HORNETS!!!!

Depending on the size and shape of the opening, a well placed shop-vac will work wonders.

I used this with yellow jackets that built in the wall of my house. About an hour before sunset I propped the hose just below the opening, fired it up, then went inside the house and banged on the wall where the nest was. I got most of them within a few minutes but left the shop-vac running until dark just to get the returning workers.

> Depending on the size and shape of the opening, a well placed shop-vac will work wonders.
>
> I used this with yellow jackets that built in the wall of my house. About an hour before sunset I propped the hose just below the opening, fired it up, then went inside the house and banged on the wall where the nest was. I got most of them within a few minutes but left the shop-vac running until dark just to get the returning workers.

So, after you got them in there, you reversed the ShopVac and blew them into boxes and sold them to surveyors to protect their robots?!

STEPHEN, YOU'RE A GENIUS!!!!!!:clap:

Got stung yesterday pulling weeds out of the flowerbed. That always pisses me off.

I've always waited until sundown to move in for a kill. They "roost" at night and gather all over the nest (presumably to keep the nest warm).

Get 'em while their all at home. Any insecticide should do the trick. Just like "deadly force" hand-gun training...empty the clip aerosol can.

Ask the little lady to clean it up...mine's always telling me what a lousy job I do with cleaning. Best left to someone t hat is good at it.

Reminds me of the time I was pounding a hub under a tree and felt something hit my arm. I didn't think anything of it at the time so went back to pounding. Felt something strike my arm again the next time right as the hammer hit the hub. Ok, that was a bit strange I thought. One more swing of the hammer and :-X that one hurt! Stung me right on the neck. I threw the hammer, said a few choice words, stood up and was looking right into a big angry bald-faced hornet nest that had been a couple feet above my head the whole time. I don't think they liked the vibrations or maybe just the quick movements. After running away (probably like a little girl), I recall us pulling the truck right up under that thing and coming up with some contraption using a lathe, some wire flags and a paint can. Don't ask. Agitated them more than anything else. Sorry, there is no point to this story, this post just brought back the old memory.

This year, my daughter and I were cleaning up the yard, when all of a sudden the wind started to blow. She yells, in that tone of voice that means business, RUN!! BEES! :-O I had just caught a glimpse of a very large mass of black looking things and heard a lot of buzzing. It was enough to get me moving.

We take off running with a cloud of ball faced hornets chasing us. My daughter is a fast track runner, but I know from experience what's in store for us if we don't get to shelter. I start to catch up to her and notice a dozen hornets right on her tail. I yell to her "RUN GIRL RUN!! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" I can hear a bunch of hornets behind me.

I seriously thought that we were in big danger.

We continue to run for about 400 yards before I felt safe enough to stop and look back. Luckily the main swarm blew away with the wind and the ones chasing us gave up to join their buddies.

Never had anything similar happen to me before. Someone up wind must have knocked down a large nest.

This reminded me of a story an old party chief told me:

He had a weasel getting into his chicken coop and harassing the chickens on an almost nightly basis. One night, he heard the shenanigans going on out back. He woke his wife, handed her a flashlight and he grabbed his 12 gauge. This was one smart weasel; the flashlight would shine a beam into the coop, the weasel's eyes a glow, shotgun barrel to follow and poof, the weasel darts out of the coop to the outside corner. The flashlight would shine a beam onto the outside corner and poof, back in the coop it went. This goes on for a minute or two and finally the shotgunner says "when he goes back inside, shine the light and when he comes out, I'll blast him!" Sure enough, the weasel returned to the same spot outside the coop... BOOM! Dead weasel. It seems the weasel had become stuck to the chicken wire, all tugging on his little paws and tail were no help that night. "Well I guess I'll have to clean this up after work tomorrow."

Well the next day after work, Ol'Gunny returned to the scene to clean up what he couldn't the night before. It seems that the meat bees had moved in and had begun without him. "Well, I guess I'll hit em with this can of (aerosol o' death) and get it tomorrow"

The next day, Gunny returns home and finds his weasel still stuck to the fence and most of the meat bees pretty well dead, making a conical pile of poisoned bees directly under the dead weasel's carcass. A few hearty meat bees remained, so gunny hit it one more time with the (aerosol o' death) and left the mess for one more day.

On the next day, gunny came home and checked on his friends. All of his chickens were staggering around as if they were drunk. They had eaten the pile of poisoned meat bees. In the end, the weasel had won, claiming all but one Rhode Island Red.

I was feeling a bit vengeful so I left the sawdust in the shop-vac. Let's just say that after an hour on spin cycle in the vac they were a bit worse for wear.:-D

Brush-hogging at mother-in-laws, practically ran face first into a bald face hornet nest hanging from a chestnut tree. Part of the nest fell. Didn't know it happened until my nest pass and saw them swarming on the fallen nest. Threw the tractor in fifth and took off. Got my spray out and pulled up in my explorer with the window cracked to hit the remaining nest. Didn't realize my back window was down.

It is amazing how fast you can find yourself alone cutting brush after someone discovers wasp, hornet and such.

