YELLOW JACKETS!!!

[nmurph]

I went to put up some more cameras Wednesday. I stopped the truck on the top hill that overlooks a drop off (such as we have here in south GA) to the creek bottom and told my brother and son I'd run stick the camera on the tree and be right back. It's a location I've run a camera on for at least 15 years and has always been a great spot to get picks. They could see me at the edge of the creek bottom about 30 yards away. I put it on the tree and adjusted it, left the cover off and walked up the hill about five yards and started trimming a few small bushes that had sprouted up this year. I was almost back to the tree when I suddenly felt that distinct pain of a sting. I looked down and saw a swarm of YJ's around my feet (I was wearing shorts, tennis shoes, and a dry-fit shirt.). I swatted a couple of times and took off down the creek flat- in the exact spot where about 8 years ago, and at this same time of year, my brother and I were walking shoulder to shoulder and straddled a coiled EDB. I ran, jumping fallen trees and stumps, and dodging cat briars, losing one shoe along the way, and hoping I wasn't going to step on an EDB, which would have been infinitely worse than my current situation. I stopped about 30 yards away from the camera and was instantly attacked again. I took off again and was surrounded when I stopped again another 20 yards further. I repeated this three times and each time I was still surrounded. Finally, at about 150 yards away the attack stopped, though there were still a few flying around me. I stood there trying to get my senses about me and make sure I had all of the YJ off- I had slapped several along the way that were still stuck to my shirt and socks. I was yelling but my brother and son who were enjoying the AC and were oblivious to what I had just experienced. Finally, after what seemed like and hour but was more like 5 minutes, I heard the truck door close and I started yelling. I was glad to hear them but worried they would come down the hill and into the agitated YJ. I started running toward them and telling them to stay put. At about 40 yards I could tell them what happened. They helped me pick a path back to the road. We then eased to about 15 yards away and watched a swarm the size of a kitchen trashcan hover over a gallon ziploc bag I had dropped when I took off running. We headed back to the farm house and my son took me straight home. I told him what to do if I should go into anaphylaxis. By the time I got home about 45 minutes later I was feeling nauseous and in a lot of pain. I took two Benadryl and half of a pain tablet and slept for two hours. When I woke up, the nausea was gone but the stings were still barking at me. I got a shower and got my son to help me count the stings- 14 that were identifiable by marks but I had several other spots that were hurting like a sting but didn't have a mark. I was bitten on my ankles, calves, butt (yes, two times), hands, elbow, and head. 24 hours later the stings were still hurting. Today, 4 days later, I still have a phantom pain where I was stung on the calf. I've been bitten by wasps, YJs, and hornets many times over the years- got it on the middle finger by a wasp last month- and have never had any problems. But I've never had more than a couple of stings at any one time. As I was standing in that creek bottom, trying to grasp what had just happened, I had thoughts that I could die right there. I'm a very healthy 56 year old, but had I been 25 years older I don't know if I would have survived (my dad hunted until he was 84 and I plan to do the same, God willing). I certainly wouldn't have that World Class sprint speed I had just used, nor the ability to dodge and weave like an NFL running back.

Epilogue- I returned Thursday with a quart of gasoline. I was able to ease up the the hole and pour the WHOLE quart into the mouth of the hole. No YJ's came out, but in just a few minutes of standing there, there were 30 or so YJ who returned to the nest but wouldn't enter...I was satisfied. Yesterday, I was picking up pears from the ground and found a pear with several YJ's on it. It was oddly satisfying to stomp it to mush with the YJ enjoying their last meal.

Be careful...there are all sorts of hazards out there just waiting for us.

 

[XIronheadX]

Glad you got through it. Could have turned out worse. I'm having flashbacks reading your story since I'm the same age. I don't want nothing else to do with them things. You never know when the allergic reactions may hit.

And yes it always happens in shorts. I took about 40 stings once aerating the yard years ago. The ole hole in the yard trick. Muscles in my legs locked up later that day. Then the itching a couple of days. A few days later my ankles were swelled up. Then another occasion the escape turned out worse than the stings. I hit some mud running for my life and my feet came out from under me. The bruise on the side of my rear end ached worse than the 20 plus stings. I got in them about 4 times in my life. I HATE yellow jackets.

 

[bfriendly]

Glad ur ok. I was clearing a little trail yesterday and the dead tree I was trying to move was still connected and had yellow jackets inside. As soon as I saw them, I cursed, dropped the log and took off faster than I have in a long time.....I got zapped on the back of my right ear, my head Right there and on my side through my shirt. There were maybe 5 or 6 still on my clothes after the 100 yard sprint. I was very thankful I was wearing Pants, hiking shoes and my hat that was sprayed with deet! I’m amazed how little they hurt....maybe cause I slapped myself so hard trying to get them off

 

[bfriendly]

I’m 50+ as well and it’s been a long since I’ve gotten stung so I was headed to house just in case.

 

[uturn]

Glad you are ok!

