Yellow Jackets-Question

Good post recently about yellow jackets. It raises a question. This is prime season for yellow jacket activity in the Southeast, and I did get stung a couple weeks ago while mowing by one of the little ones that hit and run so fast that you never see them. I haven"t been able to find their holes in the ground either. What if I were to spray myself all over with a good insect repellent right before mowing? And smearing it on my face? Would the smell be so bad that it would deter the critters and keep them at a distance? I always shower after mowing anyway, so I don"t care how bad I smell while mowing.

Does anyone know what tricks the Indians did?

(quoted from post at 15:15:02 08/31/11) Does anyone know what tricks the Indians did?

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They didn't run tractors with brushhogs :roll:

Think when you make em mad and they are gonna sting ya, they don't much care what you smell like...

Could be wrong tho,,,.

Only thing you could put on that might keep from being stung is a bee keepers suit and even then it is not 100% fool proof. The reason they attack is because they feel that you attacked them first and they are defending them self's

Diesel fuel is one thing I've found they don't like.

Once while doing some landscaping, I pulled a shrub out by the roots and found yellow jackets had a nest in the roots. They were not happy, and I got nailed 8 or 10 times.

I tried all sorts of stuff to pour down into the nest and nothing worked until I said to heck with the EPA and poured a couple gallons of diesel fuel down the hole. That killed them, and drove off what it didn't kill.

My Dad told a story about a great uncle of mine plowing with a walking plow and a team of horses about a hundred years ago. He plowed into a nest of yellow jackets and got stung so many times he dang near died.

So, to answer your question, you may try saturating yourself with the delicate aroma of diesel fuel and see if it works.

interesting question--the ones i have stirred up were so mad that i don't think repellant would deter them. i am planning to mow some tall stuff for a fenceline soon, was actually thinking about heavy shirt & beekeeper's hat as mornings get cooler--[wishing i had a cab tractor] some years ago ground bees got after me & I had quite a few stings. Had a slight allergic reaction--scary-I keep meds handy now, haven't had to test it yet.---good luck

seven dust in the hole, they'll be dead tomorrow

Dave, a couple of years ago I was working in a heavily overgrown area that was full of ticks. I wore long sleeves and jeans and soaked myself down with a DEET spray. Got into an area with some old lumber on it and here came the yellowjackets. Got hit in face, neck, and hands about 15 times. Finally made it to truck and safety. Few days later emptied 6 cans of wasp killer on the nest (from the safety of the truck). Saw no more of them, but sure did hurt for a while. Just my experience, but I would say they weren"t affected by the DEET at all.

If you spray yourself with something in hopes of scaring them away and they find out that you did, they will first take the can away from you and beat you with it, and then they will tie you to a tree and take turns on you, one at a time to make it more painful. They sit around tables underground in their holes drinking beer and talking about just exactly that, in hopes that someone will make their day. You might think that I'm joking, but I watched them pickup a couple of trash cans and the lids, and beat the snot out of my neighbor, dragged him over to a tree, tied him up, and waited for him to come to before they went to stinging him like head hunters from Africa, and they made his wife sit there and watch under the threat of stinging her too. They are mean, mean, mean. I even saw them set a fella's tractor on fire until he couldn't take their taunting anymore, came out of his house with a ball bat, and got jumped by some hiding on the edge of the roof. Do not mess with yellow jackets, because they WILL take you up on it. Neighborhood watch? They will even call your neighbors up on the phone and invite them out to join the party as well, which your neighbors will never forgive you for if they do.

I would keep an eye out for them, and see where they go. They are both ground and wood borers. Can be under the siding of your homeas easily underground. If you see them go underground, they will have at least two holes a few feet apart for escape. Wait until the sun is going down, because that somehow works as an alarm clock for them, and thats when they start winding down. Poison down all of the holes so that when they come and go, they track it into the next like a trojan poison horse.

Good luck.

Mark

Saturday bath-day,
keeps the bugs & skeeters away.
Eh!

;v)

Mike

Skunks will dig their nests out.

Too late if you run into a nest unexpectedly , but wonder why someone hasn't thought of.. if going into a suspected area build a cab with skeeter netting with roll up sides ???

Times I've been hit by them I don't think anything short of a full body suit of armour would be of any help.

Mike made about a 31% exxageration. They really are the most terrible but have heard hornets hurt worse

i've gotten into more of them than i care to think about,bad thing if one stings you you've been marked and the rest will come after you don't know of any repellents just leave as fast as you can

vitamin b helps as a repellant

The Indians got the Sh*t stung out of themselves most likely of course since there were no bathtubes in those days maybe the Bees wouldn't go around them

I think yellow jackets were inadvertantly introduced from Europe.
Anyone try the traps that use meat or something to lure them into a bottle they can't get out of?

LOL now is the time for you to figure out which of the local kids you really don't like and pay then to run yer tractor!

Rick

Thanks, MARK-IN, for a good storey !

I know several Indians I'll ask them next time I see them,sure they'll get a kick out of it.

YJ's are easily po ed and will sting in droves, but worse than them are these black bees that live in the ground. They look like the bumble bees. I stirred up a nest while mowing, got off and went back down with truck to investigate, dog followed and got hit many times, I drove a mile down the road before they left.

Yellowjackets?!?
Only one of the finest Pop- Jazz groups of all time!
Very well oiled! (i had to make it tractor related)!
Dave

Tractor with a cab and laugh at them!!!