Stung by a hornet today feel like a wuss

[Richard Jones]

In my neck of the woods, we have paper wasps, yellow jackets, bell hornets, and what most folks here call a Japanese hornet, but is, in fact, the European hornet. They will knock your socks off......... In all the years I have fed hummingbirds, I've never been stung by either a yellow jacket or bell hornet when they were feeding. At the nest is a different story, but they are not aggressive at all at a food source. The European hornet is aggressive all the time. Around here they seem to especially like tree sap, and when you walk by within 3-4 feet you are in acquisition range. They really hurt.

I've let the yellow jackets and bell hornets crawl on my hands when fooling with a hummingbird feeder, but learned my lesson quickly with a European hornet. You have to kill them to change their mind........

 

[C Valentine]

I have had two encounters with those European hornets and never want to have another! The first time I was about 10 and leaned my bike against a tree where they had a nest. They came out and swarmed all over me. The neighbor saw what was happening and ran out and got me into the house, suffering numerous stings herself in the process. The last time I was walking through some tall grass and one got underneath my shirt. Stung me about 5 times before I could get the shirt off. And no, I did not give a darn about stripping in front of God and everybody! Those things pack a sting equal to their size and unlike a honey bee that loses it's stinger on the first sting, they just keep on jabbing you. They, and yellow jackets, are particularly aggressive this time of year. Not sure why.

 

[Immike]

I was getting attacked by little yellow jackets everytime I worked near the doorway of my shop, heck I finally saw the nest about 10 ft away in the ground a couple weeks ago. Good bye you little devils. Damn things move faster than you can swing at them. I just waited until they go in for the evening

 

[284driver]

Side note, have any of you heard the term "whipping hornets?"
Guy I work with said his dad would get a tree limb full of leaves and go to town on a hornets nest. All is fine until the leaves are all gone. Then plan b... Run

 

[dorothydaily]

55 years ago[more or less] my cousin and I used to find a bumble bee nest and would take a thin board with holes drilled in the board and go to war on them. dad also had an old bluetick hound that would sit on his rear haunch and snap those suckers in mid air, spit them out and grab the next one. we used to get stung but that old dog never did. mom would put a paste of baking soda on the bump sis had one get in her shorts one summer, the neighbor boy was over and she was not about to pulled her drawers down, off to the house squalling. she remembers the incident , but not with the same humor that I do.

 

[CaptainMal]

Crazy this is four pages. Now my story.

Around the year 2000 I was backing up a trailer for a neighbor and my open driver's window backed into a huge wasp nest in a small tree I rubbed against. Went to the hospital with almost a hundred stings on my face and neck. Became allergic since and now carry an Epinephrin pen. Been in hospital many times since. Also have a tower in Georgia that attracts wasp nests.

This past summer someone trespassed on my property there, climbed up the tower and somehow unlocked it from it's inside locking. Then must have opened the door and caught hell. Last week I saw that door open and banging in the breeze. Heard a story of illegal migrants living in a shooting trailer about a mile away that were run off by the police. If it was one of them, no police needed. Wasps got them and I hope good.

I just went up, covered in headnet I carry and new can of wasp spray. Emptied the whole can into that open door. Cleaned out 3 major nests and swept out hundreds of dead bodies.

Next month, when I actually hunt the tower, my headnet and another fresh can will probably be needed. Darn hunting tower sure attracts them. Tried sticky fly paper strips with no luck except to make a mess of everything. Hate wasps.

 

[C Valentine]

Yep. A paste of baking soda and apple cider vinegar was the remedy for stings back in the day. Not sure if it really did any good other than feel a little cool.

 

[MrMajestic]

Mr M you make me laugh. I just pictured that outfit and all I could think of was Bill Murray and his buddies "crossing the streams" on Ghostbusters!


I think the BF hornet is much worse than a Michelan man dough boy.....

I'll get a picture next time. ;D

 

[XTR]

I pushed mowed over a yellow jacket nest once a long time ago. Twenty two stings on my head, back, under arms, hands arms and legs.

One thing I've noticed, a man who has gotten into a nest moves with able peculiar gait, and you can spot it at a hundred yards. Usually it is a high stepping run while flailing ones hands wildly about their head.

 

[sdneil]

Have been stung many times thru the years,never had a problem till last summer.Was stung on the right ear by a paper wasp and within a couple minutes knew I was in trouble. Heart started raceing, breathing like it was my last breath, damn near went down, after about 40 minutes of struggling things got better. was in the country by myself and was unable to contact any help. My wife was pissed at me!!! Now have Epinephrine injection pens,home and country. Need to get one for my range bag also. They are due to be replaced this month. Hope I never have to use them. Neil Greenwell STL benchrest club

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Wow, now I know I'm not alone.

Two years ago I got stung by a hornet (yellow jacket/meat bee whatever you want to call them) right above my eye at the edge of my eyebrow, almost right between the eyes. Unprovoked, never saw him coming, but my entire face swelled up to make me look like Porky Pig. Had a ground nest near the house I was not aware of. Nuked the nest that evening with Hornet-B-Gone high pressure spray, problem solved.

This year seems to be a high-volume year for the little buggers. Both my hornet traps at either end of my backyard are almost full right now, with new arrivals always seeming to be checking into the Hornet Hotels every time I look.

