Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Wasps or Yellow jackets bad this year

Found 4 nests in 2 days been stung 7 times just doing outside projects. Any one want some, asking for a friend. Just about out of
spray.

I got stung twice this summer by bald-face hornets. They are far worse than yellow jackets! Worst year I have seen!

I found a good sized bunch of red wasps in a duct yesterday I could send you for some more variety Kurt. I think I set a speed record for descending a ladder and running smack into a tower structure. I’ll take the bruise on my shoulder and back over the hives I get from bee and wasp stings.

One got me on my eyebrow that got my attention.

Haven't been stung yet, but not for lack of trying. Think I've torn down 9 nests this summer.

KK, i use starting fluid on yellow jackets. It really pounds them.

Found 3 more nests by accident stung one more time, out of wasp spray who has it in stock?

Always become an issue here with a dry spring and summer. With our late Aug archery hunts, some have to wait until dark to retrieve and work up their game.

Kurt, Lowes had it the other day (south anchorage), but probably out again by now. I'd call around - AIH was empty when I went by. Brake cleaner works well too, and if all else fails.... pressure washer with tightest nozzle.

I like the smell of starting fluid best, personally.

Those are my least favorite.

It must be my clean living. Have not seen the first nest nor been stung.

Now watch....

WD40 also works.

skunks will dig them up and eat them, if they can get to them... stop killing skunks...

Never woulda guessed they'd be a problem in AK. Never been stung by one, but have had some close calls. Those bald-faced ones are relentless buggers!

Our bald-faced Hornets are twice as long as a yellowjacket, and much heavier. They pack a mean punch when they sting.

Yellow jackets are more plentiful this year here in southern Indiana. Just killed a nest right outside my back door. Aggressive little beasts. Bald face hornets seem to be thriving also. Had an infestation of European hornets (my son in law calls them mega yellow jackets) in a bathroom vent. They were tough to eliminate. Taken down several red wasp nest so far this year. That being said, the carpenter bees were not too bad this year.

I got hit by a nest of those black and yellow bumblebees. They were hidden inside a campfire bench and got ALL UPSET when I started using it to sharpen a saw.

I calmed 'em all down with some Sevin dust.

We've got 2 nests under the eaves of our house, I totally destroyed one and will do the other tonight. Spectracide is what we used and it worked well on the one nest, I know Home Depot, Fred Meyer and Trustworthy in Eagle River had a bunch of it in stock.

If you can get it, and don't mind the $,

Kibosh Bee spray is the best thing I have ever seen.
It's scary the first time you use it.
Like a switch, truly.
It hits them, they are turned off.

I think it's only available through commercial channels.
Popular with utility workers, I got it through tree trimmer and
linemen friends. When you are thirty feet up in a bucket, you
really need that hornets nest to just stop.


I buy the store stuff, and use it most of the time.
The Kibosh is kept for when I need to send the very best!

Been hit twice in the last couple weeks. A red wasp got me right in the D-ring opening at the back of my ball cap the other day. Worst hurtin' wasp sting I've ever gotten, although I have a worse allergic reaction to other wasp species. Guinea wasps swell me up badly.

I haven’t seen one skunk in AK. Now skunk weed, you can get that at the local cannabis store.

We’ve had yellow jackets bad this year. Got a new shed in May, and yellow jackets have built a nest about a foot under the floor. Go to lift the roll up door and they go crazy. I killed some last week after they got me on the knuckle really good. A few days before, they got the dog and oldest son several times each. The last two summers, we’ve had hornets build a nest on the waves of the house. Power washer was the best for that. This one this summer, no way I can go it from the ground, got to get on the roof and really don’t want hornets to chase me off a roof.

I've learned a bit about yellowjackets in the past year or so and I'm going to be much more aggressive in the future. We (my GF really) has a 6 acre hay field. I hit 4 ground nests last fall mowing it, no stings, but ... bothersome. They were kinda rough around the house as well. This spring with COVID 'n' all we changed to working from home so I spent lots of days in the home office with the blinds open .. much nicer screen saver picture than the laptop. Anyway, as it started to warm a little I would see HUGE bees go by, looked like yellowjackets but almost twice the length. I realized those are queens that have hatched out and are looking for places to nest. I got some baited jacket traps and put them out. I caught / killed a couple dozen around the house and half that many around the hay field. Now the regular smaller ones are hatching out and I'm getting a few but nothing like the numbers we saw last year. Next year I'm putting those traps out around mid-late February. I may waste a little bait but every dead queen is a hive that never happens. If the hive doesn't happen, then they won't be swarming around the deck, hay field, etc being a menace any time we're outside.

I don't know what to do about hornets yet. I haven't seen them out scouting for nesting places, I only can attack the symptom rather than the source. I'm trying though, I am definitely trying.

AIH in Eagle River had wasp spray today. 2 more nests gone!

Black bears too.

Taken out two big nests so far this year. There's another one out there somewhere.

A #10 can with a little gasoline in it and a thin sheet of aluminum took out the one in the outside Garage doorway to the loft late one cool evening. No spray available.

The other one was under a parked trailer- took two tries and a sting to the eyebrow on that one to get them all.
Hard to move fast when one has to shoot laying on the ground on ones back, spraying up, first from one sid, then next day, the other side to get the whole softball size nest.

Doorway ones were aggressive little SOB's about 1/3 inch long. The trailer ones were over twice as big, quite tolerant of nearby activity, but even they could be pushed too far....

Import a pair, they will take care of scary things...

I don't think ADFG would appreciate that too much. For the time being, I'll stick with wasp/hornet spray.

Yup skunks love eggs...

FWIW, Wasps are being looked at differently and seen at this point as on par with bees in terms of benefit to the farm and garden.

