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Tis the season - Yellow Jackets and Bald Face Hornets

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    • Tis the season - Yellow Jackets and Bald Face Hornets

      Well here is a thread about what works and crap that will waste your time or your money belt or purse.

      Forget about avoidance yellow jackets sting and sting again... and they LOVE being on the trail with nests. What is your plan the next CVS or Walgreens... last I looked they do not appear to be on the AT.... So what to do?

      Part of this is I wear a full Honey Bee suit and I still get stung thru the suit on my back and ankles. Tonight I am nursing 8-15 bites on one ankle as I got Ketone tagged by the Yellow Jackets, the equivalent of Pheromone to kill this idiot in a bee suit. On the trail... you may be the victim, what do you do?

      I already know the answer ... but there clearly isn't a totally correct answer. Even your Pharmacist will be clueless.

      Next post- some better ideas.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:
    • Last night was hell until I found something that worked - I was shocked how fast the poison was reversed. I crushed 8 Aspirin pills in a mortar & pestle and poured two cap fulls of white vinegar into the ground aspirin. Then I mixed it into a white paste. Wiping it onto the swollen wounds on the ankle and let it dried. Then put a compression bandage on it. Essentially I made a poor man's Poultice. Then drank three more Aspirin with diphenhydramine (Benadryl) with a little vodka & soda. I took the bandage off before going to bed an hour later- I kid you not in spite of all the pain yesterday - I slept well. This morning it was like it never happened. No swelling at all. The aspirin & vinegar appears to contain a acid that neutralizes the poison in your skin. I avoided two or three days of swelling.

      I guess it was the highest dose of something similar that I don't have, Aspercream. those Aspirin were 325mg


      What didn't work
      CVS Bite & Sting medication
      other pain killer killers
      Baking Soda
      Ice packs on the wound

      What I did not try but has merit.

      Applying a steroid cream
      Putting a 1 percent hydrocortisone cream onto the sting site can help to reduce itching and swelling. This medication is available over the counter and should be applied three times a day.
      Applying a paste to the sting
      Make a paste by mixing water and meat tenderizer powder. This powder contains enzymes that can neutralize the yellow jacket's venom. As a result, pain and swelling will decrease. Do not apply this paste near a person's eye.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:
    • Scrape a credit card edge in one direction over the sting to remove the stinger if it is there. Take benedryl. Wait till dark and put on headlight with red light. Have a cup of gas in one hand and a brick or board in the other. Pour gas down hole, quickly set brick or board over hole. Leave hole covered for a day and the fumes will work their way down the tunnel to the nest and kill it. No need to light the gas.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • Interestingly, this evening I BBQed with friends and as we ate dinner on the patio, we noticed a hornet circling one of the women. We asked if she was wearing perfume but she was not. When she moved to another chair, the hornet remained in the vicinity of the chair. I moved the chair away from the group and realized this was the chair I had washed earlier in the day. Apparently the soap scent was the attractant.

      Lest we forget.....



      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC
    • Dan76 wrote:

      Interestingly, this evening I BBQed with friends and as we ate dinner on the patio, we noticed a hornet circling one of the women. We asked if she was wearing perfume but she was not. When she moved to another chair, the hornet remained in the vicinity of the chair. I moved the chair away from the group and realized this was the chair I had washed earlier in the day. Apparently the soap scent was the attractant.
      He was probably just tired from flying around and just wanted a place to sit.
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.
    • NoAngel wrote:

      Scrape a credit card edge in one direction over the sting to remove the stinger if it is there. Take benedryl. Wait till dark and put on headlight with red light. Have a cup of gas in one hand and a brick or board in the other. Pour gas down hole, quickly set brick or board over hole. Leave hole covered for a day and the fumes will work their way down the tunnel to the nest and kill it. No need to light the gas.
      Yes Gasoline works and yet folks make the mistake of "lighting it" all the time. Its a one way trip to the hospital to remove the pebbles out of their faces. We have heard stories, and seen some You Tube Moments...

      also just a "fyi" one gallon of gas can poison 10,000 gallons of ground water. The reader should ask themselves - where is the well water and pump?

      Just being informative.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:
    • max.patch wrote:

      NoAngel wrote:

      Wait till dark...
      the first time -- i learned the hard way!
      i use dish soap and water.
      i have been watching training videos for Africanized Hybrid Honey Bees and the average person can't tell but they starting to show up here in PA and a state or two north in spite of "Science" The best part is the best of the best in killing the worst bee on the planet is using soap and water. - in a power washer, and gallons on the nest.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:
    • Don't have any suggestions. Those yellow jackets are nasty. They really seem to be drawn to foods so we almost can't eat outside in the late summer, early autumn when the weather is nice (Sucks). A few years ago we were eating out on the deck and a YJ landed on a my wife's fork-full of potato salad just as it was entering her mouth. It happened so quickly there was nothing I could do but explain to her what happened after the fact while she was screaming.
    • Used to buy parts from a supply house that had coffee and doughnuts out every morning, it was a little further away to get there, but it was free coffee and doughnuts...so the boss just had to deal with it. The only time they didn't have em was in the fall when the yellow jackets were bat Shyte crazy preparing for winter.
    • While at an event with the dog Sat, a bee of some type flew past her nose. She snapped at it and caught it. Of course she chewed a moment and down it went. Didn’t suffer any ill affects.

      Lest we forget.....



      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC