Yellowjacket bites

Pigsticker

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Was harvesting grapes yesterday when a yellow jacket (didn't see it but they were into my grapes thick) bit me on the top of my index finger. That felt like a red hot needle stuck into my finger. It still hurts today and every time I wash my hands with cold water the stinging starts up again intense. Is there a stinger these things leave behind? I can't even located the exact spot where it got me and I don't see a hole, bite mark or stinger. No swelling and just a touch of redness, but nothing even remotely concerning.

Is this normal when one of these pests nails you? I don't remember having the sting go on this long.
 


Davey Crockett

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I think it must be a finger thing. Last week I grabbed the hummingbird feeder to fill it and got stung on the side of my finger and it hurt like you just explained it. Earlier this summer I got stung on the shoulder and it didn't hardly hurt at all but it left a welt and I knew it was a yellowjacket because I was right next to the nest. Starting just two days ago , They are so thick in the strawberries that I have to pick at night with a flashlight, They are burrowing right inside the strawberries , I picked a nice big one during the day and 4 or 5 wasps came crawling out of it.
 

WormWiggler

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I had a problem with them bastages and I rigged up the shop vac next to the crack between my front step and foundation. Put some duct tape so they could only enter/exit in front of vac tip. Turned it on and it was like a COD session. Left it run for a couple weeks. Open vac at end had 8 inches of dead bugs.
 

dean nelson

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No they do not leave a stinger behind. Probably just some inflamed tissue still and should clear up fairly fast at this point.
 

JayKay

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In my experience too, it must be a finger thing. Thin skin on the backs of fingers and/or hands. I got stung above the knee the other day, and after a few minutes of holding an ice cube on it, I was fine. But last summer I got stung between my pointer and middle finger, and thought I was going to have to go in for a lobotomy, it hurt and itched so bad.
 


Lycanthrope

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A couple WEEKS? I had a wasp next in my rock wall in the back yard 2 years ago. They were entering/exiting via one specific opening in the rocks, so I rigged up my vac with the opening right next to the rocks and did the same, I only left it for a few hours, but had a MESS of wasps in the container. Then I sprayed bug killer in there, but there werent many left after the vac job.

Ive gotten stung a few times and it seems that if you squeeze the area where you were stung, like a zit, until you get a little blood to come out, it helps a lot. Usually youll get some clear/yellowish fluid out before you get a bit of blood, I think thats the venom. Makes the difference for me between a skeeter sized welt and one closer to a golf ball size. Ive tried both squeezing and not squeezing, gotta do it quick tho.
 

Brian Renville

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It can also depend if they bite you or sting you. I think the bite is worse. They eat meat(insects) for the most part and they have dirty stinking bacterial laced mouths and that can hurt like hell.
 

johnr

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Daughter took one to the lip a couple years back, she took a drink of her pop while a bee was in the can.
She swelled up like that kid on the movie mask, lasted the rest of the day.

I have stepped on a hive when I was about 10 years old, had close to 100 stings that day. Worst day ever.

Sometimes they hurt for a few hours, other times it seems to last for days.
 

Fishmission

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I got ran out of my tree stand yesterday evening buy some angry yellow jackets. Darndest thing, I put the climbing sticks on the tree, attached the stand and never an issue.
As soon as I stood on the stand and start trimming some limbs, I heard buzzing all round me and turned around to see about 10 or 12 of them. Had my thermocell on me, and stuck it out toward them. That seemed to not be a good idea as they became even more agitated and started divebombing me. In record time I was out of the stand and on the ground. Now I have a brand new stand that I will not go back to until after a hard frost.
 

johnr

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I got ran out of my tree stand yesterday evening buy some angry yellow jackets. Darndest thing, I put the climbing sticks on the tree, attached the stand and never an issue.
As soon as I stood on the stand and start trimming some limbs, I heard buzzing all round me and turned around to see about 10 or 12 of them. Had my thermocell on me, and stuck it out toward them. That seemed to not be a good idea as they became even more agitated and started divebombing me. In record time I was out of the stand and on the ground. Now I have a brand new stand that I will not go back to until after a hard frost.

Purchase a bee suit
 


BBQBluesMan

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Hate em. Got stung on the knuckle once while cleaning early season geese and it hurt like hell. Those bastages smelled blood from a mile away, and were swarming the geese. Not fun. Not fun at all.
 

Enslow

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Here are thought this thread was about martinslanding...
 

Bowhunter_24

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Sunday I got the shit beat out of my by yellow jackets. I had huge welts everywhere. I had a cut off shirt on. They stung my ears bad they were swelled huge and bright red. Honest to God the worst pain in my life. I must have set my backpack down on their nest or something. It was hell. I left my backpack, trail cam and all my stuff laying there and ran like hell. I had over 20 stings


image.jpg
I went back in yesterday to get my things. I had more than a cut off shirt on this time
 

Captain Ahab

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Do you have any pictures of your ears to show the peanut gallery?

- - - Updated - - -

I had one sting/bite me in the neck a while back. That wasn't a good time. Like you said, it burns like a red hot poker for a while.
 

remm

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Hit a nest a few years back with the chainsaw when I was cutting up some old dead fall. Got quite a few bites on the hands and arms, few on the neck, face and legs. Had the whole family laughing and wondering what the hell was going on when I ran out of the woods ripping off my shirt and pants and yelling. Took some benadryl, ibuprofen and a few beers to dull the pain. Now that you mention it, the ones on my hands and wrists definitely were the most painful and didn't feel better for a few days.
 


espringers

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those damn things should be outlawed. i am starting an initiated measure and hope to fund it with out of state $. hope that doesn't kill the initiative. i discovered a hive in the basement of a rental i just purchased. not looking forward to the upcoming disposal of that damn thing. i have my outfit picked out. but, the method of disposal is still up in the air. do they stay in the shop vac once sucked up?
 

svnmag

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Douse it with the Raid at night. It's not that dramatic actually.
 

espringers

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nevermind... that's a stupid question... of course they stay in the shop vac... right? ;)
 


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