I'm a southern transplanted Northerner. I miss the cool fall air and the brisk walks as leaves swirl and fall about in great showers with the hint of November icily lapping at our necks. REAL pumpkin patches with cute farmsteads set up like an amusement park and pumpkins, gourds, corn, cider, apple butter and costumed kids all over the place. Sweatshirts on by the camp fire.

I stepped in a grassy area next to my house last month that had jellow jackets AND ^&* honeybees buzzing around the white clover. I ended up with 3 stings, 2 on my ankle that swelled up in a HUGE mess and hurt and stung and itched for a couple weeks. My hubby is still not over the sand flea bites he suffered while on a BUSINESS trip at Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago. You can't see me grinning.

Oh and no worries...those Yellow Jackets didn't survive the night. My husband was issued forth to deal with them, a neighbor saw him high-stepping and flailing his arms so came to see what he could do to help. 4 cans of Raid and one gasoline soaked hole and there's nary a Yellow Jacket to be found.

That's awful. I hope your alright. I took my two year old grandson to the zoo.( a nice small manageable zoo) There were yellow jackets everywhere. If you left them alone, they just landed and flew away.
Your right to be careful, back in the eighties my boss was killed by disturbing a nest in the hedges. Consider yourself fortunate with a few stings. I do worry when poking around logs or debris on the ground. Something to think about.

I ended up with 3 stings, 2 on my ankle that swelled up in a HUGE mess and hurt and stung and itched for a couple weeks.

If your stings swelled up huge and the itching lasted that long, you may have developed an allergy to bee stings, and/or the sting site might have been infected. Both happened to me after an encounter with yellow jackets -- even though I had been stung by bees in the past and never reacted. I ended having to get medical attention.
Just be aware in case you get stung again -- if you have developed an allergy, your next reaction could be more severe than the one you just had.

swirlywhirly

I've lived pretty much EVERYWHERE in the US, and there's nothing like a New England fall anywhere else. It's the most amazing thing. Very sorry about your injuries, and hope you don't suffer too much longer.

4 cans of Raid and one gasoline soaked hole and there's nary a Yellow Jacket to be found.

The Raid doesn't do anything. Soaking the hole with gasoline after dark and covering it until the next day is the only way I've found to deal with these guys. It only takes about a cup of gas.

The problem I'm having right now is I can't find their hole. We mowed the lawn and didn't find it -- fortunate, since they get really mad when you mow over their hole! But they're bothering the hummingbirds and sucking up all the nectar from the feeders, and they're aggravating my cat. If I could find the hole, they'd be toast by tomorrow morning.

The internet is no help. I found the same question asked by others, and the answer was "follow the bees back to their hive." Clearly these people have never tried to actually do that. You're staring at one of these bees hovering around a hummingbird feeder, and all of a sudden he's gone, you can't see him any more. No idea where he went, let alone any plausible way to actually follow him.

Soaking the hole with gasoline after dark and covering it until the next day is the only way I've found to deal with these guys.

Does this work for other types of wasps?

Does this work for other types of wasps?

Nope! For mud daubers, I use Real-Kill Wasp & Hornet spray, which will shoot 25 feet.