Yellowjacket wasps

[Violent Hippie]

I just spent the last couple days archery hunting my local area here in the Northern Sierra and have NEVER seen so many wasps. No exaggeration here guys. The forest and meadows were literally buzzing until the sun went completely down . I had wasps crawling on me and buzzing me all day. No stings but odd and annoying. I've bow hunted the same region for 6 or so years and never seen anything like it. Any of you guys having similar experiences ?

 

[AK Troutbum]

The Yellow Jackets here in Southcentral Alaska were bad this summer also. We had a pretty warm/dry summer which usually makes for less mosquito's and more wasps.

 

[Muley Buck]

Yes! The "meat bees" are awful this year! You can't even pull out something to eat without be inundated be the damn things! They bite and sting too, if provoked. I hate those damn things. They are the main reason I hunt up higher in elevation, they thin out a lot the higher you go. I found if you are above 8,000 ft they are pretty much non existent. Then again it may be regional. Either way, did I mention I hate those f#%&@*$ things!

 

[IdahoElk]

Bees some years are so bad while you're cutting up an Elk it's actually a concern,getting stung grabbing meat bags is no fun.

 

[KMBH]

Anecdotal, but seems all bee and wasp populations are up this year in this state. At least, everywhere I have been.

 

[5MilesBack]

They had a story on the news here in CO the other day about them. There was a retirement home that made the residents get rid of their hummingbird feeders because they were a major attractant for the wasps and yellow jackets, which have been really bad this year. They said they were bad this year because of all the moisture. We haven't seen that much moisture at my house this year and I've seen quite a few of them. The odd thing is.......I haven't caught a single one in my trap this summer.

I look at them as a fond memory every year after I get home from a trip and I have the rack sitting out and the yellow jackets swarm onto the skull. And they do love those hummingbird feeders. But they're a pain in base camp when I'm drinking my A&W and they sneak into the can when I'm not looking.

 

[ryanbauman23]

Yes, worst year I have seen. Everyone in my group got bit at least once this weekend. Makes gutting and skinning a deer a real adventure.

 

[toddb]

Guess we need the bees for pollination , but your hunt is going to go bad if one stings you going down your throat. I will now ask my hunting buddies if I can practice a tracheotomy on them before hunt in case need arises on mountain top.

 

[elkbowkevin]

When camping: ALWAYS ALWAYS TAP YOUR CANNED OR BOTTLED BEVERAGE BEFORE TAKING A DRINK, YOU'LL HEAR EM BUZZ.

OK guys, here's also an Old school farmer/camper trick.

When your getting ready to go out hunting/camping. When at the store stocking up on supplies. Also buy a package of the cheapest fattiest bacon you can find.
Then when at your camp walk 100 yards UP WIND or away from the camp. Slit the package open about 1" on one end. Then tie or lay it in a tree branch. Tied on or suspended keeps critters from pulling it off (obviously you dont do this in thick bear territory)

This will attract the meat bees AWAY from your camp and you'll notice a significantly less number of them in your camp.

Simply drop the rest of the bacon in the fire night before, when getting ready to leave & burn the rest, or toss it in the garbage the night before you leave.

 

[elkbowkevin]

Also you can pack an extra naglene bottle with a freezer baggie of 50/50 black and cayenne pepper.
Sprinkle this on the meat while field dressing, and drag deer away from gut pile. And once in bags. sprinkle some on the bags, this will deter alot of the bees and the flies for sure.

I did this for a couple guys that had killed a cow near me a few years back. The bees stayed away from the cow as they were 1/4-ing it up, and were nearly all on the gut pile. The guys were amazed.

 

[5MilesBack]

OK guys, here's also an Old school farmer/camper trick.

When your getting ready to go out hunting/camping. When at the store stocking up on supplies. Also buy a package of the cheapest fattiest bacon you can find.
Then when at your camp walk 100 yards UP WIND or away from the camp. Slit the package open about 1" on one end. Then tie or lay it in a tree branch. Tied on or suspended keeps critters from pulling it off (obviously you dont do this in thick bear territory)

This will attract the meat bees AWAY from your camp and you'll notice a significantly less number of them in your camp.

Yes, except I will also be wherever the bacon is hanging as well. And that throwing it away line.......I don't even know what language you're speaking there.

 

[elkbowkevin]

Ha,, ya I dig the bacon too 5miles.
thats why I said, cheapest fattiest bacon.. not the good Hemplers apple smoked natural cured, or my own home made stuff. Which is awesome by the way...

 

[5MilesBack]

Ha,, ya I dig the bacon too 5miles.
thats why I said, cheapest fattiest bacon..

But.......that's the best stuff. In my best Homer drool.......Argggggggggggg!

