# Yellow Jackets



## ReidRH

_*Today While Disking My Food Plots getting ready for the upcoming deer Season, I got into a Nest of yellow Jackets and got stung a few times. That got me to wondering what kind of Univited Guest have you run into while in the woods...*_


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## ReidRH

Oh by the Way It wouldn't be the first time I jerked my pants off in the woods to rid myself of Fire Ants Either Dancing like a Bonafide Fool LOL!


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## Mattuk

ReidRH said:


> Oh by the Way It wouldn't be the first time I jerked my pants off in the woods to rid myself of Fire Ants Either Dancing like a Bonafide Fool LOL!










Sorry Richard! I've heard fire ants aren't that much fun!?


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## Helmet_S

it is funny how fast a man, no matter who is around, can get naked and run for water when yellowjackets attack. Man they are nasty little creatures and I am sure their only reason they are on this planet is to make a fool out of a man when he is just trying to work hard. I would rather run throw stones at a hornets nest than get caught up in another batch of yellowjackets.

Lucky for me I have been alone or with close friends when I have run into them and the getting ripping off clothing and heading for water wasn't a big deal.

Another thing I have only ever run into them around water or with water near by. Not sure if that is the way it always is or just in my neck of the woods.


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## Mattuk

Do you call wasps yellow jacket's? Over here hornets are much bigger than wasps.


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## On a call

ReidRH said:


> Oh by the Way It wouldn't be the first time I jerked my pants off in the woods to rid myself of Fire Ants Either Dancing like a Bonafide Fool LOL!


I was there too, once. Was fishing in Florida off shore at my parents place. Standing there fishing for crappie at night. My foot and lower leg started to feel strange..though they were mosquitos. By the time I realized it was too late. I actually almost went into shock. Had I not taken Benedril I may have had to go to the hospital.

Those SOB's are hard to see and hard to kill.


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## Antlerz22

ReidRH said:


> _*Today While Disking My Food Plots getting ready for the upcoming deer Season, I got into a Nest of yellow Jackets and got stung a few times. That got me to wondering what kind of Univited Guest have you run into while in the woods...*_


Ran full speed into a dark maroon bodied mahogany wasps nest, with my chest that was hanging off a branch in an evergreen type tree. I found instant overdrive and mach III, but it WAS too late by that point. LOL


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## hassell

Mattuk said:


> Do you call wasps yellow jacket's? Over here hornets are much bigger than wasps.


 Your correct there.


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## On a call

hassell said:


> Your correct there.


'
Yes wasps tend to be ground nesters although there are some the do nest up off the gound but hornets are larger and meaner !!

Not a nest you want to throw rocks at or hit with sticks....Run Forest Run


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## Antlerz22

To answer the yellow jackets specifically however --- this one takes the cake. I was 11ish and mowing my grandmothers back yard, when I spied a yellowjacket go into a hole in her yard in the grass. I knew enough that there was a nest in there but that was about the extent of my knowledge considering the bigger picture yet to come. I decided as it was hot, to go in get a glass of iced tea and in the process leave the running push mower over the exact hole the yellow jacket went in (mowers back then didnt have a bar that had to be held to stay running). I figured the blades would suck them all up and chop them to nothing and enjoy my tea inside while cooling off. After i went back out--its important to know i had on short pants and an untucked t-shirt and was barefoot. When I moved the mower off the hole and started to finish mowing, they came out with a vengeance unimagined. Many went up my back and under the t-shirt, some went for my feet as they were passing the hole by now. It had to have been a sight to see, I was all over that yard and I promise nobody would have been able to catch me. I was stripping off clothes as well. Needless to say the mower stayed where it was at till it ran out of gas.I am a graduate of the school of hard knocks and I made an A here--I promise!


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## Antlerz22

hassell said:


> Your correct there.


A wasp is to a hornet what a deer is to an elk so to speak, same basic style but different size--however both hurt immensely!


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## hassell

If you want to keep wasps and yellow jackets off your deck etc., hang a paper bag up so it looks like a paper hornets nest.

The little open nests that you see under your eaves-trough are yellow jackets or the little closed ones are wasps.

The balloon shaped ones that you see in the forest and in loose hay etc. are hornets which also build their nests in the ground.


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## On a call

Never saw a hornet nest in the ground but I know they head that way near the first frost to winter over. You forgot mud dabbers they too are a hornet that build mud nests incasing eggs with food to feed the larva. They have an differant body style..head, abdomen, and the the thorax is connect by a skinny thingy ??

Never heard of hanging a bag to ward off wasps...but I sounds like a winner.

I remember a duck blind being loaded with wasps one day getting it ready for season...I was a youngen.

22....you took the cake. I did the same thing...but I saw em and headed outta dodge but they were plenty upset !


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## knapper

I was down in Florida playing army in the swamps and kicked up a nest of sweat bees, I was on point and heard stories of the bees getting some of the ones behind me. I was silent about that incendent.


