Yellow Jackets

[kennertree]

This is the worst year I have ever seen for yellow jackets. I've came across dozens of nests and been stung atleast that many times. Was working today on my father-in-law's property clearing some trails along a ridge top and got stung twice when I came across a nest. Was working out there last week clearing some trees where a driveway is going in and came across 4 or 5 nests. The week before that I was clearing out some fire damaged trees where a brush fire got out of hand and came across 7 nests. Anybody else seeing the same thing? Here in east TN we are still in a drought and I'm thinking that might have something to do with it. Good thing I'm not alergic to them, I'd be dead already.

 

[Rookie1]

They dont seem any worse here in Ohio.

 

[kennertree]

They dont seem any worse here in Ohio.

Maybe they all retired and moved down south?:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

They dont seem any worse here in Ohio.

Same here, actually it seems to be less so. I've thought all the water may have something to do with it.

Have you been seeing them all on higher ground (you mentioned the ridge)? If you are on the wet side of the state, could be the ground wasps have been driven up.

I hate it when they are in a brush pile you have to pull apart

 

[TDunk]

I haven't seen that many at all this year, but 2-3 years ago they were all over the place. It was so bad that they would start to build nests in the door jams of cars if they sat for more than a few days.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Ants are another story here, with the higher gorundwater they are building mounds like I've not seen since in Africa!

 

[kennertree]

Same here, actually it seems to be less so. I've thought all the water may have something to do with it.

Have you been seeing them all on higher ground (you mentioned the ridge)? If you are on the wet side of the state, could be the ground wasps have been driven up.

I hate it when they are in a brush pile you have to pull apart

They're everywhere, not just the ridge tops. I was talking to a buddy of mine yesterday and he said one of his kids got stung out in the yard and that he found three nests. I think drought must have something to do with it.

 

[neverrude]

There are a lot less the past few years here in central NJ.
I haven’t even seen one this year so far.
I noticed there very wasps around this year.
But carpenter bees are another story.

 

[ropensaddle]

The only ones I have seen this year are on my cutter wheel!
I hope I have not jenxed my self


Kenner stay off the ground pard!

 

[kennertree]

The only ones I have seen this year are on my cutter wheel!
I hope I have not jenxed my self


Kenner stay off the ground pard!

I was back on the ground again today. We had a job scheduled but the rain yesterday was just enough that we were not able to back the chipper in where we need to get it. It was too late to schedule anything else on such a short notice so we went back out to my father-in-law's to clean out some fence rows. When we first got there I backed the truck in ran over a nest and they swarmed everywhere. In an area of 100 ft. X 100ft. we came across 6 nests today. I was lucky enough not to get stung. We had 5 or so cans of bee spray and disposed of all the nests. All of the nests weren't there the last time we were out there. I hate to say it, but I'm actually looking forward to cooler weather so there won't be so many bees around.

 

[Farmer Ferd]

No yellow jackets but I have had a few bald hornet nests luckily only got stung once. On Friday I was doing a take down on a large choke cherry covered with English ivy and Virginia creeper and had to have gotten stung about 40 times buy sweat bees. Mostly they are just an annoyance but these guys kept coming.

 

[saginaw22]

Got stung myself at my property Sunday.....picked up a log
and I was like what the F.....ohhh ouch....ohhhh.....before long I was running around the truck and trying to get my gloves off and get the dam things off my arms and legs....oh boy ......they freaking hurt.....of a bit.

 

[ozarktreeman]

worst i have seen in years.dam things are everywhere.and all species of them.but we had a unusually wet spring.way above normal.
since this is kinda on subject.this happened late last summer.was stung a few times by red wasp's.okay hurt like hell.went about my business for about an hour and went home.was.nt feeling to good started to itch told wife i was taking cold shower.she checked on me few minutes later.i was as red as beet.had hard time breathing.and consequently spent the next two days in hospital.
found out at this later stage of my life i am all the sudden i am allergic to them.
now i have been stung to many times to count throughout my life.as most of you have probably been.might have something to do with it.dunno
but posed with this problem would it deter any of you from this line of work?

 

[Canyon Angler]

For you folks who are getting stung a lot: WATCH OUT!

I've probably been stung 100-200 times since I was a kid, but one summer about 10 years ago, I got stung maybe 3 times in one summer by some kind of ground hornets, and I had a reaction too.

I was cutting firewood and got into a nest of them I guess, and got stung, but I kept working. I was smoking a cigarette at the time and a couple minutes after I got stung I started to feel dizzy (thought it was the cigarette) so I shut down the saw, crushed out my cigarette and sat down.

Then the soles of my feet started to itch LIKE YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE. They itched so bad, I took off my boots and socks and started scrubbing the soles of my feet in the leaf litter. Then my armpits and crotch started itching, and I realized something was wrong. Walked back to the house and my face was beet red but also pale - weird. Figured I was having a beesting reaction, and went to the hospital, and sure enough, I was.

The doc gave me a couple shots of epinephrine (adrenaline) and everything went back to normal after a couple hours.

The thing is, the doc said that if I got stung by the same kind of hornet again, the reaction would likely be much more severe and would come on within SECONDS, because my body was now "sensitized" to that toxin.

He said if that happened, if I didn't shoot myself up with the epinephrine IMMEDIATELY, I would pretty much be dead. (This actually happened to a friend of the family -- he got stung, and he ran back toward his house to retrieve his beesting "kit" and he dropped dead on his front doorstep.)

The bad thing about an anaphylactic allergic reaction is that your body basically KILLS ITSELF. It senses that there is a toxin in your blood, so to protect the body's tissues, your body lowers your blood pressure so severely, that your heart can't get enough blood to feed itself. In other words, your body basically starves itself to death.

I don't mean to overdramatize the issue, but if you get an allergic reaction, you need to carry that Epi-Pen with you at all times when there are bees around.

Be careful out there!

CA

 

[TimberMcPherson]

We were doing a job last summer when we disturbed a nest of common wasps in a crack in a concrete step. I was going to give them a little chainsaw fuel (not light it, just fume em) but the client didnt like the idea, so I got the blower and left it running with the intake near the nest opening. 20 minutes later there were bits of wasp in quite a number all over the path where the blower had spat them out.

I hate em, in the past I have wasted all by cooker fuel on a 6 day kayaking trip destroying nests.

Epi pens area great idea, keep an eye on the expiration dates though.

 

[Sunrise Guy]

We have them very bad down here in Austin. all different species in record numbers. I just called my MD this morning to have him phone in a prescription for an Epi-pen at my local pharmacy, just in case. Of course he hasn't seen me in a while so his nurse told me I needed to come in for a check-up. Man, they get you coming and going! Now, instead of the $65 for the pen, I'll be dropping another $150 for a check-up. I know, I know, it's for my own good. Yeah, OK.

 

[treeseer]

we have more here in NC too.

I have a different reaction when stung--euphoria! It's a rush. not worth the pain of the sting but still a major high.

 

[beowulf343]

Odd, seems to be less here in wny. Only been stung twice this summer.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Yellow Jacket "super-cells"

Anyone read any articles the past couple of years about the super-size

Yellow Jacket Super Cells

http://www.aces.edu/department/extcomm/npa/daily/archives/002193.php

What a wild thing that would be to disturb.