View Full Version : Ever have a hornets nest come after you?
Ever stir up a hornets nest and have them unload and come after you?
Ramble~On
06-09-2004, 03:15
I've been stung on trails while hiking but that is nothing compared to the time I was helping to remove a blowdown. Big tree with a lot of branches...I was basically stuck in all the branches and the first couple whacks with an ax pissed off the mother load of hornets living not in the tree but in the ground next to the tree...They made it quite clear that they were pissed off.
MedicineMan
06-09-2004, 03:40
walking in a field, kicked an unseen hornets nest like a football, split the whole thing wide open...took 7-10hits, didnt take but the first one to give me wings of mercury....did you know that hornets and yellow jackets are meat eaters and take care of boucoo spiders...also our Rottweiler took a multihit to the head at the cabin, shut down his eye for almost a month...many alternative medicine folk believe that bee stings in general are good for arthritis if so I wish they would hit my knee a couple of times.
grrickar
06-09-2004, 03:45
I find the easiest solution is to hike with others. That way I don't necessarily have to outrun the hornets, just the slowest hiker ;) That works for bears, rabid animals, deranged hikers, etc...
I did get stung once by what I think was a single hornet...I saw the insect about the time it stung and it was gone before I could identify it. The sting site did not swell immediately and the wound bled for awhile. I have never been stung by anything where I had bleeding involved afterward. Whatever it was it had a rather large stinger for certain.
Lone Wolf
06-09-2004, 03:46
I always got whacked by yellow jackets in Vermont it seemed.
Streamweaver
06-09-2004, 05:35
I always got whacked by yellow jackets in Vermont it seemed. Try offering them some of your beer. I worked in a recycling plant years ago ,and the bees (mostly yellow jackets) that hung around the piles of beer cans were the most peacefull bees you ever seen !
BZZZZZ zzzzZZZZZ zzzzzz ZZZZZ zzzzzz Streamweaver
Streamweaver
06-09-2004, 05:45
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v250/Streamweaver/Smile.jpg <<This is the dude to watch out for though!! Streamweaver
dje97001
06-09-2004, 07:25
No hornets (I have heard that the white-faced ones are the worst), Yellow Jackets though. Friend was swinging a stick up just in front of me and whacked a downed tree a couple of times, by the time I walked by--those things thought it was me! I tried to explain (while running), but ended up with 17 or so stings. Up my shorts, under my shirt... these things were pissed. I don't much care for yellow jackets anymore.
kythruhiker
06-09-2004, 09:12
Plenty of yellowjacket encounters over years of working on trail crews. Latest was last year, rehabing an old forest service campsite, cleaning out a trash pile. Nothing worse than being sweaty and have yellowjackets stick to you so they can lay it to you over and over...I was pretty much naked by the time I hit the road, peeling off clothes to get rid of the critters. Ouch.
The most humerous time was in 98 on a trail crew - several crew members had been stung by stepping on a partially buried root on the trail. We knew a big girl scout troop was headed that way, so we stationed someone down trail a few hundred feet to warn them. They just shook their heads and went on - you could hear the yelling a mile up the trail everytime the next one went over the root...we went through quite a bit of Sting-Eze that day..
Yes, while hiking, and while doing trail maintenance. In all cases I disturbed a ground nest--either with my Lekis or with a McCloud rake. Seems to be more of a problem in early Fall.
Bonehead
06-09-2004, 12:40
This fall I want to throw a rock at one of them nests hanging from a tree. So if I stand 15 yds away and wop it good with a medium size rock, could I get away if I run fast? How far out to they go looking for the bonehead who riled them up and can they outrun you?
ga>me>ak
06-09-2004, 12:41
going to get water when a old guy stopped his truck and said he knew of a secret spring closer than the mile we were going to hoof it for water. gave us a ride to a wall of bushes and I thought he was up to no good. he got out and started walking with a cane so I said what the hell, i'll follow.... the old man in the lead..my friend next.. and then me ... all of us about 20 feet apart.... all of a sudden, my friend went nuts and came haulin ass by me screaming all kinds of stuff. I just stood there try'in to figure out what was going on. I got hit 6-7 times and figured it out pretty quick. The hornets actually chased my friend and got him about 15 times. He swelled up quite nicely. The old man hit a hornets nest( on the ground) with his cane.. and they thought it was my friend. Turns out, the old man raised bee's and said the worst thing to do is flail your arms and hair, it acts like a beacon for them......Of course, easier said than done. Hornet has one heck of a wallop..
