Yellow Jackets and Chainsaws

[BIGChrisNH]

Wow some crazy stories. My hand is back to normal size now, I can’t imagine 100 stings, I’m pretty sure that would have killed me

 

[Labfriend]

I was out hiking with my dogs a few years back and someone, I like to blame the dogs, stepped on yellow jacket nest. I got stung a couple of times and ran. I looked back and the dogs were just standing there trying to bite the yellow jackets. So, uttering a few choice words and earning a few more stings, I had to run back into he cloud of yellow jackets and had to drag them out. Luckily they did not follow to far.

 

[Grizzerbear]

I got stung by a yellow jacket for the first time in my life today while bush hogging the fields. I was just pluggin along and wham......right on the arm pit man. I looked behind me and they were going nuts right above their nest hole. I gotta say....I've been stung by red wasp, bumblebees, Hornets etc... but I've never had a reaction from a sting like I had today. A hour or so later from my shoulder to my ribs were sore and I had a stomachache. The sting happened around noon and it still feels bruised. I for sure wouldn't want to find out what would happen from multiple stings.

 

[Grizzerbear]

And since we are talkin bout wasps and Hornets and such....

 

[kennyp2339]

Went sawing up a tree yesterday, didnt see the bald face hornet's nest till it was to late, got wacked 7 times in both arms, hands, and stomach.
Thankfully I'm not allergic to them, but that was the it for the day for me. I ended up swelling pretty good in the hands & arms, rash formed on my stomach, took 4 benadryl tablets and laid down for the rest of the day, not fun. I did locate the nest and will be taking care of it.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

View attachment 262647
And since we are talkin bout wasps and Hornets and such....

Wow those are awesome

 

[BIGChrisNH]

I got stung by a yellow jacket for the first time in my life today while bush hogging the fields. I was just pluggin along and wham......right on the arm pit man. I looked behind me and they were going nuts right above their nest hole. I gotta say....I've been stung by red wasp, bumblebees, Hornets etc... but I've never had a reaction from a sting like I had today. A hour or so later from my shoulder to my ribs were sore and I had a stomachache. The sting happened around noon and it still feels bruised. I for sure wouldn't want to find out what would happen from multiple stings.

It is surprising how painful they are.

 

[paulnlee]

Yes it is. Bees usually don't bother me but last week pulling a big tarp up to cover a new delivery I was raided. Ankles still red and itching.

 

[blades]

The last bald faced hornet nest I came in contact with was dispatched with a load on #9's from my 20 gauge. The previous 2 were when I was still in town- 177 air rifles with a friend, that was a lot of fun. they had no idea where those invasive pests were coming from.

 

[johneh]

I do not like wasps any more than the next guy
But you do realize that they are a pollinator and needed for food production

 

[firefighterjake]

Honeybees: I am helpful and provide you with honey. Just please don't mess with me or you may end up making me do something I will regret later on.

Bumbleebee: Dee-dee-dee-dee . . . I am a bumble bee and happy as can be. Flying here and flying there. Singing by buzzing song as I go along.

Wasps: I'm big and bad and a mean mother #@*^% if you catch me in a bad mood, but don't worry, you'll often spot me coming a proverbial mile away.

Yellow Jackets: The @#$holes of the stinging insect world. You mess with one of us . . . you mess with all of us. Oh sure, you're running away in terror at just the sight of us, but you know what you just stepped on Larry and now we're going to bring the mother %%^# pain to you so you know to never, ever mess with us again.

 

[Simonkenton]

"I got stung 9 times and reacted badly. I went to urgent care and passed out at the front counter while trying to check in. "

I worked many allergy calls when I was a paramedic. Your case is a good reason to keep some Benadryl on hand in the kitchen cupboard.
These cases are so tricky, you may handle bee stings just fine at age 30, but the next year you turn up allergic to bee stings. A single 25 mg Benadryl pill can save your life.

 

[GreenMountainBoy]

I've long had a propensity for being stung by bees, brown hornets, yellow jackets, horseflies, etc. I sat down on a plastic chair by the fire pit earlier this summer that had a yellow jacket nest the size of a softball underneath it, that was a lot of fun.

Anyway, today I finally decided to pull down a large oak branch widow maker from out back on my property. I went out there with some cable and a come-along, and the whole thing came crashing down like I wanted. I cut it up into 6 foot lengths and was shouldering them out of there. As I was reaching down for the last one, my foot squished down on something soft and I felt the familiar pain of a yellow jacket sting on my hand. It's surprising how fast you can run in a helmet and chaps LOL. I'm very thankful I didn't step on the nest with a running chainsaw.

