Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: WapitiTalk1 on July 31, 2015, 06:16:52 PM

Title: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 31, 2015, 06:16:52 PM: Yellowjackets. It'll be a bad year for them in many elk states. Those little ground dwelling suckers can really ruin a good hunt. Quite a few years ago in WA, my hunting buddy suddenly started doing the blowdown jig (jumping like a gazelle over and on top of blowdown) with me watching in amazement but I kinda figured what it was. We were working into a nice herd of Rooseys with a respectable 6 point and my buddy was crawling in as I was but suddently, he felt a sting or bite on his knee... lifting up his knee, here they came out in a stream like an upward fountain. Hundreds of the little suckers nailed him numerous times. No bueno.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: Quackwhacker on July 31, 2015, 06:39:11 PM: Buddies and I were out scouting two weeks ago and they were definitely thicker than usual. I'm glad none of us are allergic. Sucks to get stung though.
We will be doing a lot of traps around camp as they really like what we cook. Any ideas on the most effective traps?

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Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: _TONY_ on July 31, 2015, 07:15:05 PM: Know that all too well.... Accidentally stepped in a yellow jacket whole and when I lifted my foot out, all hell broke loose... That was a bad day.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: xXLojackXx on July 31, 2015, 07:17:52 PM: Quote from: _TONY_ on July 31, 2015, 07:15:05 PM
Know that all too well.... Accidentally stepped in a yellow jacket whole and when I lifted my foot out, all hell broke loose... That was a bad day.

Run Tony, run.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: Born2late on July 31, 2015, 07:20:18 PM: My son and i are beekeepers.
If you dont know what the weed plantain is google pictures. It works awesome for treating bee or yellow jacket stings. You chew up the leaves into a paste and pack it over the sting for 20 minutes to a half hour. It takes all the pain and swelling and for a lot of people with allergic reactions it greatly helps also. Good remedy if you have it growing were you hunt.Never fun getting attack by them and feeling miserable while hunting.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: splitshot on July 31, 2015, 07:21:05 PM: the firefighters have been having lots of issues with yellowjackets and hornets. mike w
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: Firedogg on July 31, 2015, 07:22:18 PM: If you are bow hunting hold really still... They will never see you in your camo. 😳
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: PolarBear on July 31, 2015, 07:22:27 PM: Bald faced hornets are really bad this years as well!
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 31, 2015, 07:23:05 PM: Quote from: PolarBear on July 31, 2015, 07:22:27 PM
Bald faced hornets are really bad this years as well!

Those are some nasty beasts!!
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: PolarBear on July 31, 2015, 07:25:32 PM: :yeah:
Had one nail me directly between my eyes last year. It took less than 5 minutes for both of my eyes to swell shut. :bash:
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 31, 2015, 07:47:24 PM: Quote from: PolarBear on July 31, 2015, 07:25:32 PM
:yeah:
Had one nail me directly between my eyes last year. It took less than 5 minutes for both of my eyes to swell shut. :bash:

Was bucking a tree in MT years ago and the sky turned black. Dropped saw, jumped off fir, ran and was stung countless times. Ended up passing out although I'm not allergic. They pack a punch.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: Mfowl on July 31, 2015, 08:27:45 PM: Quote from: PolarBear on July 31, 2015, 07:22:27 PM
Bald faced hornets are really bad this years as well!

I just got stung twice by bald faced hornets the other day. Turns out I was standing next to a basketball sized nest hidden low on a shrub in some tall grass. Could''ve been so much worse!
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: splitshot on July 31, 2015, 09:11:05 PM: what is a bald faced hornet? never heard of them till this year. mike w
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on July 31, 2015, 09:13:55 PM: Quote from: splitshot on July 31, 2015, 09:11:05 PM
what is a bald faced hornet? never heard of them till this year. mike w

