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lauriewood_gw

Yellowjacket nightmare

22 years ago

I stepped on my first nest of yellow jackets yesterday at the base of my live oak tree. I have never run so fast in my entire life! Nor have I ever been stung by an insect before. Luckily, I was only stung once. But it really hurt. Until then, I had absolutely no idea they lived in the ground (people, witness the birth of a brand new phobia). I was going to leave it alone, since after much research I learned that the nest is usually abandoned after a season; that is until I read this charming fact on the Clemson University Extension website:

"Above-ground nests will persist in dry areas, but they are rarely used again the next spring. A huge southern yellow jacket colony was discovered in Charleston County in August 1991, containing an estimated 250,000 yellow jackets. The nest was thought to have been re-inhabited for more than one year."

Chilling, isn't it? I am an hour from Charleston. The nest had to go. Needless to say I high-tailed it to the hardware store after calling the extension office. Armed with a bag of Sevin and a can of yellow jacket-killing foam, I stalked the entrance of the hive at dusk, too terrified to do anything. Not only am I frozen in fear in a halfway lean, I am also dressed like a fundamentalist terrorist, with bad tight jeans tucked into high black boots, gloves tucked into 2 black sweaters, and to top it off, a multitude of black scarves wrapped into a makeshift turban arranged so that only a hint of my eyes are visible.

45 minutes later (in previous described stance the whole time, mind you), I killed the hive (I hope). I live on a corner lot. Visible to traffic on 3 sides. Judging from the looks my dogs were giving me, I do not even want to know what my neighbors were thinking.

I can only give my thanks to God that my husband was out of town and not here to mock me.

Comments (6)

  • 22 years ago

    Laurie: if you are ever stung again try putting some wet (spittal) tobaco on the site. Had over a hundred paper wasp stings some years back and used that treatment and had no adverse reaction. twored...here

  • 22 years ago

    ALthough it must have been terrifying to you, the picture you paint with your words is hilarious!

    I hope you got them critters!

    BTW, I am your neighbor in Charleston...

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  • 22 years ago

    I stepped on one when I was 8 years old, out on a Dove shoot with my father. I was, of course, the "bird boy", and while picking one up that fell in some woods, I stepped on the nest. I was stung over 60 times, and they somehow had even gotten into my underwear! It was terrible, and I am lucky I did not go into respiratory shock. I love bees, but I'll kill every yellowjacket, wasp and hornet thats out there!

  • 22 years ago

    OK - ya'll are really making me feel guilty for whining about 1 sting. I cannot even imagine 60 to 100 stings. What a nightmare! I'm glad you both recovered.

  • 22 years ago

    I was trimming some jasmine ivy (I think) and a whole pile of them came out and scared the daylights out of me! (I was stung this summer when I was trimming, but I had no idea they would be out in January!).
    It's almost 80 degrees here. Can you believe it? (I am in Statesboro, GA, near Savannah.)

  • 22 years ago

    Oh so funny, reminds me of something that happened several years ago. My brother and I were helping a neighbor haul hay bales and stack them into his barn. The barn had seen such use for several years and had quite a layer of loose hay which some yellow jackets decided was prime nesting territory. The neighbor (who happened to be a 60 year old man at the time) stepped right into the middle of the nest just about dusky dark. Meaning the yellowjackets didn't fly, they crawled all up his pants legs, into his clothes. You never saw a 60 year old move or strip off his clothes so fast in your life. He wasn't one bit shy either. He later told us he was stung over 100 times in less than 2 minutes.

    Fusion

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