A good yellowjacket repellent - Does such a thing exist?

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romann
Posts: 2417
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Vancouver, WA

Re: A good yellowjacket repellent - Does such a thing exist?

Post by romann » October 2nd, 2014, 11:28 pm

Good idea of yellowjacket repellent - maybe you can patent it?

A few years ago my car started having problems coming home from E Oregon, I had all my camping gear so I stopped to camp in the desert near Arlington, east of The Dalles. Decided to make a small fire (to boil water, didn't have a stove back then) and while collecting rocks for the fire ring lifted one rock to find a big ball of wasps sitting underneath :shock: . It was dark and cool, they were sleepy and didn't fly at me, but started moving in the light of my head lamp - I quickly put the rock back in place. The problem was, it was right near my tent and there wasn't other good spot to move a camp. So after waiting a few minutes in the dark, I took a plastic bag and put the rock with the whole colony in it and promptly tied it :twisted: . Wasn't bothered by wasps in the morning.
And no, I didn't set them free when leaving ;)

Another time, I was camping near Salmon River and set a tent right near "yellowjacket log" - luckily with my door facing the other way. Found it out in the morning while breaking the camp - I put some stuff right onto the entrance to a hive and irritated yellowjackets started circling me. Quickly ran away 20 yards, a few minutes later retrieved my stuff with a hiking pole. Didn't get stung but quite a few angry insects buzzed around until I left.

raftingdog
Posts: 413
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 2:23 pm

Re: A good yellowjacket repellent - Does such a thing exist?

Post by raftingdog » October 3rd, 2014, 6:51 am

Norman Mailer first book Naked and Dead.... WW2 ..... Soldiers fighting Japanese suffer in jungle war...retreat in full flight.... from bees.... will take on anything but angry bees

viking
Posts: 188
Joined: July 5th, 2009, 6:49 pm

Re: A good yellowjacket repellent - Does such a thing exist?

Post by viking » January 1st, 2015, 10:03 pm

gasoline poured directly in nest after dark or just run away

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BigBear
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Joined: October 1st, 2009, 11:54 am

Re: A good yellowjacket repellent - Does such a thing exist?

Post by BigBear » January 6th, 2015, 9:45 am

I do not know of any repellant that will work, but there are a few things you can do to reduce your appeal:

1) Do not shampoo with fruit-scented soaps or wear pina colada tanning oils
2) Wash your hands after eating meat, the yellow jackets are attracted to the meat smell
3) REI did this about 20 years ago, so it should not be a worry now: do not wear socks with red stripes. Not sure why this is true, but in the mid-1990s people wearing these socks got stung in the ankle where the red band was located. The socks became unpopular very quickly and they are not sold anymore. If they come back, don't buy them.
4) Where you are int he group makes a difference: the first two persons are less likely to get stung when there is a ground nest in the trail.

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