Toolshed
06-09-2004, 13:13
I posted this over at VFFT on a thread about honeybees in the northern forests. Part of it applies here.
(Sorry if this got kinda long and off topic.....)
--------
I honestly don't think you'll find much in the way of honeybees in the northern forests at higher elevation due to the lack of flowers - I've worked with insects for years and I've never heard of honeybees collectiing nectar from spruce trees, but I could be wrong.
I've never seen any of the larger assortment of bumblebees nor carpenter bees at higher elevations either.
I imagine the larger problem would be yellow jackets, which are not bees but wasps, though if not familiar with them, they could be mistaken for a honeybee.
Worse yet are the Bald Face Hornets Which are true hornets - They are black and white and build those huge grayish round oblong nests that have those swirling patterns and hang off tree branches (Though yellowjackets sometimes build similiar nests).
Wasp & Hornet stings are usually worse and hurt more than a honeybee sting. Honeybees sting once and then die, as they lose their stinger (usually in your skin). Whereas W&H's can keep stinging and stinging - It makes them much more ferocious, though their venom is less with each sting. I rmember learning years ago that honeybees sting to defend, W&H's sting to kill.
I ran into an underground nest at Skylight brook going up Allen (adirondacks)around 8-9 years ago. as well as 2 years ago on the Thunderswamp trail (PA). All you can do is run like hell.
YJ's are mean - when I was 7, I stumbled onto an underground nest of them and I was stung around 60 some odd times. I ran screaming but they followed. My father came running out of the garage, scooped my up and threw me into our pond and came in after me (He is allergic) . When I got out of the water, there were over a dozen bees in my shorts and shirt. My mother rushed us both to the hospital where my father got Epinephrine (he was stung a number of Times) and I got injections of antihistamines - I was swollen like a balloon for a couple of days.
steve hiker
06-13-2004, 01:51
This fall I want to throw a rock at one of them nests hanging from a tree. So if I stand 15 yds away and wop it good with a medium size rock, could I get away if I run fast? How far out to they go looking for the bonehead who riled them up and can they outrun you?
Hey Bonehead if you want to attack a bee hive why not go after a honey bee nest in a tree, at least you will be able to come away with a sweet honey-tastycomb reward like them brave bears do. :jump
Pencil Pusher
06-13-2004, 02:57
Nah, Bonehead would wait until the bear got the honey and then try to take it from the bear.
Kozmic Zian
06-13-2004, 10:55
Yea.....Bees..............! Always gettin' hit by bees, jackets, horse-flys, black-flies, mosquitos, dragon-mosquitoes, mud-daubbers, spiders, fleas, ants, insects.....you name it, it'll get ya' on the Trail.....I just make a 'Karmic Bargain' with the insects.....'Saying, You don't bit me, and I won't slap you.' Seems to work! I use the bandana as the 'insect defense system'. Tie a knot in one end, and keep it very handy. That works too, the insects seem to sense when you get a few of them, and go to find easier chomin' grounds. KZ@;)
I just make a 'Karmic Bargain' with the insects.....'Saying, You don't bit me, and I won't slap you.'
Ever try making this bargain with the black flies in Maine, in June? KZ: Sure ... doesn't mean they honor their end of the bargain, though. :datz
illininagel
06-13-2004, 16:32
I doubt if any of these creatures (hornets, wasps, bees, flies, etc.) really have enough reasoning power to make "deals."
:)
Pencil Pusher
06-13-2004, 20:22
If it's not stamped in their DNA, the biting flies must use the internet to formulate their strategies. They are just as ruthless here in Washington. I swear it was all we could do on this one hike to just run like hell back to the car, jump in and start driving, all the while trying to kill the ones that followed us into the car. It's like any sort of repellent is an appetizer for them.
Brushy Sage
06-13-2004, 21:59
I doubt if any of these creatures (hornets, wasps, bees, flies, etc.) really have enough reasoning power to make "deals."
