Really bad yellow Jackets!

vanbrat · Aug 13, 2024

Most of you who have been here for a while know I like to cook, and my kitchen is on the outside of my van in the back.
99% of the time it works great, and I enjoy how everything is set up. But this last week end not so much. There have been days when it is to cold/stormy to cook outside I already except that is going to happen now and then. If we were a long ways from any town or ? I could still do it, it just would not be as much fun. But this week end we went to a concert had fun did some minor cooking and got sunburned and tired and headed home. The plan was to stop at a rest area just outside of Leavenworth and have a nap and a good picnic. It's a semi quiet spot and beautiful woods...We have even slept there a time or two.
So we find a table under a shade tree hubby kicks his seat back and starts to take a nap I took out the ice chest and start to make sandwiches and first one then 5-6 then by the time I got the bread out from the cupboard there at least 20-30 yellow jackets swarming the table. I quickly packed up and carefully evicted the ones that somehow got into the ice chest after the lunch meat, closed everything up and we left to find something to eat somewhere indoors.
I like bugs and I know if I leave the yellow jackets alone usually they will leave me alone. Don't swat or get wild but that was a bit scary.
So what do you all do with bug issues?
I have the incents stuff that usually works ok and if I was going to be there for long I would have gotten some yellowjacket traps out.

maki2 · Aug 13, 2024

I do not do food prep or cooking outside. I rarely eat outside. That is because I do not want any increase in rodent and insect activity at my campsite. I also do not wash dishes outdoors in the vicinity of my campsite especially in the desert as the extra moisture also increases rodent and insect activity. The same would be true if I was using a shower tent. People put shower tents right next to their camping vehicles never realizing that will increase the number of flies and wasps which are very much attracted to water as are snakes!

If you are going to setup an outdoor camp kitchen put it at a distance away from your vehicles and sleeping area.

I have friends who have motorhomes and do all those activities plus outdoor cooking under the canopy right outside their door. Plus they leave out bowls of water and or food for the dogs. Also setting up a garbage station nearby. They are often battling flies, wasps and ants. Conveniences vs common sense. This stuff is not much different in thinking about camping in bear country except the wildlife you are attracting is a whole lot smaller.

abnorm · Aug 13, 2024

^^I hear ya...........................While in California We were swarmed by Yellowjackets or "Meat Bees"

I tried to make Liver and Bacon outside on the camp stove...........the blood just drove them crazy............Bees rolling in the flour........even jumping into the fry pan ! I started swinging an electronic bug swatter and the real fun started as they CANNIBALIZED the dying bees.

One painful "sting" to the belly......actually I swatted it and MAY have Stung myself in the process

We moved on to Oregon

eDJ_ · Aug 13, 2024

I think you did the best thing in vacating. Yellow Jackets (America's idea of killer bees) are nothing to fool with.

I live right on the Ohio River and seem to always have some of them around. They get under my decks which are underpinned with aluminum soffits or they burrow in the ground and I only discover them after running over one of their nest with the lawnmower. Lately they got in my gas grill and I discovered that when I opened the lid.

Only idea I can offer for a picnic is to make the sandwiches before hand and everything else in containers with lids.

I'm wondering if there was a ground nest near where you were eating ? And since there was food
they changed their priorities from "sting the invader" to "crash the party".

bullfrog ! · Aug 13, 2024

Everything maki2 said plus a small wood fire to cook on if possible as smoke helps keep them away. Don’t leave food out or coolers open. Avoid locations that others have used in the past and left trash or spills. Be careful around bees especially in Southern Arizona as aggressive species have moved into the area I believe. I have gotten new respect for them as they have made a hive under the floor of my storage shed at Caballo Loco. So far we are getting along though! lol!!! All the plants seem to be blooming better! It is amazing the number I have seen fly in and out of their entry hole.

maki2 · Aug 13, 2024

Leaving a cooler lid open? I bet you do not leave your refrigerator door open

LargeMarge · Aug 15, 2024

vanbrat said:
Most of you... and starts to take a nap I took out the ice chest and start to make sandwiches and first one then 5-6 then by the time I got the bread out from the cupboard there at least 20-30 yellow jackets swarming...
I like bugs and I know if I leave the yellow jackets alone usually they will leave me alone. Don't swat or get wild but that was a bit scary...
I have the incents stuff that usually works ok and if I was going to be there for long I would have gotten some yellowjacket traps out.

.
Yellowjackets are my pals, I think of them as my children.
.
Buzzing my face, I greet them, thank them for checking on me, and encourage them to go play.
"Hi, guys, thanks for checking on me, I think it's time to go play, what do you think?"
.
Involving them in the decision process is part of my 'Everything Is My Community' foundational beliefs.
Weird, eh?

tx2sturgis · Aug 15, 2024

Perfumes, colognes, hairspray, sunscreen, body powders, deodorants, and scented air deodorizers, sweet smelling candles, or ANYTHING that smells sweet or flowery will attract flying insects, and especially bees and wasps.

Even freshly laundered and folded clothing or towels that still have the flowery smell of your favorite 'fresh scent' laundry detergent.

