So my Lab pup got in a yellow jacket nest in the woods near my house. I would not be as concerned but this is a place he loves to play daily and I do training there too.
Trouble is the nest is under a thick layer (8"+/-) of dead leaves and debris. Because of this I cannot locate the entrance to the nest to eradicate the rat bastids.
My first thought is to wait until after dark tonight and quickly try to remove the debris so I can tell more about the entrance to nest.
Am I gonna get lit up?
Any suggestions appreciated. Also in the past I have seen folks pour gas down the hole and let fumes kill. I know some will cry foul on this. Next step would be something from Home Depot or Southern States.
Don't use gas, that can fugg you and the environment up.
Put a screen over opening, add stove fuel (alcohol), and light them up. A good mix of dawn and water out of a hudson will work also if you need to worry about setting the world on fire. Or yellowjacket spray..
I can see within a 2' radius where they come in and out. The hole has to be somewhere below the thick leaves on top. No way to tell exactly where
Should I just rake the stuff back as fast as possible after dark so I have a better chance to see the actual entrance? Hopefully I want get hammered by them doing this???
Sevin dust from the garden store works wonders on these varmints, but you have to get it in the entrance hole where they will track it into the nest.
I used a plastic bottle with a spout that I cut back a little to let a bigger puff of the dust out. Gotta leave room for air in the bottle so you can use it to squirt the dust.
Invert the bottle to get the dust in the spout, insert in bee hole and squeeze the bottle. Obviously this has to be done at night when the bees aren't very active. You only get one quick chance to do this before arousing the bees. Bee careful!
My first thought is to wait until after dark tonight and quickly try to remove the debris so I can tell more about the entrance to nest.
Am I gonna get lit up?
twofish
Yep...day or night they'll get ya. Better to do it in the light. Like was said, go slow. Once you get close, you'll know. Back off & go get a lawn chair & a small chunk of raw meat. Throw it on the ground & sit & watch where they go after they leave the meat. Once you have them located come back at night so you get them all in the nest. How you kill em is up to you. If it's not too dry, I'd use fire.
If you can't see the entrance hole, AT NIGHT take a leaf rake and rake back the leaves from the entrance zone- next morniing see if you can find the entrance hole-AT NIGHT go back with about 8 oz of gasoline and pour it in the hole-yjs will be finished( do not ignite/ burn)
When I left for the Military some thirty something years back there was a lead gas sniffin ole drunk named Luke Bently. Shook like a leaf and was dumb as a stump. When I rolled through the old homestead a while back, he was alive and everybody else was dead.
If you can't see the entrance hole, AT NIGHT take a leaf rake and rake back the leaves from the entrance zone- next morniing see if you can find the entrance hole-AT NIGHT go back with about 8 oz of gasoline and pour it in the hole-yjs will be finished( do not ignite/ burn)
^^THIS^^
I did light the gas on fire once when i was a teenager and I did use more gas than I needed and I did almost $hit my pants. Left a hole in the ground big euff to bury a beach ball.
If it is warm after dark they will light you up good and quick. Dark doesn't mean they cannot see or smell you. Cold is what slows them down while finding the hole.
The bad thing about yellow jacket nest is that although the entrance is small,the honeycomb under ground can be bigger than a truck hood on a few I have seen plowed out.
Buying a bee keepers hood http://www.dadant.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=34_66is inexpensive and very handy to have around the property for just these situations. With pants legs tucked into your socks, long sleeved hoody tucked inside the beekeepers hood and some long gloves sealed with duct tape one can wreak havoc with the insect world, day or night.
A couple times every summer I do just this, removing the wasps around the house, property, neighbors property and rather enjoy the experience
I used the gas thing as well as using TCE in the days when there were still TCE fire extinguishers around. Now I use dish soap and a five gallon bucket of water. Soap and water works just as well and are a LOT better for the ground water.
Dug into 2 separate nests today clearing brush and piles with the tractor loader. It was raining and I started to see YJs falling on the hood after getting hit by big raindrops. Mean bastards when pissed off. Backed out quick, but still got lit up above the ear.
That's been 5 hours now and it still furking hurts like hell.
I hate the sumbitches, absolutely hate them.
I would set off a low yield nuclear device right next to the hole if I could, so don't lecture me about 4 ounces of petroleum.
I would not know what it was like to be stung, it has never happened to me but then I have never been hurt any time in my life so I would not know about a little pain.
