping his feet for he was getting stung too. I had swelled up knots all over the upper part of my body.

 

[2dogs]

True hornets and Bald-faced hornets do not live in the ground. BF hornets build large nest in trees and the eaves of buildings, etc. It sounds like you go into yellow jackets. They are ground nesting and are aggressive. As bad as their sting is, it is not nearly as bad as a BF hornet (who is actually a type of yellowjacket).

You are correct. Not a bald faced hornet but a big black ground hornet.

My last encounter was from yellow jackets that had a nest hanging in a tree. Bumped the limb with the tractor ROPS. Stung me on the face twice and on the wrist.

 

[watsonr]

The hornets emit a scent that is released when they sting you and in turn attract other hornets who aid in the fight....
Ask me how I know... or my neighbor... he got the worst of it!

 

[OntheLevel]

The hornets emit a scent that is released when they sting you and in turn attract other hornets who aid in the fight....
Ask me how I know... or my neighbor... he got the worst of it!

Exactly what my Ecologist boss told us. He said the first one marks you with a scent. The scent tells the other buggers "go get

that dude". The Ecologist and other cutter were both allergic and neither one had their pens or whatever. :msp_scared:

I'm glad it was me and not them.

My left eye puffed up like crazy for 2 hours.

 

[Guido Salvage]

I have hit hornet nests in bushes twice while bushhogging. Not any fun when they take you by surprise.

 

[Mad Professor]

Exactly what my Ecologist boss told us. He said the first one marks you with a scent. The scent tells the other buggers "go get

that dude". The Ecologist and other cutter were both allergic and neither one had their pens or whatever. :msp_scared:

I'm glad it was me and not them.

My left eye puffed up like crazy for 2 hours.

If you are strongly allergic you should always have a epipen when in a situation where you might get stung.

Even for routine outdoor activities it would be good to carry 2-3 benadryl just in case.

 

[KenJax Tree]

I cut the top out of an oak tree this summer to find out hornets made a nest in it and when they came at me i heard the buzz with ear plugs in and when i got to the ground my hitch and rope was smoking (no joke) i however didn't get stung luckily lol

 

[rob066]

I was working with another individual putting in a sewer line to a new house. Then the suprize. We dug into a nest of yellowjackets. They were in my hair, up my pants and under my shirt in seconds. Not fun. The other guy I was working with was running the excavator. He simply shut the windows and door to get away from them and backed away. The onslaught of bees were focused on me anyways because I was in the ditch near their level.

 

[D&B Mack]

Props on having your saw tuned well enough to idle itself out of gas. :msp_thumbsup:

 

[KenJax Tree]

Exactly what my Ecologist boss told us. He said the first one marks you with a scent. The scent tells the other buggers "go get

that dude". The Ecologist and other cutter were both allergic and neither one had their pens or whatever. :msp_scared:

I'm glad it was me and not them.

My left eye puffed up like crazy for 2 hours.

My brother-in-law's mom died last year after an allergic reaction to a bee sting and never had and allergic reactions to bee stings prior to that one.

 

[Joe Kidd]

I cut the top out of an oak tree this summer to find out hornets made a nest in it and when they came at me i heard the buzz with ear plugs in and when i got to the ground my hitch and rope was smoking (no joke) i however didn't get stung luckily lol

Last year we had hornets build a nest in our church sanctuary window. Guess they liked the Pastors sermons! But they had to go. EveryONE is welcome, just not everyTHING!

 

[eat a peach]

japanese hornets

I was cutting down a rotted pine that was hung up on another tree back in the summer.The way the tree was hung I had to cut it and watch the top part because about 6 feet of it could bounce off the good tree and hit me if I turned and walked away. Yep the nest was inside the top piece. It hit about 8-10 feet from me. BIG japanese hornets swarmed me. It is my understanding they grab you and bite before stinging . That is only explaination for getting stung ONLY 8 times. I was running and could feel them light on me and swatted a bunch before they stung me. I seem to have a pretty high tolerance I guess, these things are huge. SOME WERE OVER 2 INCHES LONG. :sword:

 

[slowp]

Around here, we don't care what species it is, if it flies, chases, and stings it is called a bee. In fact, woods etiquette is to scream &^%*$# BEES %$#@as you are running and flinging off articles of clothing. This lets your coworkers know what is going on so they can watch and provide moral support by laughing.

One manly faller screamed in a rather high pitched voice and by the time he arrived up on the busy tourist road, he was clad only in PINK shorts and calks. We watched with mouths agape as he started to pull off his last layer of clothing and then realized where he was. The shorts stayed on.

If you have tree marking paint, it is a polite thing if you write BEES on a nearby tree or log. Then, as your coworker wanders up close to try to decipher your poor penmanship, they will know what is attacking them.

Do not allow a logger to use his epi pen on you because it is the last day before it expires and he doesn't want to see it go to waste, unless you are truly going into shock from a sting.

A great and foolish sport is to stop work and throw rocks at the paper wasp nests that are hanging off tree branches. A mean thing to do is to gather such a nest in a paper bag on a cold morning and put it into a pickup and turn on the heater.

Ah, bees....

 

[Joe Kidd]

I was cutting down a rotted pine that was hung up on another tree back in the summer.The way the tree was hung I had to cut it and watch the top part because about 6 feet of it could bounce off the good tree and hit me if I turned and walked away. Yep the nest was inside the top piece. It hit about 8-10 feet from me. BIG japanese hornets swarmed me. It is my understanding they grab you and bite before stinging . That is only explaination for getting stung ONLY 8 times. I was running and could feel them light on me and swatted a bunch before they stung me. I seem to have a pretty high tolerance I guess, these things are huge. SOME WERE OVER 2 INCHES LONG. :sword:

They are quite LARGE!