I had a similar experience about 10 years ago while bushhogging alone at my camp as I am most often..I think about it every time I hear my PTO kick on and my bush hog start to spinning!

Agreed all sorts of hazards out there!

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Old dry creek banks and cedar stumps seem to be worst place for them yellow devils. It doesn’t hurt to carry a small bottle of Benadryl in the glove box of the truck just for them special occasions. I keep it in case I have a dog snake bit, but it will help with both. I believe the liquid form gets in your system quicker. Glad your OK.

 

[HarryO45]

... I HATE yellow jackets.

But they make a “Heck of an Engineer”.

 

[bfriendly]

After getting chiggered by one a few weeks ago, I promised myself I wouldn’t step foot in the woods again without my treated hunting clothes......it saved me from the brunt of the attack no doubt!

 

[Duff]

My worst fear in the woods. I am allergic to those nasty critters. I was stung by a single yj several years ago, while fishing a river. I was probably a mile or two from my truck. Before I made it 1/2 way back, shortness of breath hit me. I was wheezing and could not get a full breath. An elderly gentleman and died from a yj sting, the previous week, in the county where I live. The only thought that kept going through my head was, "im going to die from a flipping bee sting".

2 of my buds were with me and got me to the hospital in a hurry once we reached the truck. They pumped me full of iv's of benedryl and I don't know what else. I stayed in the er for 1/2 a day before I was released. Very scary. I had this happen a few times over the years, but not in a remote situation like the day on the river.

I keep an EpiPen in every vehicle I have now. I was stung by every bee imaginable when I was a kid, then one day I got in a yellow jackets nest, weed eating, and bam I was allergic. Sometimes I react, and sometimes don't. Its weird. Always be prepared though.

 

[jiminbogart]

Yellow jackets suck, but I'll take them over ticks.

 

[Waddams]

Had a nest of YJ's in the front yard of a prior house I lived at. I'd pour gasoline down the hole, tried a bunch of other insecticides, etc. They'd go away, then a few months later, or the next summer, they're back in that same hole. There was a second nest in the ground out back, but it was in a wooded area that I didn't have to cut the grass, so I just stayed away from it. But the front one, I had to mow. They got me with a dozen stings 3 or 4 times, each time after me watching and looking for 'em first.

So glad I don't live there and deal with that anymore. I hate those things. If I'd stayed there, I was going to wait until winter and dig that hole until I found the underground nest, pull the whole thing out, and fill it back in with tight packed clay and dirt. I figured if it was a big enough nest that it could keep surviving the gallons of gas, or if they just kept going back year after year, only way to really get rid of it permanently would be to dig it out and fill in the hole.

 

[treemanjohn]

If you see yellowjackets and want them gone take a small bowl and set out some ground beef or raw chicken and let them eat for a couple of days. Then add a few drops of termidor or frontline flea killer and mix it in. It will kill everything

 

[bilgerat]

Old timer in My old hunting club showed us how to find their nest, He put out a piece of sausage left over from breakfast and waited for them to gather on it. He then got a hand full of flower and thru it on them, As they flew off he followed the little white suckers and they flew about 50 yards behind camp to the nest, He told us if they get a foreign substance on them they return to the nest so the cleaner bees can clean them up. we went back that night and poured gas down their hole

 

[Jim Boyd]

Yep, yellow jackets are vicious. I got lit up a few years ago and it made me nauseous. I showered and laid down and was ok but still not pleasant.

I don’t worry about snakes but I do worry about yellow jackets, wasps and hornets. They WILL kill you.

Zapped a big wasp nest in a stand this weekend.

Glad you are well.

 

[Tadder]

Glad u ok , I just kilt a nest of em in my front yard last night. Hit em with a weed eater when I found em. Waited a few days and went out last night when the all should've been in the hole and dosed the with gas and set them on fire too. Gott em all. Don't like YJ at all. They tend too get mean this time of year in NEGA. I watched em burn a while and the put a waterhole on the hole too put the fire out. Them JACKETS want get nobody.

 

[Rabun]

I hate yellow jackets! Almost cut my thumb off because of them....another story. One of the good Things about an over abundance of bears is they have been doing a number on their nests for quite some time. Glad you made it out of there and are ok!

 

[j_seph]

Old timer in My old hunting club showed us how to find their nest, He put out a piece of sausage left over from breakfast and waited for them to gather on it. He then got a hand full of flower and thru it on them, As they flew off he followed the little white suckers and they flew about 50 yards behind camp to the nest, He told us if they get a foreign substance on them they return to the nest so the cleaner bees can clean them up. we went back that night and poured gas down their hole

Glad to read that, my dad told me of my grandpa doing the flour thing on honey bees to track them back to the hive.

 

[j_seph]

Shall we start wearing these to bush hog?

 

[EAGLE EYE 444]

J_seph,

NO, last Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, this is what you wear to bush-hog on my property.

It has worked very well for my friend to stay cool and not have to worry about "jackets" !!!

 

[00Beau]

Allergic to Yellow jackets. Cab tractors only for me.