Henry Rifle Forums

So today I was down at the range putting up the last wall of siding on my shed project...the wall that faces the deck. Sun is really beating down and thought I would reach up and grab my over head shade that rolls across the top of deck.
Well that's when I notice this thing that looks like a large round tear drop shaped nest with about a 1/2 inch hole in the bottom hanging right where
I need to grab the shade handle!
Yep..about the diameter of a beer can some type of hornet nest! Now I had been working along smoothly enjoying the day and now being only 10 ft away I am constantly looking over there to see if anything is buzzing around it. Starting my small generator and running my miter saw causing all kinds of noise and vibration my thought is to hurry up and get to my finish point load everything up and then knock that thing down and jump in my running truck and haul butt!
A 50/50 chance of it being a dead nest or having a swarm of something coming at me...I take a 8 ft. 2x4 and spear the thing knocking it someplace and haul butt. Once in truck I didn't see anything buzzing around so must have been an older nest.
I had never noticed it before though. Man that was close! I did have a quick thought of reaching for my XDE 45 and taking a shot but that would do more damage than good.

Lucky you. If it had been a vacation spot, and occupied?

There is some pretty good videos on Youtube about actions like that only yours came out better than theres.

Well the thought was to knock it out before "they" made home any larger. Yep glad a vacant nest and a mental note to be looking around for these things in the future. I read where if you leave an old nest up others won't come around and build another but wasp nest are one thing and hornet nest a more serious thing!

Before I got to where I couldn't, I enjoyed doing the landscaping donkey work around the farm, and Tina suggested the riprap border around one of her flower beds needed to go. I was loading those ten to twenty pound stones in the dump trailer and dumping them down beside the culvert on either side of the drive to help stop the washing away of the driveway over the crossing. I was about halfway around the large bed, keeping a careful eye out for copperheads, when I picked up a large stone partially buried in the ground and it started to hum.

"That's odd," I thought, "Run!" came a second too late...

The swarm pouring out of the ground looked like thick black cartoon smoke. The smoke sounded pissed. The closest safety was the hot tub, and I hit it running. I got stung three or four times on my back and neck, but went under in that hot water and stayed until I had to breath, popped up and ducked under again, then went over the far side, and in the front door soaking wet.

Later that night, I treated that hole after they calmed down, and finished the job the next day. If the top had been closed on the spa, I might have been in real trouble.

I had a huge nest built around our satellite dish. It encompassed the control arm and feed horns. I used water pressure from a hose to destroy
most of it but they kept rebuilding it every day, so I went to our top floor and leaned out the window with a can of raid. That did it finally.
My Wife is very allergic.

So how do I tell if it was wasps or hornets? All the research I've done doesn't tell me much.

On a lighter note one of my neighbors in Virginia liked to have nature products displayed in her home and her best friend found a nest in the
Winter, wrapped it up and gave it to her. She hung it in their family room where the warmth revived the hornets, or wasps, and they had to
flee the house and have it exterminated.

22' range, much better than a 2x4

dave77 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:51 pm

22' range, much better than a 2x4

I agree, I have a couple in each outbuilding and in the house.

Must have wasp and hornet spray in my hunting tower and my shooting shed at all times. It's a never ending battle.

Ernie wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:10 pm

dave77 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:51 pm

22' range, much better than a 2x4

I agree, I have a couple in each outbuilding and in the house.

Well you use what's handy at the time. My can I keep in cabin was low on pressure.

Well you use what's handy at the time. My can I keep in cabin was low on pressure.
[/quote]

I can't run any more so I keep wasp spray handy.

I have not had to deal with hornets, but was attacked by a group of bee's that were nesting in the ground in my lawn. i was mowing the lawn on the side of my house near a small creek. As a pass one area I felt a sting on my leg and turned to see what it was. I as I looked behind me all I could see was bee after bee coming out of this hole in the ground and heading for me. I took-off running for the house and left the mower running. By the time I reached my front door I had several stings and more bees chasing me. That mower ran for an hour before I was ready to go outside again.

Paul

Hey All,

Years ago I was putting up a watergap fence across about 75ft of creek from a rock cairn on one bank. I saw a nest did not know what kind turned out to be bald face hornets. That said I did not want to disturb it an went got a can of spray an came back an started spraying. I kept spraying an the hornets kept coming out the can kept getting lighter and lighter and I was getting more an more worried an eyeballing the 150 to 175 yds to my truck wondering how fast I could get over the fence between me an the truck. Luckily I won by about 30 seconds of spray.

-Ed-

dave77 wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:51 pm

22' range, much better than a 2x4

Yep. That can gets it done. Quickly.

As a kid I remember my grandfather building a fire near a window by the dining room. He put a used old five gallon metal bucket over it full of water. When it began to be a rolling boil, he went out, put on a pair of gloves and poured it down the ground bee hole. None survived. He put out the fire and went on to the next farm chore.

A few decades ago, while using a walk behind lawnmower, I located a yellow jacket nest with it. They were pissed; really pissed; they swarmed and chased me about seventy-five feet, stinging me nine times on my bare back before I was able to get to safety. I was young then and learned quickly.

This year, I observed an underground nest by seeing them come and go from the hole and instead of killing them, I marked it. The creatures are beneficial, so I'm happy to share my space with them as long as I know where they are and can avoid aggravating them.

Jeff Schalau, County Director, Associate Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County wrote:Wasps and yellow jackets are beneficial insects. They feed their young on insects that would otherwise damage crops and ornamental plants in your garden. They can also feed on house fly and blow fly larva. Wasps and yellow jackets become aggressive when their nests are approached or disturbed.

https://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/ho ... ckets.html

Oh yes I've had my ground yellow jacket wars!!! 1/2 cup of gasoline works for me and you don't have to light it.

When I was a kid a neighbor had a nest of something in his barn. His idea was to smoke them out. All he did was piss them off until the barn burnt down.

[quote="Sir Henry" post_id=149511 time=1603560014 user_id=52]
When I was a kid a neighbor had a nest of something in his barn. His idea was to smoke them out. All he did was piss them off until the barn burnt down./quote]

Well , Correct me if I'm wrong, but that worked didn't it?