:)
Some of them seem hell bent on attacking, especially if their nest has been destroyed. I've seen hikers get all freaked out, though, if a large insect just comes flying by or hovers in midair to check out the human-- the one who doesn't naturally occur in that environment. One time I got a warning instead of a sting: I was hammering in some nails on a deck, when suddenly I heard a buzzing and felt a push against my ear. I looked around and saw a rather large yellow jacket moving back and forth against my head. Somehow I got the message, and looked over the railing and realized they were building a nest on the other side, and my hammering was jarring them up. I told them it was their territory, and we left each other alone for the entire season.
no nest attacks but did have hornets leave a nest for a run at myself and Ted Davis while we were riding mountain bikes on that extreme little trail in Houston Texas (what was it? ho chi minh?) a few years back. I leaned against the wrong tree. These insects were upset, on steroids, and intent on taking us down. They circled about & into formations large enough to kill horses. I took hits on the left side, Ted took most of his in the rear. Good thing I had an auto and not a stick 'cuz i had to drive us home. Couldn't talk though, sounded like that Bill Cosby character at the dentist for an hour or so.....
Ramble~On
09-01-2004, 05:13
:-? Hehehehehehe
Last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I took a hike into the Citico Creek Wilderness in Tennessee. While hiking down a seldom used trail I stopped to adjust my pack....and promptly got stung three times...I never saw the nest..but I guess I stepped on it or close to it.
Later that same day I paused again right on top of a nest and BINGO...I got whacked some more.
1 day 2 nests multiple stings. Oh Well, small price to pay.
steve hiker
09-01-2004, 08:16
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v250/Streamweaver/Smile.jpg <<This is the dude to watch out for though!! Streamweaver
That guy looks like he could carve a sirloin from your ribcage.
steve hiker
09-01-2004, 08:19
This fall I want to throw a rock at one of them nests hanging from a tree. So if I stand 15 yds away and wop it good with a medium size rock, could I get away if I run fast? How far out to they go looking for the bonehead who riled them up and can they outrun you?
Let us know how this turns out. :D
Jersey Bob
09-01-2004, 09:34
at least 10 characters
ga>me>ak
09-01-2004, 10:05
The bees drinking the stale beer out of the cans at the recycling center really have a buzz. They're very friendly especially when you dump a load of Coors Lite cans!
Yeh, my brother took a swallow of his beer and swallowed a bee. It stung him IN his throat on the way down.....ouch
B Thrash
05-09-2005, 20:05
I always got whacked by yellow jackets in Vermont it seemed.
Wolf:
They got me pretty bad in Georgia. Building nest in the ground in the trail, when you walked over them they would attack from behind.
Yes, but it was after my brother and I shot a bottle rocket in to the nest on the side of our house. We were already running as it blew it off the side of the house. It was quite a swarm that we watched safely from inside the house. Good times....
I didn't want to find out so when I saw this sign, I took a wide hundred yard detour off the trail. Here is the warning sign! (http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1491/sort/3/cat/500/page/1) Thank you to whoever posted the sign and for all the northbounders that warned me to expect this. (I was going SB).
I took a friend hiking, during a rest stop, he says " oh, whats this?" so I turned around and he was poking a hornet nest with his index finger. It was late in the season, and cool out so they were sluggish I guess and we had no problem getting away.
My hubby got stung twice in the same week once at winding stair gap and at wayah bald. Both by hornets. He had benadryl to take just for the occasion. Stopped at every creek to soak bandana in cool creek to apply to sting. hikerwife.
RockyTrail
05-11-2005, 14:07
I was driving up a FS road to a Georgia AT trailhead late one night well after dark. Came around a bend to find two pickup trucks stopped in the road. One was a uniformed FS or DNR officer in an offical truck, the other truck had two good ole boys with a scoped rifle.
I stayed back, waiting patiently as they talked a couple minutes, and then they both got in their vehicles, turned around and passed me going back downhill. I flagged down the officer and asked what was going on.
