Reply to Let’s talk about yellow jackets…

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Oh for goodness sake. We have yellowjackets every summer. Last year by our trash cans and compost bin and this year under our deck. THey were all over and no one was ever stung, human or pet.

The "aggressiveness" is largely overstated unless you're going after their nest. I'm not saying there are not times when they have to go but, ime, just leave them be. Why must we kill everything?[/quote]

Yellow jackets can kill people

They are aggressive.

If they sting you once, they will release a pheremon in you that tells all their friends that you are a threat that needs to be attacked and stung again.[/quote]

This is 100% true.

I got stung probably a dozen or more times in my calf within about 15 seconds this past August while walking our dogs in rock creek park. We clearly passed close to a ground nest (obviously without realizing it) and they swarmed out. 3 or 4 landed on my calf and started stinging immediately. I didn’t even realize it at first, and then when I felt something. I looked down and saw them on my calf, and immediately slapped my hand down on them very hard, killing them, and saw them fall off smashed and dead when I removed my hand. As I was standing there bent over looking at my calf to see where I’d just been stung, 5-6 more landed right on the same spot in a second or two, and immediately started stinging! I swatted them too, killing a few and then took off running with the dogs in front of me. I went about a hundred feet down the trail and looked back at my leg and there were still 3-4 more on my leg still stinging me!

I’m not allergic to stings, but even then, my entire calf swelled up visibly and was hot and itchy for two days. Went to the Dr on Day 2, and she was very alarmed and had me do blood work for a possible blood clot. Apparently, DVT in the lower legs or compartment syndrome can both be triggered by severe insect stings. Blood work didn’t show any elevated clotting factors, and it was just a severe local reaction to so many stings in such a small area.

The thing about the pheromones is true. They zeroed in on that same spot on my calf three different times, the last time while I was running away.

They are awful creatures. I will go out of my way to kill them from now on. [/quote]

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