A long time ago I learned to defeat the CPSC shut off on the mower with a bungee so when I came to a ground bee nest I could just leave it running over the entrance. Brave little bastids were no match for the Lawn boy.By the time it ran out of gas they'd all committed suicide.
I would not know what it was like to be stung, it has never happened to me but then I have never been hurt any time in my life so I would not know about a little pain.
Scott, seems we all have different forms of Elephant Balls. I've worked with snakes all my life and hot snakes on several occasions. Snakes don't bother me a bit, but things that fly and sting in numbers I do not care for. I can handle a Copperhead or Timber Rattler, but if you asked me to pick up that comb full of bees you have in that picture I'd tell you to GFY.
Show me the pic of you holding up the football size active yellow jacket nest you just dug out of the ground please.
European Honey Bees and Yellow Jackets are not in the same conversation. Euro honey bees being friendly pollinators, yellow jackets being Satan's pissed off spawn.
I hate the little yellow bastids. I swell up pretty good when they sting me. This is the first year I have not had any on my property. Four years ago, I gassed 13 nests, the following year 10.
Wait till they are all in the nests at night. They will leave a guard or two at the front. Mark the hole in the daytime and come back at night. No need to suit up at night, just walk up and pour a little gas now the hole. As others have said, no need to light it, the fumes kill them.
If you are worried about the shrubs or the lawn, use hot water and dawn. However, I like to use gas as I like to think they suffer more.
The last hornet nest I had was in a railroad tie retaining wall. Sprayed can after can of wasp spray in the hole with no effect at all that I could see. Finally went to the farm supply store and got some fly spray concentrate that had a two week residual. Mixed it up thick and soaked the entrance hole at night. Never saw another bug flying around there again.
And don't forget brake cleaner. It kills fast and is half the price of hornet spray.
Here is a side note, the foaming hornet spray is also excellent for self defense. My daughters keep a can in their car and also by their beds just in case.
As a kid growing up in the south, it only takes one run in with a fire ant hill before a 5 gallon gas can and a book of matches becomes a source of sick entertainment.
I couldn't even begin to calculate the billions of biting lil nasties I've barbacued.
These days I typically just reach for the wasp spray.
Scott, seems we all have different forms of Elephant Balls. I've worked with snakes all my life and hot snakes on several occasions. Snakes don't bother me a bit, but things that fly and sting in numbers I do not care for. I can handle a Copperhead or Timber Rattler, but if you asked me to pick up that comb full of bees you have in that picture I'd tell you to GFY.
Show me the pic of you holding up the football size active yellow jacket nest you just dug out of the ground please.
European Honey Bees and Yellow Jackets are not in the same conversation. Euro honey bees being friendly pollinators, yellow jackets being Satan's pissed off spawn.
True. I can and have handled poisonous snakes but in my old age I have a lot less desire to do it again. I would rater leave them alone or remove their heads.
I have killed ground bees, yellow jackets and such with the soap and water many times as well as bagged the big paper wasp nest in a trash bag then soaking it down with soapy water. It works great and does not pollute.
I willingly admit that there are a couple of aspects to the soap and water I like. First, the reason it works is the soap breaks down the surface tension of the water allowing the rotten little bastards drown and suffer a little.
Secondly I was in the environmental business and worked hard cleaning up ground water that was contaminated with just what some have recommended.
Find the hole. Take a 16oz pop or water bottle and put at least 4oz of gas, kerosene, or diesel fuel in it (diesel works best and kerosene is better than gas). After dark slip up quietly and insert the mouth of the bottle in the hold and walk away.
This is the last time I'm going to help you guys out w/these wasps/bee problems. Get some seven dust in a solo drinking cup half to three quarters full and sprinkle on the two foot diameter spot. They'll be dead and gone the next day. Period. powdr
The only way to get rid of yellow jackets is after you find the hole ( at night), watch where the buggers are going in and out, sometimes there are 2 holes. At night take 1 or 2 RR flares and light 'em up and shove 'em inna hole(s). Cover the holes up with couplea shovels of dirt. The fumes and heat will get them all. Gas, soapy water and crystal meth are all stoopid solutions. I search for these nests. Cisco
Go to Home Depot or Wal-Mart and buy a can of black spray paint. Any kind, the cheaper the better
Spray 1/3 to 1/2 can on each hole and the surrounding turf, fairly well. Once the wasps realize they live in a black neighborhood, they quit working and start killing each other
And be sure to video tape it for the campfires amusement... 
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