One thing about a sting from these guys......it freakin' HURTS! And hurts for what seems like a very long time.....

 

[bdale]

I pushed mowed over a yellow jacket nest once a long time ago. Twenty two stings on my head, back, under arms, hands arms and legs.

One thing I've noticed, a man who has gotten into a nest moves with able peculiar gait, and you can spot it at a hundred yards. Usually it is a high stepping run while flailing ones hands wildly about their head.

What amazes me is how you forget about all your other aches and pains

 

[dkhunt14]

I guy I worked with and his niece went on Raystown Lake for an overnight camping fishing trip. At night they went to shore and tied off the boat. Sometime during the night the niece had to go. She didn't want to wake the guys so she went off the boat and up the bank, she squatted behind a tree and emptied on a yellow jacket nest in the ground. She woke up everybody on the boat and the lake. Matt

 

[RLP]

Lots of stories on this thread...So here's another one. Got out of the service in 71 and went to work operating heavy equip. I was cutting in a new road in a sub division with a grader and cut into a hornet nest. When I turned to back up there was this big ole cloud of hornets. I thought I was pretty smart and just closed up the doors on the cab thinking "They can't get me all buttoned up". Made another pass and all was good ..no hornets. Boy was I wrong..Forgot about the holes in the floor boards. 2 of them got me thru my jeans RIGHT BETWEEN THE LEGS!! I have never had swelling and trouble walking like that in my life. Shut off the grader and straight to my truck and headed home in great big pain. Will never forget that encounter!! There was a bright side though, the wife sure got a big smile on her face when I showed her the damage. She still has a good laugh today if the story is told.

Bob

 

[bobm]

Give me a piece of this action, too! In 1982 we were building a home on a mountain lot in Colorado. My wife , two little girls and I were walking the property line. I was ahead of them 50 feet when I stepped on a rotten spruce log. Out comes hundreds of yellow jackets! I scream to my family to run to the car and get in. Me...off and running through the trees covered in pissed off bees. I was running and swatting them off at the same time when this lodge pole pine tree jumped out right in my way. I smacked it face first and down I went seeing stars. No time to black out, the bastards were not done with me!

The chase was on again. Bruised and battered my family had fun counting all the stings I had on my face, arms, neck and back. Over fifty of them I was told. The lump on my forehead lasted for a few days.

 

[1shot]

First to XTR,
There i was, on the front deck, minding my own damn business and talking to a guy on the phone. The next thing I know one of those stinging M-F shows up uninvited at stings me on the thigh. That was two summers ago and I still have the scar.

Years earlier I was out of school and out of work so I was helping a buddy bleed the brakes on a car in a small gas station that wan't self serve for you youngsters. I was in the car that was on the lift about 10' up. Unbeknownst to me one of those same type of hornets was sitting in the crook of my arm. When I flexed my arm he proceed to hand me a case of whup a$$. I was instantly nauseous, started having trouble breathing and had a bicep that would make Arnold S. jealous. After that, I take the approach that a good defense is a good offense. A couple cans of Brake Kleen[ no I didn't spell it wrong] and I'm good for the summer.
Kill 'em all, ......first!
Lloyd

 

[snert]

See previous pine tree post for background on my phobia about bees...

I took my son, age 6 pigeon hunting. I was standing next to him watching some feral pigeons coming in when I noted a hum, similar to a transformer hum. Looking around for the source, I eventually looked down. My legs to my knees were covered with hundreds of yellow jackets. I was standing on the nest. I screamed to my son "don't move", tossed the 12 ga to my right hand, scooped him with my left and took off running as fast as I could. About 50 yards and I plopped him in mid run on his feet yelling go away from me! He ran to the barn to get the farmer to help me.

They came out to see me butt naked in the yard, but not one single sting! Sure glad it was the farmer, not his wife! :-[

God helped me on that one!

snert

 

[hogpatrol]

One more for the road. Driving home after a midday groundhog patrol, windows down, bottle of ice tea in the console. Man it's hot, take a swig of the tea, hmmm what's that crunchy thing in my mouth? Opened wide stuck my finger in there to see what it was and WHAM!, yellow jacket sting right on the bottom lip. Man that thing swelled up. I looked like one of those Ubangi warriors over in Africa. Thankfully this was before cellphone cameras or my buddy would've plastered my puss all over facebook. Real careful about those open containers after that episode.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

Real careful about those open containers after that episode.

hogpatrol: The last time I was in Germany on business, I learned that the Germans learned a couple hundred years ago to put those cool flip-lids on their beer steins that we still see today. I was told that many folks died from a hornet getting into the beer, swallowing some and getting stung in the throat which promptly swelled up and prevented breathing.

Sounds like some of them had the same kind of encounter as you did. Not good!

 

[snert]

Real careful about those open containers after that episode.

hogpatrol: The last time I was in Germany on business, I learned that the Germans learned a couple hundred years ago to put those cool flip-lids on their beer steins that we still see today. I was told that many folks died from a hornet getting into the beer, swallowing some and getting stung in the throat which promptly swelled up and prevented breathing.

Sounds like some of them had the same kind of encounter as you did. Not good!

Geez, I thought that lid was there so a lederhosen wearing prankster did not mess with a good beer! ;D