I was once sitting outside with family, having eaten dinner out there, when a yellowjacket (I believe; might have been some other wasp) landed on the remains of my steak. I was done eating and figured leaving it alone was better than trying to wave it off and have an annoyed yellowjacket at the table so I just watched it. It used its mandibles to cut out a shallow strip of meat, walking backwards as it went and rolling it like a piece of sod or carpeting. Then it snipped the end and flew off with its meat roll for parts unknown leaving a neat rectangle missing. Was kind of neat to watch.
I would never have the courage to do that! Well done.
The only time I ever saw my pest control guy actually leap back from a nest was a Bald Faced hornets’ nest situated in a similar way to the one you tackled. It was huge and hanging over my driveway. I called him to take care of it. He shared the following Interesting Facts About Bald Faced Hornets:
[ul]
[li]They have some kind of infrared sense, because they target the softest, warmest parts of your body to attack. They go for the back of the knees, inside of the elbows, neck and groin.[/li]
[li]They’re meat eaters and the way they attack you is to bite and hold on, then repeatedly sting you as they flop back and forth. You can get 8 or more stings from one Bald Faced hornet, and the bite site can easily become infected.[/li]
[li]Do not use a flashlight when tackling a nest. They will follow the light right back to you.[/li]
[li]They are much more aggressive than other hornets when provoked to sting. While yellow jackets will give off after about 100 feet, Bald Faced hornets will chase you for 400 feet or more.[/ul][/li]My pest control guy would not take on the nest during the day. Told me it would be gone in the morning. It was, and I was very glad.
I made sure to do it at night, when they were less active, and fortunately there was a nearby street-light.
A trick I heard was of covering a flashlight with red cellophane, allegedly it makes the light less attractive. Not sure I would want to experiment, though.
Again, fortunately the nest was reasonably small. Any larger, I’d have hired an exterminator I think. They are too vicious to take many chances with.
I think I have to backtrack on this. I’ve been taught that the BFH’s are aerial yellowjackets for so long that I took it as gospel, but according to this, the bald-faced hornets (Dolichovespula sp.) share a most recent common ancestor with the true hornets (Vespa sp.), not with the yellowjackets (Vespula sp.).
When I was a kid, about 8 or 9, I was wearing shorts and walked through a yellow jacket nest. The little buggers got me all over my leg. My mother put a baking soda poultice on me.
This guy is a veterinarian, who runs the Vet Ranch channel where they take care of abandoned animals. He also runs the Demolition Ranch channel, where he blows stuff up for fun (he’s from Texas). But this channel is his personal channel where he shows us his ranch and his family in the south of Texas. In this channel, he was having “fun” killing wasps that had nested in his kids’ playhouse:
This guy is a veterinarian, who runs the Vet Ranch channel where they take care of abandoned animals. He also runs the Demolition Ranch channel, where he blows stuff up for fun (he’s from Texas). But this channel is his personal channel where he shows us his ranch and his family in the south of Texas. In this channel, he was having “fun” killing wasps that had nested in his kids’ playhouse:
[/QUOTE]
Wow, how many channels does that guy have? Definitely an entertaining dude though, I watch Demolition Ranch quite a lot.
I got in a nest of yellow jackets when I was a kid, wasn’t fun, lots of stings.
Also ran over a nest on a riding mower, I managed to get it stopped but they were swarming so bad I ran before I turned it off. I just let it sit until sundown, they were swarming and attacking the mower constantly.
I ran a push mower over a nest. I got stung in the butt and bolted inside immediately. Fortunately, that was the only sting I managed to get. And that one was quite enough.
Yeah paper wasps are stinkers. A few years back, they decided that a good place to build their nest was under the overhang right outside our back door. You didn’t even have to disturb the nest for them to attack; they are very aggressive. Fortunately, I was working for a major pest control company at the time and had access to some very effective anti-wasp products.
I’m actually impressed with the consumer grade stuff I got at the store. I gave a nest-in-progress one quick squirt, and the wasps building it were basically in convulsions within a few seconds.