He said the good ole boys were stopped in the road trying to shoot a hornets nest out of a tree. He pointed out there was a huge hornets nest directly over the road maybe 12 feet in the air. They had been standing directly under it, shooting straight up when the officer happened by. He sent them packing...go figure! Some brave souls, not only the shooters but can you imagine having to confront those two alone at 11pm in a remote area?
fiddlehead
05-19-2005, 00:01
I often see signs someone has put on the trail warning of a nest of bees, yellowjackets, wasps, etc. I remember the time in '89 when we saw one of those signs and Lazee put on his raincoat, gloves, mosquito headnet, and ductaped the cuffs shut and went after them with his coleman fuel. He never found the nest but we had a lot of laughs and some great pictures that we took of him in his outfit. Maybe i can get him to post them on here if anyone's interested? fh
Somewhere around New York I went off trail to take a poo. I found a halt-buried rock, and kicked it up to use as my toilet while I dropped the drawers.
Unknown to me was the fact that this rock was home to a nest of yellow jackets. After lurching down the trail while simultaneously screaming, thrashing the buzzing air about me and pulling up my shorts, I counted at least sixteen stings.
Can't blame them, I would be upset if someone tried to shat my living room as well, I suppose.
MorrisseyFan
12-03-2005, 00:12
My mother used to claim that cigarette tobacco would alleviate the pain of wasp and hornet stings. Does anyone have any 1st hand experience with that? Should I grab a pack of unfiltered Lucky's to take with me on the trail?
Plenty tabaccy on the trail already.
Long story short, a hornets nest changed my life.
Yes, Morrissey fan, tobacco is good for stings...but raw tobacco is best, not from a cigarette - not a whole lot of tobacco in them anymore ;-)
About 16 years old.
A buddy and I wading the local creek, fishing as we go.
Central Alabama in the summer.
Saw at least 6 cotton mouths, had the crap scared out of me when 1 swam across the creek about 10 feet from me.
Buddy's dog was along - following along on the creek bank.
Suddenly, I'm punched on the outside of the left bicep, and the inside of the right bicep. I'm in waist deep water, and hit the water.
Lose my glasses. Come up gasping for air, trying to figure out what just hit me! Hear buzzing all around, and dive again.
Takes 3 or 4 dives to find the glasses
Buddy is laughing his axx off
When I finally get out, I try to kick the dog, who's disturbed the hornet's nest - until I notice the sting marks on his snout, and decide he's had enough punishment!
Once I disturbed a yellow jacket nest while tearing down an old shed. I got stung eighteen times, my personal best. Any body ever beat that record?
Many years ago, when I was a camp counselor, I walked through a yellow jacket nest with a few campers. We all got 2 - 3 stings. That's the worst I've ever had. I got a single yellow jacket sting while hiking in NY with my daughter a couple of years ago. My screaming scared her half to death.
Once I disturbed a yellow jacket nest while tearing down an old shed. I got stung eighteen times, my personal best. Any body ever beat that record?
9/14/03 Just north of Stecoah Gap, I was looking up and planted my pole right in a nest. Stung more than 20 times. (It was hard to count the stings around my ears and in my hair.) The nasty ones were the ones that got tangled in my socks and stung themselves to death. I felt pretty crummy for a couple of days.
My husband, my hero, went back and retrieved my hiking pole, picking up five or six stings in the process.
I always look down when I walk now.
I was wearing some ankle-high Patagonia socks that day. I picked the dead yellow jackets out and washed them. The next time I wore them, my ankles turned red. It took another ten or so washings for that to stop happening.
Why did your ankles turn red??
Why did your ankles turn red??
I guess there was still enough residual venom in the fabric to irritate my skin. Four or five yellow jackets were tangled in the cloth and stung it (often getting through to my ankles underneath) until they died. The other YJs just stung me and flew off as I ran away. Some I was even able to brush off before they did much damage. As I was running, I was more concerned about getting the YJs out of my hair and off my face. By the time I was worried about my ankles, the little devils had well and truly buried themselves in the sock ribbing.
sherrill
12-06-2005, 14:54
I don't normally take out nests around my house as I see wasps as beneficial. However, they had built a nest right beside the steps to my back deck. I didn't want anyone coming onto the deck to get stung, so I sprayed the nest from about 15 feet away, killing (I thought) all of the wasps.
Later that evening, as we were getting ready to walk down to my neighbor's for dinner, I went and stood next to the steps. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something flying toward me, and WHAM, he smacked me on the hand. Didn't get all of 'em!
