TOPIC: Have You Ever???

I know you guys have especially those who hike 5-10 hrs a trip.How many YELLOW JACKET nest have you stepped in,or hornet.1 this year for me yellow jacket.Eat me up lol.
Then not to long ago I was walking up a old lgging road seen a good flat down below jumped over the bank grabbed a tree about as big as your wrist to stop me and after bending it over some what to stop me after letting it go heard a great buzzing sound took off running looked back and there was a hornet nest bigger than a basketball and those bees where swarming all around it.Thank the Lord I made it out without getting stung.

I\"ve gotten away without being stung for a long time...maybe 15 years or longer ...until this fall!

I was mowing weeds to put in some new beds in an area I hadn't pre-selected. Well, I guess yellow jackets don't like when you mow the cover off their nest site. Who knew!

Up until last year I had only been stung by a honey bee when I was five yrs old and that was cause I steped on it bare foot. Then last year I sturred up a yellow jacket nest and got hit about 7 or 8 times!

well ive been pretty lucky until this week....saturday i had a bumble bee go up my pants leg and sting my calve muscle...

then yesterday takes the cake- i got stung on both sides of my neck by yellow jackets, and took off running as far as i could then sat and rested. well i was done cause they make me sick, so i headed home- and sure enough i got stung on my neck again 25 feet from the door- must have smelt the venom or whatever- ...but yes very bad week. grandma got hit on the palm of her hand picking up branches in the yard

on a plus note- the seng here is still vibrant green-with a few yellows though.

That's one thing I have noticed this season. I have not ran into any bees nest period .I told a friend of mine the other day it is kinda scary. I have 20+ acres and cant tell you where to find a bees nest. usually I have found at the least 5 by now. I started keeping honeybees a few years back and I have not been stung but twice and that was wasps. I am beginning to wonder if that has something to do with it. I got 59 stings the year before I started Keeping bees. Now I have a respect for them and I feel they have a respect for me. Has anyone else noticed a lack of bees? I was at my apple trees this evening and they was only a few buzzing around.

All Right... you guys jinxed me today.

My mother in law has been dating a really nice older fellow a couple years and we talked seng a time or two. He invited me to come to his place today and look around some. He knew there was some seng there, used to dig some 30 years ago but he can't get around in the woods anymore.

Anyway.. I stepped over a old fence into the woods and walked 3 steps and found a diger 3 prong, and a smaller 2 prong. Dug that one and then walked another 10 feet and found another digger 3 prong with a few red berries left. I always go to the down hill side of the plant so I am digging up hill. I steped in place and picked those berries and planted them and then made 2 or 3 whacks at digging the root out and all of a sudden something was buzzing and trying to get in my right ear.

Another second or two later I had been stung 2 times on my left arm (once on my pinkey and another on my bicept) and then 4 times on my right arm, and one went up my shirt sleve and got me under the arm.

YELLOW JACKETS !!!!

One of the first things I thought of after this not so nice event was over - was this post on wildgrown

I did not get to dig that 3 prong but at least I did get to plant the berries.

I found a few more decent plants in that same area including one little 4 prong.

Most of his place had been hit hard by a tormado a couple years ago and there just was not much timber left - getting too much sun now.

TNhunter

About 2 weeks ago I was walking up one of those old, grown up, log roads when i noticed right in the middle of that old road was a small dug out hole. The first thing i thought of was \"Well #@*&... Someone has already been in here diggin seng\".. The second thing i thought of was \"Why is there yellow jackets a comn from that seng hole?\" Well, the race was on!!! I carry a small towel with me when im ginsenin to wipe away the sweat with but during this moment it became a bee beater.. During the bee beating frenzy a couple of bees zeroed in on my head. So, against the fact that you have no time to rationally make smart decisions when you are being bombarded with bee stings, I chose to beat my brains out with my bee beater wich wasnt a good idea because that sent my 300.00 eyeglasses fying through the woods never to be seen again. Since that incident I havnt been finding as much ginseng as i normally do and im blaming that on not having no glasses to see with. But hopefully that will change after tomorrow when i finally get some new ones monday.

I've seen LOTS of in-ground yellow jacket nests this year in my area in the woods. I've bolted away from several, and been stung 4 times this year (3 yellow jacket stings and 1 white-faced hornet sting). Left a tall 4-prong standing near one of the nests...not worth the fight!

stepped in middle of nest after seven straight days of digging. got stung about eight times.I threw down my digging tool and walking stick. Had to hide behind a tree for 15 minutes then grabbed my digger and stick and ran. Time to head out for that day.

The yellow-jackets are just nasty little buggers, IMHO. I was mowing my yard a couple of years ago when I passed over some grass by a walnut with some tree roots above ground. Got stung 3 times, and got out of there fast. Pissed me off, really...

I waited for a bit, and located their entrance hole. so, I restarted the mower, and with evil in my heart, pushed it right over the entrance hole and left it there until it ran out of gas.....

No more little nasty buggers there!