If you have or use any of those products...you can end up being the target of the swarms.

vanbrat · Aug 16, 2024

tx2sturgis said:
Perfumes, colognes, hairspray, sunscreen, body powders, deodorants, and scented air deodorizers, sweet smelling candles, or ANYTHING that smells sweet or flowery will attract flying insects, and especially bees and wasps.

Even freshly laundered and folded clothing or towels that still have the flowery smell of your favorite 'fresh scent' laundry detergent.

If you have or use any of those products...you can end up being the target of the swarms.

I was just hot and sweaty. 2 days of sponge baths and lots of neighbors smoking Interesting stuff. It was a crowded concert.

maki2 said:
Leaving a cooler lid open? I bet you do not leave your refrigerator door open

The cooler lid as I said some how they somehow got in while it was closed but not latched. And no I don't leave my fridge door open unless I am cleaning it out.

I agree with eDJ, I think there must have been a nest close by.

I have only had this much bug trouble once or twice before. I once had mosquitos so bad they attacked the bacon in the frying pan. And once had to abandon dinner to again yellowjackets!! But since we planned to stay there for a week we got 3 yellow Jacket traps hung up, slowed them down enough to eat. All 3 traps filled very quickly. Once took kidos to a park and since the yellow jackets were bad, we left quickly.

rruff · Aug 16, 2024

vanbrat said:
So what do you all do with bug issues?

Generally move...

I've had problems with "killer bees" in the SW desert. The fix there is to make damn sure I don't spill water on the ground anywhere near my rig. They don't seem attracted to my food.

maki2 · Aug 16, 2024

The Rescue Brand Outdoor hanging fly and yellow jacket traps sold at Walmart and elsewhere use an attractant chemical in them that smells like rotting meat. The traps work fine but you do not want to put them anywhere close to your camp or a picnic table as the smell is very nauseating. Of course if you want to get a noisy generator loving neighbor to move away …. The only thing better would be skunk scent….

vanbrat · Aug 16, 2024

I think since I know when yellow jacket season gets here, I should carry some when we go out and have them just in case. They don't take up much room and it could save a trip back to whatever town we are near.. I always have the coil things and keep bug spray close for mosquiters and have pine sol stuff that I like to use for the tables and to discourage flies, but have not thought about just carrying the traps.... the fly buzzer thing sounds fun... It's nice that there wasn't a problem at the concert camp grounds... It was so crowded that would not have been much fun.

maki2 · Aug 17, 2024

Those stinking hanging bag traps for yellow jackets and flies are very effective at trapping those insects in the vicinity. But hang them quite a ways away from your campsite. That will catch them before they get into your area. Works fine in the forested areas where there are plenty of trees to hang them from. But you might need to carry some stakes to hang them from if you are camped in grasslands , desert or beach areas. Those tall metal stakes are called “shepherds hooks” and can be found in garden centers. Handy for outdoor lights or even as a towel hanger when not in use for the bag traps.

twomountainlions · Wednesday at 5:40 PM

I have my favorite place in Southern Arizona where a swarm of wild bees live. You can hear the swarm buzzing sonetimes as they fly by. Look forward to meeting them again, they are a part of this nature. During very hot days, they land on you and try to drink sweat. My first time there it seemed like their entire hive invaded my rig but I vacuumed them up, batch by batch, and released them outside. Ever since we seem to have been in agreement, if they get too brazen about invading my rig I give them mint oil warning spray and they keep distance. I do cook and wash outside, always. When bees sometines swarm the spilled water its a transient event. Love to find a blooming brush filled with bees and sit among them. Got to learn how to catch wild bees, they can be used for honey production once you rehome them on your land. Giant red yellow yackets, though, thats pesky stuff.

I run into very bad yellow jackets and flies of course, I just avoid cooking meat/fish in those spots and the problem doesnt escalate. (though once close to feed lot flies were unstoppable and were all over everything, thats what happens)

Mice have excellent sense of smell and will be attracted to a rig with food supplies in it in any case, they cxn smell stuff from up to 10 miles away, cooking and washing outside or not. I setup bright motion activated led lights under the rig but it only has to be done in Southern Arizona, really, never had issues elsewhere and I move camp every 2 weeks.

rruff · Thursday at 11:43 AM

I'm sure you know this, but for those who may not... the bees in S AZ are nearly all "killer bees". They aren't really dangerous though unless they think their hive is being threatened... but if they decide you are a threat, it won't be fun...

I think "rehoming wild bees on your land" would require the hive with the queen.

twomountainlions · Thursday at 9:08 PM

rruff said:
I'm sure you know this, but for those who may not... the bees in S AZ are nearly all "killer bees". They aren't really dangerous though unless they think their hive is being threatened... but if they decide you are a threat, it won't be fun...

I think "rehoming wild bees on your land" would require the hive with the queen.

Yeah up to 90% of Arizona bees are already hybrids with Africanized bees, what they call killer bees, just more protective of their hives, but thats really the ones with more African dna in them that keep those traits. I'm pretty sure my local bee friends are heavily Africanized as they swarm a lot, unlike European breed of honeybees. Yes Im familiar with whats to be done, know someone who made bee catching business in the UK, I dont plan to catch AZ bees, I meant after I relocate on own land overseas, wild bees are more resilient kind than the ones that get shipped, often

Really bad yellow Jackets!

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