TwoForty
01-24-2006, 23:11
So what do these nests in the ground look like? Is it just a little hole? I normally look down when hiking, but I have never noticed anything.
didn't notice a big hornets' nest in a tree i was climbing once when i was about 12 or 13... got hit right above the eye (yes, just the one), but it swelled up to where i thought all the hair had fallen out of my eyebrow (it was just stretched out for a day or two)...
wandered into a yellow jacket nest once too, in the adirondacks. i was about 8 or 9, so i don't remember much, just getting stung a lot of times, but it wasn't as bad as some here have described...
So what do these nests in the ground look like? Is it just a little hole? I normally look down when hiking, but I have never noticed anything.
Don't know about hornets out East, on the trail or anywhere else. There are quite a few different kinds of them. But here (northern IL) you probably won't see an underground nest. You might see a hornet flying low to the ground, all of a sudden it's gone. Keep looking where you saw one disappear and you'll see 1 or 2 suddenly appear and fly away. Then look as close as you dare you can find a hole maybe big enough to stick your finger in, but don't stick it in. (for obvious reasons) Watch the hole and you can see them coming and going.
Streamweaver
01-25-2006, 13:55
My brother and I found out the hard way that yellow jackets also live under ground.We were walking near a small stream ,and all of the sudden the ground erupted like a guyser!! Im not kidding,it looked like a solid column of bees pouring out of the ground,and they didnt look happy!!! We managed to out distance most of them after about 1/4 mile and a dozen or so stings each.But there was one persistant bee that kept bugging us for another mile or soo,it really seemed to be interested in my brothers bright red hair!!
no but i have had yellow jackets on a few occasions after me,i had them to fly down my shirt once,got stung over 50 times,had to get shots in the hospital that time:cool: neo
middle to middle
01-30-2006, 11:55
I know that bees use the sun to navigate and you are safe after the sun gors down. Good reason to hike at night in bee country. Tough trail going either way.
I was hiking the SHT with my wife when she yelled "ow", and looked down. It was at that moment that I saw the YJs appearing everywhere. We started running and dropped our trekking poles and packs in a sprint. I got nailed 4 times - my wife only got the one sting. After running, I looked down and saw 5 YJs on my socks trying to sting me. They failed through my thick socks and I have always been loyal to that brand of socks ever since.
So how many times can you get stung before it becomes an emergency situation? Anyone know? That was a creepy enough situation and I only took a handful of hits. It seems like at some point, your body would not be able to cope.
The worst was when I was day hiking on private property (I had permission) with my dog and he got into a underground bee nest. The swarm completely covered him and had stung him so many times he couldn't see and I had to wade into the fight and get him out. I had over 20 stings on my hands alone and had to carry him out.
timhines
02-09-2006, 14:43
You are a better man than me saving your dog.
I once walked into a swarming nest of yellow jackets that had been mowed over by a bush hog. I never ran so fast. i think i was hit 17 times. I stripped my clothes faster than a pole dance that had been given a $100 bill.
Take my advice, if you are using a weed whacker (weed eater, whatever you call it) the string does not spin fast enough to kill bees that are flying out of a nest in the ground. So don't try that.
My last advice, if you pour any fuel (such as gas) down a hole in a ground to kill the nest, don't get the bright idea that it would be funny to light it.
Frolicking Dinosaurs
02-10-2006, 07:30
I came around a corner on the Slickrock Creek trail in NC (near Wildcat Falls) and bumped a hornets nest about 20 yrs ago. I got stung about a dozen times before I hastily shed my pack and dove into a deep pool in the creek. The hornets didn't seem to like the cold water any better than I did :D
TN_Hiker
02-10-2006, 10:03
Never stung by hornets on the trail, but as a teenager I was bushhogging along a fence row and the light bar on the tractor ripped a nest apart. I was stung 12 or so times before jumping off the tractor and running like mad to the pond. The hornets gave up on me after that, but I now had a runaway tractor going across the field with the pto still churning. It took out about a 100 yards of barbwire fencing and a good section of my dad's garden before I finally worked up the nerve to jump back on tractor. I spent the rest of the day fixing fence and unwrapping barbwire from the bushhog. Needless to say, dad was not happy about my productivity that day.
a hornets nest can not chase you:cool: neo
EarthJourney
02-22-2006, 23:38
Luckily.....I didn't disturb the big ole hornets nest just above me.