Aside from being very effective pollinators they feed their young all types of pests that harm plants in the garden and the field. This is super beneficial free pesticide treatment that has no detrimental environmental impact. Here';s some of what's on the menu:

- Grubs
- caterpillars
- aphids
- Blow fly larvae
- house fly larvae

The challenge is finding a way to live in harmony with them. If their nest is disturbed they are gonna not be friendly. If the nest is in a high traffic area this can be a challenge. We try to leave as many nests intact as we can and only remove a nest if its in a super high traffic location. Our garden really sees the benefit of this.

Additional reading and reference:

https://www.growveg.com/guides/why-wasps-are-good-for-gardeners/

https://extension.psu.edu/programs/...s-bees-and-wasps-have-their-benefits-too

Come n git them Tom found 1 more hive under front steps, cant even get near my sheds if they would not trespass would leave them alone. Very agressive this year first warning is first sting then they follow you. Lucky I am not allergic to them like others.

Agreed Tom. They are welcome to all the bugs they can get.

I still haven't removed that nest from last year, under the garage eve. They weren't hurtin' nulthin'. those n under the rocks bordering the flower garden got my wife twice before I found and eliminated it, tho.

Actually, they were much worse last year than this year, here. It was dryer. And they were more aggressive I think.

We fill several trash cans with "well water" vs softened water or colder well water, to water garden and house plants. I kept covers on them - one loosely enough that the wasps could get in. Poor fit. Every couple days last year, the entire surface of whichever can had the loose lid would be nearly covered with dozens of dead wasps. I don't know where they all came from - certainly not that lone nerf-ball sized nest still under the eaves.

Bad??

One thing for sure & two for certain, all of God's creatures follow orders every waking minute of their life. They do exactly what God created them to do.

Yep, wasps sting when disturbed, and I then kill them if it's likely to happen again, as God intended.

I guess...

I once saw a fox in ND laying on a knoll, biting at it's paw, and watched it for awhile. When it left, I rode the horse over to see what it was doing. It had trapped wasps in the ground nest with it's paw pad, and was letting them out one at a time and killing them. It had a pile of 15 or so.

I thought that interesting.

Has anyone else been seeing those "Murder hornets" up here? I've seen 2 in the last 3 days so i'm thinking there has to be a nest somewhere's in our neighborhood.

Do you mean bald-faced hornets? The murder hornets are not here... yet.

Definitely not bald faced hornets, they were 2-3" long and had yellow coloring. After looking at some pics of the Murder Hornet I don't think that's what they were either, these were long and slender.

Very likely ichnuman flies (actually wasps) and there are lots of them this year. There are many species and they are very colorful. I have seen some bright scarlet ones this year. I have seen more this year than ever. Do not kill them, they use the stinger to drill into larvae eating the inner bark of various trees and lay eggs.

Thanks for the info, glad I didn't kill the 2 I saw though it wasn't for lack of trying.

They are intimidating looking things!

DemonWP my friend.

https://www.domyown.com/demon-wp-insecticide-p-74.html

Ok, who’s the bastid that snook in with a transplant?

I knew you folks had serious mosquitoes up there. I just about got carried away by some when I got out of the vehicle up close to Fairbanks on my first trip in 2014. But i had no idea you had wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. What about snakes, ticks, fleas, horse flies?

The others are a nuisance...
but

Black Flies Matter!

All flies matter.

(All rifles too)

RACIS'!!!!!!!!

No snakes in the wild here.

Or skunks with 4 legs.

Check out a spring hare here if you like fleas...

Then there is the fipronil approach to yellow jackets. https://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=1566159&highlight=yellow+jackets

The yellow jackets around our place can get so bad that it's tough to work in the garden. Every fall I'm surprised by how many nests are dug up by the skunks and bears in the meadow to the east and south of us. I have to put up with them in the woods, but have used the approach outlined in the link with good success around the house. Nothing like using a noisy chain saw and disturbing a yellow jacket or bald face hornet nest. Your first clue that you are in trouble is the first wham, especially when you look down and see your lower pants covered with them.

This spring I also used the approach T O M used to limit the number of queens building nests. It really seemed to help.

Horseflies out in Southwest. A few ground wasps.

I’ve got a hive of bald faced hornets in the maple tree in my front yard. My dog got into a nest of yellow jackets in the back yard yesterday. I got the yellow jackets. But I’ve sprayed the hornets nest three times, still no luck!!

For yard and house protection from yellow jackets and hornets/wasps, take a paper grocery bag, fill it with something to keep it filled out. Shape the bag to mimic a baldfaced hornet nest.
You can either make a shallow entrance hole or just magic marker one on the bottom.
You can draw a couple of guard hornets around the entrance or not, we’ve done it both ways. Spray the “nest” with lacquer or other sealer if this decoy nest will be hung where rain can get to it.
Hang them from the eaves of your buildings.
Or hang them in trees near your buildings.

Voila! No yellowjackets or other wasps/hornets will invade a baldfaced hornet nests territory.

Too cold and wet out this way. Even the resident bumble bees are huddled up on the fireweed.

I'm glad I didn't start my bee colony this year. Poor bastids probably wouldn't come out of the hive.





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Some years the yellow jackets are horrible in the interior. Jake NoShoulders cannot live here. Fleas are making inroads. Blow flies infest the place. Not aware of ticks.

Been trying to put in some fall food plots and have tilled up 2 nests of yellow jackets. Stung 7 times first go around and 5 the second time. Swelling is way worse this time got me twice in wrist and twice in other hand ring finger and once on back of head. Burned out first nest but haven't located 2nd one yet. Worst year we have seen in last 20 years or so. Been very dry here this summer