Damned Yellowjackets...

[blues]

Came back from walking the dog this morning and noticed a small drip from a section of gutter. (We use hydrostatic covers on them.) Took a broom to it and from a few feet away came a small swarm of yellowjackets out of the gutter who managed to get me a few times before I realized wtf was up.

I got the last laugh, however, as I am a vengeful fucker and took an aerosol can of whoop-ass to their little party. Haven't seen nary a one for a few hours now...and I'll hit the section again toward dusk.

Little bastards...


(First time in over 18 years that I've noticed any in our gutters. Other areas, under the deck or in the ground, sure...but not in the gutters themselves.)

Someone in Yellowjacket land is asking "why don't they write?".

[Clusterfrack]

[ER_STL]

Ha - hope you have better luck with them then I did a few years ago. Stumbled upon a nest buried under one of my bushes in our backyard and had the same experience of getting stung a few times before realizing what happened. I bought one of those guaranteed-to-work traps and caught a single horsefly with it. I hosed down the entrance to their nest with spray numerous times but that only seemed to piss them off.

In the end they packed up and left once the colder weather showed up. I ended up digging up that bush and replacing it this Spring and found it strangely satisfying to beat their withering nest with my shovel.

[blues]

Ha - hope you have better luck with them then I did a few years ago. Stumbled upon a nest buried under one of my bushes in our backyard and had the same experience of getting stung a few times before realizing what happened. I bought one of those guaranteed-to-work traps and caught a single horsefly with it. I hosed down the entrance to their nest with spray numerous times but that only seemed to piss them off.

In the end they packed up and left once the colder weather showed up. I ended up digging up that bush and replacing it this Spring and found it strangely satisfying to beat their withering nest with my shovel.

I had one spot behind the house near a small tree where there was a nest in the ground. It took me a few times until I eradicated that bunch. A year or so later they built back in that same spot. (Usually, they say, they don't return to the same place.)

I've had enough experience with them over the years that they just get my ire up...and I don't rest until I wipe 'em out. If they want to live somewhere we don't walk or visit regularly, I can leave 'em be. But otherwise, I let 'em know that "I'm coming, and hell is coming with me!".

[camsdaddy]

I found some in a John boat seat a few years ago. We were pushing it out and my son asked if those bit. Honestly I didn’t stop to look until the first one popped me then his friend showed up. Apparently when one bites you it releases a signal to others and they gone in. Kill’em all

[flyrodr]

Yellowjackets and I have shared a hate-hate relationship since I was a kid. I've been stung enough that the hate has only grown over the years, to the point where, like @blues, I'm into complete annihilation. As a kid, I found a nest in my grandparents' yard, ran to tell my Granddad, who told me that pouring some gas down the hole would kill them. Sounded reasonable to me, so I took the mower gas can, and poured a cup or so down the hole. And, with the clear reasoning of a 10-year-old, knowing that gas was made to run engines by combustion, I figured I needed to, well, crank the engine. Not totally without brains, I stood back a couple of feet, lit a kitchen match, and flicked it over to the hole.

I'm pretty sure the nest was indeed annihilated, since I felt the ground move, and a fairly large nearby maple tree suddenly developed a list. Hm-m-m, perhaps I don't recollect the details just right; it has been a few decades. That tree had probably leaned for years. Nonetheless, the little suckers were gone, and a shovel or two of dirt filled in the hole nicely.

I have long since learned from my wife to be a bit more relaxed in dealing with yellowjackets. She uses spray, and follows the really fine print on the can. She didn't have her glasses on, but swears it said "Drown until all movement ceases."

[Caballoflaco]

I found some in a John boat seat a few years ago. We were pushing it out and my son asked if those bit. Honestly I didn’t stop to look until the first one popped me then his friend showed up. Apparently when one bites you it releases a signal to others and they gone in. Kill’em all

This is true. One unpleasant afternoon I had gotten into a nest of yellow jackets and been stung five or six times. So I got the can of wasp spray out of the work truck and hoses them down. I backed up a safe distance to enjoy my work and after a couple of minutes I was getting stung again. I looked over to my right and there were angry yellow jackets pouring out of a hole in a large planter that was a about four feet away. I’m assuming that the pheromones on my clothes from the first attack had angered passing yellow jackets from the second nest into attacking me since I’ve never before or after had them attack when I was that far away from the nest and not disturbing it with noise or vibration. I killed all of them too.

Also, I can highly recommend the Spectracide pro Wasp and hornet killer. I’ve probably killed 20-30 Yellowjacket nests with it over the last few years and it works well, and is usually one of the cheapest options on the shelf at the local Home Depot or Lowes.

https://www.amazon.com/Spectracide-3...s%2C195&sr=8-2

[Caballoflaco]

@blues it could have been soo much worse.




From back in 2019

https://www.science.org/content/arti...e-back-alabama

Yellow jacket ‘super nests' are back in Alabama
Wasp nests the size of Volkswagen Beetles are popping up in the state again after 13 years

When spring finally sprung in 2006, a plague of 90 yellow jacket "super nests" the size of a Volkswagen Beetle formed on the sides of homes, cars, and sheds across Alabama. Now, The New York Times reports, they're back. Normally, yellow jacket nests are much smaller and die out in the winter, leaving the queen to start a new colony come spring. This year, however, mild winters and abundant food supplies allowed the wasps to survive, accumulating populations of up to 15,000 stinging insects as opposed to the normal 4000 to 5000. These wasps account for almost all stinging deaths in the United States and are able to sting repeatedly. According to officials from the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the warming climate could make these "super nests" a regular part of spring.

[blues]

I'd have gotten the 4Runner out of the garage, thrown the missus and the dog in, and then torched the house, never to return. WTF!!!

[rd62]

They are assholes with wings.

Kill 'em all.