 

[AK Troutbum]

Here's kind of a funny story, but not really for me. Years ago my dad and I were sitting around in camp one evening drinking a couple beers and we would occasionally have yellow jackets come in and buzz us. My dad says to me, "you need to keep an eye on those wasps 'cause they'll get right inside your beer if you're not paying attention". In my head, I was like, "yeah, whatever old man ". My very next sip of beer ended with me, very quickly, spitting out a live, very upset, yellow jacket. I was lucky that I didn't get stung and even though I was in my late teens and knew everything there was to know, I learned something new that day. The old man still had something to teach me.


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[MarlinMark]

http://t0.gstatic.com/shopping?q=tb...DqZ3yXdCp8VXwBn3FyMWU3ytg0Q9sOCOGN69&usqp=CAY

 

[MarlinMark]

Forget all the old trap tricks etc. I have tried them all. These traps work. I just recently returned from Antelope camp in South eastern Oregon. It was bad. I eventually had 4 of these traps and 3 of the same brand Fly Traps. It was incredible how many hornets these things killed.

 

[Blinginpse]

Last fall I had a dairy cow calve. That morning I was getting her in after I had milked. Her and her calf had dropped on the east side of. Hill in a small patch of woods. I was on a 4wheeer just kind of easing them along.

I stopped in the woods just letting them take their time coming out into the field to the barn when I got stung on the arm I smacked it and killed it then I got swarmed by a freakin hive

I jammed the throttle hauling ass out the woods out the top of the hill Away from the cow and calf and the whole time I was getting stung while swatting with my left hand holding the throttle all it would go with the other. After about 75 yards from the woods I was slowing down and I started gettin stung again in my shirt and pants

I jumped of the moving 4wheeler falling down them gettin trying to run peeling my shirt of and kicking my muck boots off peeling my pants and underwear off. Before was all over with I was stark naked on top Of a wide open hill overlooking the barn and my aunts house.

Bees had ate me up. Stung 27 times in all. Luckily I'm not allergic to them but needless to say I was sore and hurting most of that day. I'm not sure if nest was in the ground in a tree limb over hangin me or Wat but them lil yellow bastards had no remorse on me. After that day I stayed clear of them small patch of woods.




I will say it seems some hives aren't that bad and don't bother you but other times it seemed some hives are very aggressive. Could be me though



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[Davebuech]

ouch!

 

[W.D. Crawford]

Ha,, ya I dig the bacon too 5miles.
thats why I said, cheapest fattiest bacon.. not the good Hemplers apple smoked natural cured, or my own home made stuff. Which is awesome by the way...

Hemplers, mmmmmmm!!

 

[elkbowkevin]

Dang bling,, thats was a 12 on a 10 for the bad day scale for sure. Aggro bees are no fun thats for sure.
I had a wasp hit my in the cheek once while on my crotch rocket in traffic. I had my shield up cuz it was blazing hot that afternoon, that summ-ich got me 4 times in the face by the time I got stopped and peeled it off my face. By the time I got home the 6 blocks away, my cheek under my eye was about 4 times larger.
another bee story.
dad and I were out hunting once and came across an old road sign on a loggin road that had a bald head hornet nest about the size of a basketball on the back side of it. Well, dad and I had the dumb idea of doing a "drive by" rocking on it.
So about 100 yards out I found a great chuckin rock about the size of my fist and we commenced to planning.
The dealio was that dad would drive by all slow like, and I would be hangin out the window and put a wollup on that metal sign with the rock.
Well what happened next could have been a HUGE disaster.
When we were about 10' from that sign, I heaved that rock and dead centered that sign.
After that the whole nest came loose and plummeted to the ground and then.....I dunno about a bazillion VERY angry hornets came up in a fighting mad cloud of black and yellow.
Still hanging out that window like a dumb-ass, in wonder and amazement at what transpired, It finally hit me. HEY STUPID< THERE ARE a bunch of angry bees coming at you!
Well dad leaned over and yanked me back in the rig by my back levis pocket ripping 1/2 of it off, and I then had to roll up the window BY HAND CRANK-
By the time I got the window up there were about 5 buzz stingers inside the rig with us and dad and I doing our best to swat em with our hats. Dad then got his thoughts in order, he punched it to get away from the mob.
In a hi-ho cloud of dust and bees we were off.
Couple minutes later we had 2 or 3 of them things come in through the fresh air vent in the air system. So dad turned on the AC to freeze em slow so when the crawled out we could swat em down.
Miraculously, neither one of us got stung.
We drove back by the scene of the crime the next day to have a look see, and sure enuf. As soon as we got within about 10 yards of that nest on the ground they swarmed the rig again, so he punched it and off we went in a cloud dust and bees again.

I dont mess with bees nests anymore. I fugure Im one up on em and Id kinda like to keep it that way!