Yes.

God those things are evil.

Had a nest in the backyard in a large bush that I dared rub against while mowing. I was a good 30ft away before they descended on me. Got me 5 or 6 times, I swear to you I've never run that fast in my life. One sting on my shoulder swelled to the size of baseball and turned purple 2 days after the fact. Due to the nest being so far away from getting stung I couldn't find it.

A week later same thing except this time the bastards got my 5yo boy twice. He didn't swell up like I did, but got stung above the eye. The next day I found the nest and realized I could spray it down from the relative safety of the screened in porch. I got 2 bottles of what Ace recommended and emptied a bottle on it. One of the demon spawn came shooting up and hit the screen. I sprayed him from 2 inches away, and I could see his little stinger just going nuts trying to get me through the screen. I gave him another full blast and he just stayed there trying to sting through the screen. I might as well have been spiting on him, I swear the hornet spray did nothing. The 3rd spray I left on for like 20 seconds and he looked a little stunned, but his friends all started to come out and my screened in porch isn't perfect so I retreated.

The next morning I called an exterminator. Mountain of a Russian shows up, takes one look at the nest. Then in a tee shirt and cloth shorts walks over and in one motion puts a trash bag over the nest, clips the branch, seals the bag, and then calmly walks over to his pick up truck and puts the bag in a can. WTF.

Update

Turns out they are not hornets like I thought. I went back (inside the truck, windows up) and realized that the bastards were nesting underground and were shaped like a smaller than normal bumblebee with a single pale stripe around their middle. I talked with my Dad and several others and they said bumblebees. I have never seen an aggressive bumblebee before but I guess if you ran over the entrance to my house with a bushhog I would be pretty pissed too. I have not been able to locate the actual entrance to the nest yet, too much matted vegetation on the ground to see a hole. I did try spraying some with a can of hornet spray, that just pissed them off. If I can locate their hole I will gas them, otherwise I will have to wait till the cold gets them. Bastards.

Hope you didn't run over your sunglasses.

quote:

Originally posted by Herkdriver:
Update

Turns out they are not hornets like I thought. I went back (inside the truck, windows up) and realized that the bastards were nesting underground and were shaped like a smaller than normal bumblebee with a single pale stripe around their middle. I talked with my Dad and several others and they said bumblebees. I have never seen an aggressive bumblebee before but I guess if you ran over the entrance to my house with a bushhog I would be pretty pissed too. I have not been able to locate the actual entrance to the nest yet, too much matted vegetation on the ground to see a hole. I did try spraying some with a can of hornet spray, that just pissed them off. If I can locate their hole I will gas them, otherwise I will have to wait till the cold gets them. Bastards.

What about using some industrial strength vegetation killer on the area?

It'll kill the green stuff so you can find the entrance and in your part of the world, will grow back in rather short order.

My wife is a yellow jacket magnet. Every year I see her running through the yard yelling and screaming, arms flailing. That’s in mid December. You should see what she does when their active and chasing her. She gets stung at least once every year.