How close have you been to an active hornet nest?

[Hornett]

Saturday, I had to get in to the office to work.
But first, I had to unload a dresser and a desk from my truck.
I was going to unload this through a back door that we seldom use.
This particular door is very close to the bedroom that the furniture was going in.
So, I had just gotten out of bed and still had only my underwear on.
I went to the back door to unlock it so I could move the furniture in then take a shower.
I unlocked the door, but this particular door sticks in the Fall.
So I jerked it open, and there were these black bugs flying around.
Odd...
Then my eyes panned to the left and I saw the nest in the corner of the door jam.
Barely 3 feet Away!!!
And me, totally unclothed and defenseless.
Here is a pic of the door with the shadow of where the nest was (I wasn't in the mood to take pics before the ensuing war).

As you can see from the imprint, When I opened the door it tore the back half of the nest open.
They were very angry.
I am so proud of myself because I had the presence of mind to slam the door before running through the house like a crazy man.
I got stung one time on the back of my head as I retreated around the corner.
Lucky for me there is a T in the hallway and for hornets, out of sight is out of mind.
I think I got away so clean because they were as surprised as I was.
I turned off all the lights in the house except for the one right above the door I had just opened.
This seemed to keep the hornets contained in one area.
I poked my head around the door and counted 1 2 3 4 5 6 little intruders.
I wanted to be sure I killed all the ones that got in the house.
I killed one of the six that landed too close with a flyswatter.
I got dressed and went to the local mini mart and overpaid (cheap at twice the price because I was glad to have some) for a can of wasp and hornet spray.
It said outdoor use only, but the hornets in the hall were kind of clustered together, so I gave them a shot of the spray.
4 died immediately, and counting the one I had swatted earlier, there was a lone perp still at large in my house.
It came flying around the corner and I swatted him out of the air with the flyswatter.
6 for 6.
The 20' range on the spray made short work of the nest.
I soaked the nest and the next day there were dead hornets all over the porch.
Tore the nest down and cleaned up the dead and nest remains without incident.

What a way to wake up on a Saturday morning.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I got four feet when flaming the crap out of it with a propane torch. I did not enjoy being that close.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Some friends and I practically walked right into one, out in the woods one day when we were kids. Luckily we didn't actually disturb it but I think we made eye contact with a few of those mean little ********.

A few years ago, we had a nest in some arborvitae trees in the back yard, right on the property line. One evening, I got close enough to spray it down with wasp killer. That one wasn't all that huge--grapefruit sized.

 

[Blown71X]

Every year I have to deal with nests at my property in Canada, Those are white faced hornets (sometimes called Bald Faced) and are scary aggressive if disturbed.
They sting repeatedly and put a new meaning to "Hurt" if they get you. I always have nests on the back of my cabin, some very large.

I`ll be the first one to admit I will run screaming like a little girl from bees, especially these little demons, So much to the point that I will tape a propane torch to a long piece of pipe or board just to light `em up as that is absolutely the best way to remove the threat with these paper style of nests......and it also keeps me at a distance.

Rick

 

[eric001]

While exploring a small garage on a property my buddy just bought, we walked right under 4 small nests of bald-faced hornets--as in ducked to avoid a low roof and missed bumping heads into the nests by less than a foot each. Only on the return trip through that area did I happen to look up and notice the rafters were literally crawling with the little devils. Thinking about it now, it's a miracle none of the several dozen of them took offense and stung the crap out of us.

 

[Birds Away]

I was married for 24 years.

 

[Booya]

I took a Mossberg 500 JIC to one weekend before last. I didn't have the pump pulled back from the first shot before I got nailed on the hand. Reflecting back, I'm not sure the shotgun was the best idea, but we thought since we had a shotgun it was probably the right thing to try first... I was probably 3' away when the first shot went off. I tried to shake the offending sting monster from my forward hand and failed, so I just left him on for the second shot... Then I ran. Fast.

 

[Blown71X]

I was married for 24 years.

You win for today

 

[Fordtough25]

Only as close as I need to me the Winchester heavy dove load work. When we moved into our new house last year there was a big hornet nest in the pine tree across from my front porch. After I killed two ridiculously sized hornets on the porch around my kids I blew it to pieces, waited a bit then bagged up the pieces and burn baby burn.