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## Helmet_S

Mattuk said:


> Do you call wasps yellow jacket's? Over here hornets are much bigger than wasps.


You are correct that hornets are way bigger than yellowjackets. wasp, yellowjackets, and mud dabbers here are just about the same size and kind of similar shape but with different colored bodies. Hornets are probably 3-4 timse their size and pack a way bigger punch.

The problem that I have with yellowjackets is that they come at you in high numbers and sting until they can't sting anymore. They get into your clothes and it is darn near impossible to get them out without stripping down naked or close to it. I would say that if they had higher numbers in their nest I would compare them to killer bees.

I have been tangled up with hornets a couple of times and yes the bites/stings hurt way worse but they weren't nearly as mean as the yellowjackets. they got me a few times and then when I was at whatever distance away from their nest that they were satisfied with they left me alone.

By the way I have seen hornets nest in the gound and in the trees. I have found that they will use empty animal tunnels/dens as homes sometimes. I am not sure why some do the gound and some do the big paper nest in trees but I have seen both.


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## Mattuk

Our hornets are far more peaceful than wasps but still pack a punch though I have never been stung by a hornet, wasps plenty of times!


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## On a call

I have only once...but I remember that and stay away.

Another one we have and I am not sure of the classification is the bumble bee I large more round and hairy yellow and black guy. They tend to cut holes in wood to nest in a single bee per hole about a 1/4 inch in diameter and a couple inches deep. I beleave they are actually called carpenter bees/wasp ?


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## Antlerz22

On a call said:


> I have only once...but I remember that and stay away.
> 
> Another one we have and I am not sure of the classification is the bumble bee I large more round and hairy yellow and black guy. They tend to cut holes in wood to nest in a single bee per hole about a 1/4 inch in diameter and a couple inches deep. I beleave they are actually called carpenter bees/wasp ?


Actually there is a variant of the bumblebee that is a wood borer. They are darker in color and a bit more compact, as for their exact name im not sure but they are very closely related. And look practically the same except for what I mentioned. They bore quite deeply and make tunnels, I once found an established nest of these guys in a gazeebo in DeFuniak Springs FL while on vacation as a boy. I could hear them buzzing etc...throughout the structure--especially if I banged it!


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## On a call

22...did you put your ear over the hole to hear the buzzzzzzz







....yikes


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## Antlerz22

On a call said:


> 22...did you put your ear over the hole to hear the buzzzzzzz
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ....yikes


Either way would have had the same results I'm sure. Another time in the winter, I saw a yellow jacket nest in the ground opened up by some critter--either a raccoon or opossum or something. The paper from the nest was in layers and pieces of it were laying around the open ground. They were there alright but thank God it was cold enough to render them basically flightless even in the sun that was hitting them. After my aforementioned fiasco, I had that queasy feeling in my stomach initially as I hadnt yet ascertained their cold dilemma, after I "unfroze" I backed away quietly and quickly, forgetting my hunting trip and started looking down very carefully-I was a believer then and have been ever since. Id rather miss some game ahead of me, than to step on a snake, wasp nest or the likes. (My PhD is showing isnt it?)


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## On a call

yes it is.

I would bet your found the remains of a skunks work. They love wasp nests. Not saying that was what did the handy work..but I would lay money it was.


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## Antlerz22

On a call said:


> yes it is.
> 
> I would bet your found the remains of a skunks work. They love wasp nests. Not saying that was what did the handy work..but I would lay money it was.


Im sure thats possible, but whatever it was also knew winter was the time for pickings because of the lethargic nature of the wasps. School of hard knocks works for critters as well I would imagine.


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## ReidRH

We have Hornets, Bees, Wasps and JACKETS the yellow jacket is about a quarter the size of a hornet but four times as MEAN and will chase you as long as they can see you! Once disturbed the sting anything that moves I was fortunate to only get stung a couple of times I will be Looking for this nest to exterminate it. Skunks Love Yellow Jacket Larvae! Their fur protects them from the Stings and they will dig up the nest and eat Larvae and all the grown yellow jackets they can catch on their fur! There are Several Kinds of Bumble bees in our area some Large and some smaller Usually the Smaller the Meaner :~(


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## On a call

See, there is good use for skunks ! send in the skunks.


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## El Gato Loco

I sure don't miss all of those mean stinging bastards that we had back in Missouri. I am sure there are some here in CO, but I have only seen mud daubers up here at 8400 ft and they never cause any issues. We open up all 3 outside doors and they just pass right thru while we work.


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## Mattuk

Chris Miller said:


> I sure don't miss all of those mean stinging bastards that we had back in Missouri.


There's some hate and experiences in there!


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## youngdon

Should we ever have the pleasure of hunting together please remind me to keep my distance A22.


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## Antlerz22

youngdon said:


> Should we ever have the pleasure of hunting together please remind me to keep my distance A22.


Hey, I've a PhD in SOHK, rarely does anything escape my eye--literally.


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