I was splitting wood with a Collins Axe about ten years ago, when I found myself under attack from 3-5 yellowjackets. Not many, really. When i get stung I puff up like Popeye's arms, so I've found my best strategy is to try to kill as many as I can before they sting me. Well, my wife heard the ruckus and came outside to see me flailing at the yellow jackets with the Collins Axe. She yelled "STOP You're going to hurt yourself!". I replied "I'm fine, but you know what happens when I get stung. Don't feel like going to the ER this evening".

After a couple of minutes things calmed down and I was fairly proud of myself. "See? Didn't get stung once!". My wife said "Yeah, but what happened to your shirt?" I looked, and realized I had shredded the front of my shirt to ribbons of cloth with the axe and never realized it. I would have had to be within 1/2" of my chest and stomach to carve up the shirt like that, yet I didn't have a scratch. I then realized what I had done and the implications, but I wouldn't admit it to her under penalty of death.

Ten years later, married 35 years, and it's still my little secret.

 

[fbelec]

bad thing about yellow jackets is they cay sting multiple times and fly away. their stingers are not barbed. i am allergic to bee stings and what the doctors told me was each time i get stung the affects get worse and they happen quicker. a friend of mine helped me out once when i got stung he told me to get a rag or paper towel soak it in regular ammonia and put it over the sting for fifteen minutes. when i first put it on it felt like someone was drilling a hole in me. but it went away in a few. the ammonia neutralizes the venom. he told me he got taught that in pharmacy school.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

bad thing about yellow jackets is they cay sting multiple times and fly away. their stingers are not barbed. i am allergic to bee stings and what the doctors told me was each time i get stung the affects get worse and they happen quicker. a friend of mine helped me out once when i got stung he told me to get a rag or paper towel soak it in regular ammonia and put it over the sting for fifteen minutes. when i first put it on it felt like someone was drilling a hole in me. but it went away in a few. the ammonia neutralizes the venom. he told me he got taught that in pharmacy school.

my go to is Benadryl, baking soda and ice

 

[JimRT]

Yellow Jackets are just A** H@$&%s I've been stung on the head twice this year, once near my ear (that was a double tap !) once on my nose. I have been waging chemical warfare and losing.

 

[Simonkenton]

I always used tobacco on bee stings. You get a pinch of Marlboro, or Red Man, any kind of tobacco, and moisten it and put it on the sting.
In 15 seconds the sting just disappears. It is like magic.
I strongly believe that tobacco neutralizes the toxins.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

The weather has cooled off here and I’ve seen no activity from that nest since the sting that day. Dragonflies are still out though.

 

[Simonkenton]

I was going to cut some limbs off of a big poplar tree. Way up. I had the big extention ladder, this thing weighs about 95 pounds and is really a load to lug around the yard. The brush was 2 feet deep as I carried the big ladder to the tree.
And concealed in the brush, was a paper wasp nest. About the size of a basketball. I didn't see it and I ripped right into it with the ladder, by accident.

Those paper wasps swarmed me over. I threw down the ladder and ran into the house. I got nailed about 11 times.
Put chewing tobacco on the stings and they quit hurting immediately.
I went back four hours later, poured a cup of gasoline onto the nest, and lit 'em up.

Two years later I saw a big paper wasp nest about 8 feet high in a bush. I was about to torch it but I realized it was out of the beaten path. I decided to let it alone and see what happened. Nobody got stung by those bees and I watched them through the summer and fall. Amazing how they can build that hive. They chew up grass or sticks, and they make paper.

In November I noticed very little activity in the hive. They either died off, or they moved away somewhere. The cold winds of January just blew the hive into shreds.

 

[logfarmer]

I've mowed over a yellow jacket nest. They really don't like that.

I’ve done that myself, wow was they mad! Took care of that problem that evening with gas and a match!!

 

[Sawset]

View attachment 262647
And since we are talkin bout wasps and Hornets and such....

I've had then build just over the back door, but never in the house.

 

[aansorge]

Wasps like beer. Last swallow one day led to being stung on the roof of the mouth.

 

[Sawset]

Wasps like beer. Last swallow one day led to being stung on the roof of the mouth.

What's up with that - same here last night. First time ever. Every year it seems there is some bug population out of whack. First it was Asian lady bugs, then boxelder beetles, then japanese beetles, now hornets everywhere.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

Wasps like beer. Last swallow one day led to being stung on the roof of the mouth.

That can’t be fun. Is your mouth swollen up like crazy?

 

[aansorge]

The roof of my mouth did swell up for a day. The pain was pretty intense. I twist my beer tabs over the hole now.