 

[planedriver]

I fight the little dive bombers all summer and into the fall. This year their most creative nest was built in the basement of my bus in the water heating area where there are vented louvers for them to get in. On closer inspection the nest was probably 18" H X 12" wide attached to the louvers on the outside and mechanicals on the inside. Knowing fire would not produce the most favorable result I immediately retreated to formulate a plan over a glass of scotch. While pondering my attack plan one of the neighbors dropped by (must have been the scent of scotch in the air).

The neighbor (after copious amounts of scotch and now dusk) suggested a shop vac. Well what the hell..... In our stealthy ways we managed to attach the vac hose with duct tape to the louvers, securing the hose over the entrance/exit and powered it up. The returning yellow jackets were sucked into the abyss and the exiting residents same. Of course this process was set to take a while and more scotch. After a couple of hours (now pitch dark) We mounted another assault with a liberal dousing of raid down the vac hose and the remainder of the can into the nest. Problem solved! Next day I removed the nest and burned it properly.

 

[Gluemanz28]

I was mowing my yard and saw what I thought was bumble bees flying around a tree in my back yard. I just had one more pass to make on my zero turn mower so I went in fast and hot, making my last pass. I bumped my head on a low brach as I made the loop around the tree. Then I was being swarmed by hornets. I push the handles as far forward as they would go, but the hornets could fly faster than my Toro. Two of them nailed be, so I bailed off the mower and ran like the dickens.

I went to the garage and mixed up a batch of Pounce Insecticide. This is an agricultural grade chemical that I got from a mellon farmer in Owensville. I pumped up the garden sprayer and adjusted the nozzle to stream and went back to the tree. I was shooting the flying hornets that I could see flying around. The Red Barron would have been proud of me. The pounce sent them kamikaze flying to the ground.

I was looking up high for the nest and couldn't find it. Then out of the corner of my eye I see the nest only three feet away from me. I screamed like a girl and ran away like a jack rabbit. I gathered my wits and put a plan together. I started saturating the nest with the pounce as I got close enough to reach it with the lethal streaming pounce. Once I got close enough to it I stuck the nozzle in the hole in the nest and wet it down from the inside as well.

It was then that I realized that it wasn't the limb that my head had hit, it was the nest!!!
So to answer the OP's question "How close have you been to a nest?" My answer is VERY CLOSE!

I mow my yard every two to three days and that nest wasn't there on my previous mowing so they must be able to build fast. I took the nest apart to look inside and it had what looked like several layers of wasp nest with a post between each layer separating them. A hornets nest is a High Rise Condo inside that shell.

I now look very close every time I get close to that tree. Pain is the best teacher I know.

 

[Timjoebillybob]

About 5 feet from a monster one while digging a hole for a in ground sprinkler manifold. It was in a wood fence, don't know the name of the style but it has alternating slats one on the inside and one on the outside. The nest was woven into it, no exaggeration it was about 4 ft wide and 3 tall. I asked my boss if I got hazard pay, he just laughed and said be careful not to throw dirt on the nest.....

 

[ModernGunner]

...So, I had just gotten out of bed and still had only my underwear on. I went to the back door to unlock it so I could move the furniture in then take a shower...And me, totally unclothed and defenseless...

So, the 'original plan' was to go outside and move in furniture, "totally unclothed and defenseless"
p.s. - Hornets are ALWAYS pissed off. I think they grow up mad because 'bees get all the glory!'

 

[Porter]

It's been several years now but mowed all year long under a pine tree in the yard, finally about the first week of September my neighbor was over and said wow that's a huge hornet nest. I said where??? It was hanging from the lowest branch, when I would pass under it my head couldn't have been more than a foot from the bottom. They never did sting or get pissed off but it didn't get mowed any more after that.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

I keep a can of wasp & hornet by the front door. Seems like every year I have a couple of nests start up on the front deck or by the door. I've had the little bastiges start nests in the doodads over the gas caps on my cars. Yes, I've been close enough to reach out and touch them, and done so, not that I'm stoopid enough to do it on purpose.

Bees are another thing. If one of those stings you, it dies. More of a commitment. But a wasp can get you all the way across the back (had that happen) and go brag to his wasp friends about it. Just makes me want to technology them to death.

 

[jkaetz]

A few feet. I had to clear out several paper wasp nests this year the largest being about 5 or 6 inches in diameter with about 30 of the suckers hanging around. They were swarming my humming bird feeders and actually chasing the birds away.