Brush cutting and bees

Well today I decided to trim up the trails going to where I plan on archery hunting next month. Everything went well for about an hour, than I decided to make one trail a little wider. Went about 20 or 30 feet in the taller brush along the trail and must have hit some sort of bee nest. It was either near the he ground, or in the thick brush. In a matter of seconds they were swarming around me pretty bad. Only got stung once under the brim of my hat near my temple. I'm not allergic so not a big deal. I hey didn't look like wasps or hornets. Looked smaller like honey bees. That was a first for me after cutting the trail for years !

Yellow jackets. Mean little guys. I've found 4 nests in my yard and the next door neighbors so far this year.

I have run across these bees. Like you say they are a little smaller than a honey bee. They live in the ground, and get real peed off when you run over their home. I had a hive in a field I disked. They were in the same place every year. I would pickup some tall weeds and home them around my head, and go for it. They would come out, and buzz around the exhaust stack until I got out of their range. Worst I got from them was getting stung three times, the first time I encountered them The sting stayed with me until the next day. I have a bee head net now if I find bees, but by the time I find them it's too late for the net. Stan

Hit some in the grass with a rotary hoe once. They started to divebomb into my back and into the gas tank on the old WD until I got far enough out of range. Which takes awhile in 2nd gear...

Probably yellow jackets. Mean little devils. Lucky only one got you.

A man in our area was bush hogging some years back, was attacked by yellow jackets and did not survive.

These are fun size little guys that can build a pretty big multi layer nest like a white faced hornet does in a tree, only difference is, they're typically on the basement floor, under the surface, or in logs, side wall in dead furrow, recently worked soil smack dab in the middle of it somewhere, and probably other places I have not found them yet.

Usually the first pass is free, but when you return, they're still swarming and you run into them. One has to keep a sharp eye out when operating in these conditions, you can detect them bumbling around when enough come out, but most times you just don't see them, they are small, and easy to miss. The sting itself.... while nothing like a brown paper wasp sting, is still darned annoying, especially if you get a couple dozen ! Worse then their sting, is the week long itch of the sting!

I think it's fair to warn anyone in eastern woodland kinds of conditions to be highly aware of the below if running an open station tractor or one with a questionable cab. Always be on the lookout for these ground hornets, yellow jackets, or the white faced hornet. The latter, are often times obscured in larger bushes, trees and elevated places in trees where you may run smack into their big gray multi layer paper nests while working on the edges of your cut, widening etc. I came face to face with one a size or 2 bigger than a basketball in '04. Had I bumped that darned bush while mowing,(same one still there today) really hard to imagine a nest that size finding you and getting there pheromone on you. It would be beyond comprehension, those things are nothing to tangle with when disturbed. They are vicious and unrelenting at that point. I keep a sharp eye out for these at all times and avoid disturbing edges unless I've checked them thoroughly first.

The ground ones, how many darned times I've just stood right on their hole and not known it, disturbed them in logs and not known it, ran the rotary cutter over them over small starting to decay logs, or soil that had been worked the year before and so on.

Opened up a big one when clearing with a dozer once, there were a lot of them, but I weaseled out of it, they went after the machine a little, but never got to me, and I could see them clearly, more then I have ever seen from any other nest. I just kept going away from them looked back to see the swarm.

Few years back, cutting a small tree down, standing on a golf ball size hole at the base, not the best move LOL !
I lost count at over 3 dozen stings. I had put the saw down running, had a bunch on me and by the time I cleared myself of them, they got me but good. And just a little while later, I sought revenge with my front end loader bucket. I got them but good, next day only a few stragglers, 2nd day were gone. I'm not allergic and their sting is almost tolerable compared to others, but it's still a pretty good ouch just the same. I hate the initial surprise, feel that pinch like sting, then the rush to find them, get away and clear yourself of all the ones clung to you. Now I know where to look for them I look at my last pass, see if anything's bumbling about, check logs, holes and anything suspect. Also mow in good daylight conditions, dusk and or low light conditions makes it hard to see them. They always get me on the return pass next to the previous one. Usually it's just one that gets you, then you look, see where they are and get away from them. I have batted a few of them away by swatting them while driving, kept me from getting stung too. They'll only go so far in pursuit, the white faced hornet on the other hand would seemingly follow you to the ends of the earth, you won't shake them for any reason if one gets you, they are bad news.

I have found that wearing a little heavier clothing, full tube socks, higher upper types of boots/shoes, these little ones can't sting through it well. They'll still find a place to nail you but I have removed dozens of them by hand with gloves on, they cling and close their wings, must be to sit on you and sting you multiple times until you eject them from the game so to speak LOL ! The cotton tube socks under your pants gives you a 2nd layer and that has saved me many stings, that otherwise would have went through the pants.

I'm still due to get nailed this year, but have not found any so far as of yet. The later in the summer the worse they will be, nest will be at its peak.

I’ve hit so many over the years that this point I just assume I’m going to hit at least one nest everytime I mow. At one point I was going to buy a bee suit simply for brish hogging,but once I started mowing most of the fields for hay its less of an issue.

Probably like said Yellow Jackets,what you don't want to get into is a nest of those big Yellow Ground Hornets they'll light you up.