Here ya go. Bad critters.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald-faced_hornet
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: splitshot on July 31, 2015, 09:20:36 PM: thanks, have some in my garden. luv to hunt down yellowjackets, nests and all. these things are added to my list. mike w
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: tgomez on July 31, 2015, 11:31:06 PM: Quote from: PolarBear on July 31, 2015, 07:25:32 PM
:yeah:
Had one nail me directly between my eyes last year. It took less than 5 minutes for both of my eyes to swell shut. :bash:
Had one sting me on the right eye lid. Looked like I took a hook from Iron Mike Tyson. I HATE bees, horse flies have a pretty painfull bite as well. Insects suck!!
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: go4itlab on July 31, 2015, 11:51:39 PM: Last year while hunting I was moving thru an area that during the wetter months holds water, I could smell the familiar smell of a wallow in the thick stuff. As I was moving I would try to get up higher on logs and stumps to look ahead to see if i could see a muddy hole. Well stepped up on stump and wham, wham , wham. Got it good! Never found the wallow I was running out of the nasty. Amazed I didn't break anything. When I did wildland fire oh man!!!!! It was a regular occurrence. Started carrying cans of bee bop in the rigs and if we where close enough to go back and get it was WAR!!!!
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: RadSav on August 01, 2015, 12:38:02 AM: I remember a few years when the woods would start to buzz before daylight! So many bees that blood trailing became difficult. Yellow Jackets would literally carry any dry blood away. Wife shot a deer and we gave up looking for blood. Luckily we were able to follow the bees and find it. I field dressed and packed it on my back while the wife pounded me with a cedar bow. Was still bitten and stung a good number of times. Think I'd rather be stung than bitten by those darn things!
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: builtfordtough on August 01, 2015, 01:05:06 AM: Up high buck hunting 3 yrs ago, slid into a yellow jackets nest. Stung at least 30 times. 20 minutes later came across another bees nest and stung at least 20 more times. Never will I go up that mtn again. Allergic to them now and have to carry eppy pen...
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: huntingbaldguy on August 01, 2015, 02:44:12 AM: Bees are weird. I went shooting with my grandpa once in eastern Oregon. His spot is way up in the Blues. We got there and there were black hornets, or bald faced hornets all over the place. They were landing on our guns, swarming around my truck. We only stayed about 2 minutes. No one got stung, but they were landing on anything black, no joke. They would land on my pistol, and i would fire it, they'd fly off it about 6" and then land on it again. Weirdest thing i've ever seen, but they weren't aggressive, just annoying.

I did step on a yellow jacket nest climbing Mt Washington a couple years back though. I think i got stung about 40 to 50 times. Not an experience i care to repeat for sure.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: Bean Counter on August 01, 2015, 04:39:18 AM: I was elk hunting in the 652 and climbed over a cattle gate and a bunch of yellow jackets decided to let me know that the inside of the gate was their home. Got about a dozen tattoos from the experience.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: lokidog on August 01, 2015, 04:58:46 AM: Quote from: Quackwhacker on July 31, 2015, 06:39:11 PM
Buddies and I were out scouting two weeks ago and they were definitely thicker than usual. I'm glad none of us are allergic. Sucks to get stung though.
We will be doing a lot of traps around camp as they really like what we cook. Any ideas on the most effective traps?

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

If it is dry, like now, they will go after water almost as much as meat. Put out a bowl of water with a small amount of dishsoap in it. My dog's outside water bowl looks like a yellowjacket graveyard after yesterday.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: lamrith on August 01, 2015, 08:28:21 AM: Quote from: Phantom16 on July 31, 2015, 09:13:55 PM
Quote from: splitshot on July 31, 2015, 09:11:05 PM
what is a bald faced hornet? never heard of them till this year. mike w

Here ya go. Bad critters.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald-faced_hornet

Yeah those are mean once you get inside what they consider their nest area. They build those classic hornet football nests too.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: MountainWalk on August 01, 2015, 08:45:48 AM: At camp or at outdoor meat cookings, I hang a smallish fish half skinned or filleted or an old freezer burned steak. Bucket of water underneath. They gorge, fill up and fall into the bucket and drown.

