Around central Minnesota mostly and I have never experienced bees like this they are everywhere. Extra angry too, Anywhere else??ÿ
The huge numbers of bees is directly attributable to the giant mosquitoes that drain all the cattle, sheep, hogs, chickens and goats before carrying the carcasses home to share with the rest of their family.?ÿ Eliminating the flower-eaters provides more food for the bees.
They always get mean around Aug/Sept all over.?ÿ If you step on one the others
will smell it and pick on you all day.
Might suggest running a bee smoker all day. Your party chiefs may have other methods.
We're coming off two years of record breaking wet weather here in NC.?ÿ I'm not sure if the bees are worse than they usually are, but they're definitely worse than they've been in a couple of years.?ÿ I started noticing it over a month ago.?ÿ?ÿ
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It only took 4 years of surveying but a wasp finally got me about a week and a half ago.?ÿ I was kicking around in a leaf pile to set a pin and there must have been a nest buried in there.?ÿ Anyway, I've only been stung 2 or 3 times in my life (including the recent one), so no, I'm not seeing a bigger problem than usual. ?????ÿ
Did a boundary in the mountains of SW Virginia in thick brushy cover around mid August, and there was literally a yellowjacket nest in the ground every 6 ft.?ÿ We gave up for the day at one point, because we just couldn't get any work done.?ÿ Had a guy on the crew allergic to them.?ÿ We came back a couple weeks later, and skunks had found them and dug up every nest.?ÿ They were all over the place!?ÿ I loved skunks that day!
Why blame the bees when wasps are what your issue is?
Really, it's anybody, or thing with a pointy-hurty thing, that comes out of their behind, that I am against.
And, that my friends, is our enemy!
N
At what temperature do you set your Traeger to end up with tender, gut moist bees? Apple pellets?
I couldn't resist.
JA, PLS, SoCal
Yellowjackets are my worst enemy where I work. Give me a snake any day! Been stung on three occasions this summer with a total of twelve stings.
@350rocketmike I agree.?ÿ I have shrubs (flowers) planted in my yard to attract bees (honeybees and bumblebees) and hummingbirds.?ÿ The shrubs have been there for over 5 years within a couple of feet of my patio and I haven't been stung, even though fly around me all the time.?ÿ Bees don't want to sting you, they die when they insert their stinger.
Now wasps, hornets and yellow jackets are whole other creature.?ÿ My wife was walking across a parking lot yesterday when a yellow jacket flew in and stung her on the arm.?ÿ Wasps etc. don't die when they sting, they can sting over and over again.
Andy
@jitterboogie I'm right there with you, bees are cool but yellowjackets are the devil.
There are some local canyons about 15 minutes from my house where I ride* my motorcycle; my gear includes a one-piece leather race suit and neck gator. I've caught a couple of yellowjackets in the gator and every now and then one of the unlucky bastards makes his way down the collar of the suit and settles on my shoulder. They frantically zap me until I can pull off and shake my arm out of the suit and release them. It feels like an electrical shock when they sting. It really harshes the vibe when you're in the zone surfing asphalt... don't they understand that??
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*break traffic laws and pretend I'm invincible
Once upon a time (all true stories begin with those words) when I was about eight years of age I acquired a honeybee sting, a bumblebee sting and a wasp sting over the course of about three or four days.?ÿ I was taking swimming lessons at the time with most of the kids in my school.?ÿ All three welts showed up well in a swimming suit.?ÿ I think some of the other kids thought I had some sort of disease.
Once upon a time at high school, one of our mates arrived in the morning with his left arm stuck firmly up the front of his jersey. He maintained that position all day, performing all the necessary duties. At the end of the day he revealed what he was hiding - the night before, he'd been stung by a bee on his hand, and it had swelled up and now looked like a fully blown rubber glove, like this:
My first year surveying I was running a instrument for a little company, just one crew. We werre out in the middle of the woods running traverse the day after a "enjoyable"?ÿ evening at the bar. All of the sudden I told my Party Chief I had to get back to the truck for some toilet paper. Well, did?ÿ not make it, backed up on a tree just in time and wouldn't you know it, right over a nest in the ground. Suffice it to say all work stopped as I was running through the woods, pants around my ankles, trying to wipe my butt with my t shirt at the same time swatting at the wasps. . .?ÿ Once all was clear I hear this soft voice over the radio, " Ummmm, you ok buck ? "
@flga-2-2
Oh, you guys!?ÿ Sharper than tacks.
P.S.?ÿ I'm impressed with your shift of wit, which is the opposite of a wift of shit.
@rochs01?ÿ
It is true, even if you relocate the sent will piss off other wasps until it is washed off.?ÿ
I once got chased down the street by some wasps and had a helpful onlooker encourage me to take off my shirt in order to expose them to my pheromones which would scare them off. She also pointed out that they were wasps and not bees that were chasing me.?ÿ