I was fishing on the Conasauga river in N. Ga. Working a nice little spot, had made several cast. For some reason I decided to look up above me and I had JUST been missing a freakin' big ole nest of hornets by about 6-9". I walked upstream a little ways and literally had to sit down think about how close I was to a truely life threatening disaster and regained my composure. Had I hit the nest it wouldn't have played out too well. I know (after the intial 30 stings) I would've dived in the river
and crawled on the botttom as far as I could. But, hornets are pretty determined and I'm sure they would've easily found me again as I came up for air. From that point I would've had ~3 mile mostly uphill hike to my car. Yellow jacket poison really does a number on me, not sure how the hornet toxins would affect me as I've never had the pleasure of a hornet sting!
Now - I check for them buggers before I start my manly casting technique!
Streamweaver
02-24-2006, 12:43
So what do these nests in the ground look like? Is it just a little hole? I normally look down when hiking, but I have never noticed anything.
Yeah it was just a hole ,about 6-8 inches in diam. Looked like it could have been an abandoned muskrat hole .There were so many yellow jackets it looked like a column of water shooting out of the ground!! I looked in the Audabon(sp) field guide and it mentioned yellowjackets living under ground,so it wasnt just a fluke.
Footslogger
02-24-2006, 12:48
This was a close call in PA during my 2003 thru. Walked into the woods to answer nature's call and almost walked right into it.
'Slogger
Streamweaver
02-24-2006, 13:00
This was a close call in PA during my 2003 thru. Walked into the woods to answer nature's call and almost walked right into it.
'Slogger
Yeah those Paper wasp nests are like concrete!! Once while hunting with my father and brothers,we came across an empty nest on the ground.Dad shot it with a 20ga shotgun and it barely did any damage.They make the nests by chewing up wood and mixing it with spit to form a paste.Must be some high test spit!!LOL:eek:
LuTotten
02-26-2006, 20:11
I had that happen on the Holcomb Creek Trail ( I think) in N. Georgia. Took the 2 boys I watch out hiking for the day and the 8 year old was walking along whacking the low hanging brush as he walked by.... Well needless to say they came out all angry and since he was already past them I was the first thing they saw. Somehow I got away with just 1 sting, or I should say mulitples all in one place as the bee (or whatever it was) had its stinger stuck in me and was trying to get free. The 10yr old boy I take care of got stung once too trying to sneak back past them. Not sure what it was that stung us, both of us were scarred from it and it hurt for the better part of a week. (if anyone knows what it might be let me know, it was too small to be a red wasp, kinda brownish, and I dont think it had stripes however I was too busy trying to get it out of me to note what it was)
Oh, bout 3 years ago my wife and I were camped in the meadow at Hog Camp Gap in Va. There were about 8 tents set up around a central fire. Wife walked over to the edge of the woods to water the bushes and low and behold we all hear this scream and a lady running with her pants around her knees doing circles and slapping herself all over. Well folks were rolling on the ground laughing and when I ran over she was petrified and in great pain, what are the odds she squatted right over an entrance to a nest of ground bees and had multiple stings in tender areas. Well we get her pants back on a low and behold there is still a bee in her pants and it starts all over again, this time she removes the pants and says she is not putting them back on. So we rush back into our tent and I locate this pensil thing called sting killer or something, now everyone in the camp site is listening while she is moaning ouch not there, ouch that burns quick quick get it off it is burning me, what is in that stuff, etc Well it started getting dark and we go back and sit around the fire and all is very quiet, wife belts out don't go near the woods cause there is a big nest of ground bees. Then everyone understood and everyone had a sting story to tell.
not the nest.
the hornets however have naild my ass a few times.
...came upon a hornet/bee/somethingflyingstinging nest on the trail years ago. There was a "paper" nest in a branch bout 20 ft. up, and a ground nest just below. Little buggers were flying back and forth between the two. (Anyone know what kind of stinger has a nest in a tree and in the ground?)
Anyway. The bush was thick on either side, and the littel guys were only flying up or down about once a second or so. So I thought (understand I was NOT drinking) that I'd just make a run for it.
Bad idea.
Got nailed 4 times.
- Erro