The ABSOLUTE worst is packing a string of stock and finding a nest the hard way. Oh, bad s--t, man, them horses and mules hate em.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: Expedition Scout on August 01, 2015, 10:13:34 AM: Quote from: Quackwhacker on July 31, 2015, 06:39:11 PM
Buddies and I were out scouting two weeks ago and they were definitely thicker than usual. I'm glad none of us are allergic. Sucks to get stung though.
We will be doing a lot of traps around camp as they really like what we cook. Any ideas on the most effective traps?

we use the commercial traps with some sandwich meat in them. Seems that's what they want and it works good. better than the liquid bait IMHO
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: elkrack on August 01, 2015, 11:22:47 AM: I was wondering how often this happened cause last year while elk hunting i stepped on a hornets nest and got stung 14 times. Probably looked pretty funny running through the woods slapping bees off.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: Smossy on August 01, 2015, 11:33:46 AM: Yup bald faced hornets suck. Last year was weed whacking the thorny shrubs from my yard and felt little stabs in my leg. Figured it was just the weeds for a bit untill it really started to hurt. Looked down and my legs were covered in easily over 100 hornets trying to dig through my jeans. Freaked out threw the weed whacker and took off running like a marathon runner.
Managed to slip on a hole and mess up my ankle really bad about half way to the house. Hopped skipped and jumped through the back door where beck seen me running. Started swatting em off and stripping down in the tub. Was stung approx 30 times. Was enough for me to start getting all jittery and have a hard time breathing and I'm not even alergic to them.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: tgomez on August 01, 2015, 04:42:46 PM: The liquid bait is bee pheromone, it works better than anything. If that stuff gets on your skin your screwed. I worked at Riverfront Park for 4 years. The bees can smell that stuff from a long ways, and the funnel that they climb into they are not smart enough to climb back out. They just give up and die eventually. Use to fill those traps up every two days, expescially during hoopfest and pig out in the park.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: PolarBear on August 01, 2015, 04:48:06 PM: The end of the summer yellowjackets will go for chunks of salmon belly faster than those pheromone baits. I can put them out side by side and the salmon will get 70% more in it from now until they go into hiding. Early on the pheromone works like crazy. :twocents:
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: huntingbaldguy on August 02, 2015, 12:24:06 AM: Forget commercial traps. Cut the tapered top off a water bottle, take the cap off and turn it upside down. Tape it in place after putting your bait (meat has worked the best for me with a little water) and you have a bee killing machine for cheap.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: buglebrush on August 02, 2015, 09:03:21 PM: Carry capsules of activated charcoal. If applied immediately after on stings it really ducks the poison out. Nothing better IME.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: WapitiTalk1 on August 02, 2015, 09:11:45 PM: If you're hunting the wet side where the banana slug dwells, and, happen to have one in your pocket (grin) they work great for numbing bee stings and those unfortunate stinging nettle encounters. Make sure you wear gloves when you handle them as the numbing slime is tough to get off.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: pd on August 02, 2015, 09:23:10 PM: Quote from: huntingbaldguy on August 02, 2015, 12:24:06 AM
Forget commercial traps. Cut the tapered top off a water bottle, take the cap off and turn it upside down. Tape it in place after putting your bait (meat has worked the best for me with a little water) and you have a bee killing machine for cheap.

I don't follow this. Picture, please.
Title: Re: With a hot summer comes.......
Post by: huntingbaldguy on August 03, 2015, 12:17:26 AM: Quote from: pd on August 02, 2015, 09:23:10 PM
Quote from: huntingbaldguy on August 02, 2015, 12:24:06 AM
Forget commercial traps. Cut the tapered top off a water bottle, take the cap off and turn it upside down. Tape it in place after putting your bait (meat has worked the best for me with a little water) and you have a bee killing machine for cheap.

I don't follow this. Picture, please.

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F_pp0W5eMoo0A%2FTIueIF8W86I%2FAAAAAAAACOo%2F1icQ7hGTFiA%2Fs1600%2Fwaspsphoto.jpg&hash=21e59e956e76c0c407b86988f5eb140d64665c0e)