At first sight somebody yells bees or attempts to and then everyone takes a few steps to get some speed in an opening and immediately takes a right angle into the brush.

The don't fly very fast or very far thru brush.

Had a nasty surprise when I opened the access cover to this benchmark. One of them stung me, but I got my revenge.

Couple years ago I was brushing line with a newer helper. He was running the chainsaw a few feet in front of me when I got hit in the arm, next thing we know we were both getting swarmed. Being a new guy he shut the saw off, but then dropped it as we ran out the 550' to the road, as they chased us most of the way out. Had to go to town to the store to get a few cans of spray so we could at least get the equip out (NEVER DROP THE EQUIP!) Turns out the huge nest of ground hornets (or yellow jackets) was exactly on-line where he was standing with the saw. We had to root them out, and give them 3 cans of Raid. Had one spare can, and good then cause a smaller next was in a log right next to line about 100 feet further in. That one was a tough 80d day in the cedar swamp, but got the 1320 done.

I've had that happen on 2 other occasions in the past, hidden in a log on-line in the woods, and another in town a ground nest right next the the corner I was looking for. Learned my lesson on that one when I dropped the shovel, but grabbed the metal detector on my run out.

Now it is ticks really bad. Ain't parts of this job grand?

Love the dead wasp near the bottom of the can. Kind of like a hunter standing over his kill.

> ......in town, a ground nest right next the the corner I was looking for. Learned my lesson on that one when I dropped the shovel, but grabbed the metal detector on my run out.

I was working with a new chainman, back in the 70's, his first day on the job. I was kicking at the ground, looking for this property corner when the guy starts going um, um, um..... Then we started getting hit by yellow jackets. We go running off; I had to tear my t-shirt off. I asked him what he was stammering about and he said he saw them coming out of the ground, but couldn't remember my name!

> Now it is ticks really bad. Ain't parts of this job grand?

At least we always remember the GOOD times! 😉

B-)

Found a huge paper nest out surveying late in the fall, big as a basketball. Thinking they were all done in by the frosty nights, I cut the nest down and took it home to hang in a window. The next morning I'm coming down the stairs rubbing the sleep from my eyes and I can't believe what I see, hundreds if not thousands of the buggers covering just about every surface of the house. Shop vac took care of it and I didn't get nailed. Apparently they were just in a cold induced stupor and warming them up in the house brought out the zombie hornets.

Later on a huge windstorm blew that window right out of it's frame and sent it crashing to the floor, where it landed squarely on that hornet nest, completely crushing the nest, but saving the window from shattering. :-X

dormant nests

Similar thing happened when I was in grade school.

We had been banned from the merry-go-round because someone discovered a softball size nest on the underneath side. I guess we were awaiting the old janitor to get rid of it. I'm sure he wasn't in a hurry.

The next morning was a frosty morning. My buddies and I walked to school and we got there early. One of us (not me) got up under there and pulled the nest out. Cool.

When the school doors finally opened up we danced in to Mrs. Murray's 4th. Grade room as conquering heroes with our spoils. The teacher put it up on the shelf in back and was going to use it for science class that afternoon. The shelf in back by the cloak room was directly above the radiator...

When we came back in after first recess the pricipal, the teacher and janitor were all nursing a couple of squalling classmates in the hall. Susan Townsend's eyes were swollen shut and one side of her face was twice its size. The doors to the classroom were shut and the janitor was preparing to enter the quarantined area with a 3 gallon galvanized hand pump sprayer. He looked worried.

We had class in the cafeteria. That afternoon after school we noticed the room had all its windows open to the outdoors. The next day it still smelled like insecticide.

I bet the janitor wished he had taken care of it while it was still under the merry-go-round. :snarky:

In the sunny South, we have our share of the many varieties of wasps, bees and hornets.
Once, I found ( or, they found me ) a yellow jacket nest in a fence corner post. The little ole lady sitting on the front porch cackled when I did the bee sting dance and run. She said, "I knew them bees was in that post!" I thought to myself, "then why in the heck did you not say something?!"
I have found ground bees on line, hornet nests on tree limbs as they fell to the ground from a fresh bank blade cut, red wasps everywhere, little Ginny wasps hanging on tree limbs, bumble bees and honey bees. To me, the yellow jackets hurt the worst and longest. Double ouch!!
I hate it when they start stinging after I stir them up. I wished my schondstedt had a bee detector setting and a wood post finder setting.....:-D

You reminded me of one of the funniest things I ever saw in the field. Much too long ago I was rodman helping a party chief drive a rebar, right through a nest of yellow jackets in the ground. Now this has happened more than once to me, but this time my party chief was standing just so that when they came boiling up out of that hole in the ground with the first whack, they flew straight up his pant leg and filled his trousers. Before I knew it he was ripping his pants off and screaming bloody murder. He then proceeded run half naked right into a tree and knock himself silly. I still about pee myself when I think about that one. 😀

dormant nests

Merry-Go-Round...what is that? Is it that large plastic thing full of balls?

I remember hunting around for teeth in the sand below the merry-go-round (not mine).
Fun Fun!

I thought all yellow jacket nests were built on-line or near line.
You mean there are yellow jackets in other places too?