Wilderness Survival Training

Wilderness Survival Training Adult and Teen Oregon

  • Survival Skills Training
    • First Circle Camp
    • Advanced Survival Training
    • THE EDGE
    • Student Testimonials
  • Oregon Survival School
    • Survival Skills Weekend
    • Government
  • Teen Camps
    • Teen 14 Day – Wilderness Adventure OR. – 14-17
    • Father Son Survival Camp
  • FAQ
    • Registration Policies
    • More Services – Gear, Rentals, etc.
  • Calendar
  • Contact Us
    • About
    • Media & Press
  • BLOG
    • The Philosophy
    • Outdoor Survival School
    • Teen Adventure Camps
    • Plants
    • Survival Gear
    • Tracking

Aug 16 2007

Wasps, Hornets, and Yellow Jackets – Oh My!

Along the Oregon coast we often have ground hornet nests near our home. Vespula pensylvanica. I thought I would write about hornets today because our dog disturbed a ground nest of Yellow Jackets. And was very confused when she came under attack. So, let's talk about these fearsome flying wasps, hornets, and yellow Jackets. Oh my.

Wasps hornets and yellow jackets. Ground hornet nest fed on by a black bear.

Wasps, Hornets, and Yellow Jackets

Our Dogs behavior was remarkably similar to a person’s reaction that does not have a lot of experience with the sting and intense pain that follows a swarming yellow jacket. Or as we call them in California, meat bees.

Ground Hornets on nest

Swarming Hornets

The swarming and stinging occur because we have inadvertently disturbed a nest by accidentally stepping upon or walking onto it. When hornets are disturbed, they become very agitated and immediately attack with ferocious intensity!

Bella, our dog did not understand what was happening. All she knew was that she was in a lot of pain but did not know why; yet. I recognized what was happening immediately and motioned and yelled to her to run! She did, and that saved her from more hornet attacks.

Bald Face Hornet
This Bald Face Hornet is the natural predator of the Yellow Hornet.

Wasps, Hornets, and Yellow Jacket's

Having had a lot of exposure to ground hornets all my life, I have created an instant response to an attack. Which means I run like heck!  However, it is a controlled run, not a panic, enormous difference!

Good Advice if Attacked by Ground Hornets

My advice is if you even think you are being attacked by ground hornets. Stop whatever you are doing. Move away from the location of the encounter as quickly as possible. If you have babies or young children, pick them up immediately cover them with your arms and move as fast as possible from the immediate area.

Bad Advice

I have read a recommendation that you should take off your shirt and cover your face with it and run. Not a good idea. You can't run safely when you can't see where you are going. Just run! 40-50 yards should be enough distance. If not, keep running until there are no more bees around.

Hornet behavior

Ground hornets unlike honeybees will not follow you too far. Though unlike honeybees, hornets do not die after they sting or bite. They will continue to sting if they are on your body. Many people have or can develop an allergic reaction to the bee's venom. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - CDC

Ground Hornet nest raided by black bear
Black Bear raid on a Hornet ground nest.

Wasps, Hornets, and Yellow Jacket's. The benefit's

I have a lot of respect for these winged warriors, and they are important for pollination and maintaining a good healthy insect balance. Bears and raccoons enjoy raiding ground hornet nests.

Ground hornet nest raided by Black Bear Video

Ground hornets. Tracking Black Bears with Mark Wienert on YouTube.

The ground hornet nest at the very top of the page was also torn into by a black bear. Bears on the coast will sniff out these ground nests. And raid them. Eating the hornets and the insect's larvae until the nests are gone.

To Sum it up Bee Aware

Pay attention out there. Moreover, if you are picnicking or barbecuing, leave some juicy meat for the hornets to feast on away from the table, and they just may leave you alone. Watch those bare feet and check your soda and beer can before drinking! You might just find a Bee imbibing.

  • Tips on Bears
  • Mountain Lion Facts
  • Visual Man Tracking
  • Tips on Ticks
  • Benefits of Wild Plants

Written by Mark Wienert · Categorized: Tracking

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Social Media

Sign up for our Newsletter

Recent Posts

  • Wild Plants Coastal Oregon
  • I Slid Off The Road
  • Best Survival Knife
  • How to Collect Stinging Nettle Stalks
  • Sharpening the Tracker Knife
  • Debris Hut Survival
  • Summertime Berries
  • Survival Bush Craft
  • The Amazing Blue Elderberry
  • How to Brain Tan a Squirrel

Categories

  • Outdoor Survival School (16)
  • Plants (9)
  • Survival Gear (5)
  • Teen Adventure Camps (6)
  • The Philosophy (3)
  • Tracking (10)

Recommended Sites

  • Earth School
  • EarthWalk Northwest
  • Hollow Top
  • Jack Mountain Bushcraft School
  • Karamat Wilderness Ways
  • Paul Kirtley Bushcraft
  • The Way of Tracking
  • Weekend Survival School

Lifesong Wilderness Adventures

The Standard in Wilderness Survival Training

Privacy Policy · Media & Press

Contact Us

PO Box 149
Blue River, OR 97413
530-859-0539
Monday-Friday: 9 AM – 5 PM PST

Sitemap

Sign up for our Newsletter

Copyright © 1994-2023 · Lifesong Wilderness Adventures · All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
====== OX DEBUG ======
hooking into plugin wp_rocket
Settings
	 ox_unused_css_compact true
	 ox_amphtml_disable false
	 ox_unused_css_page_home true
	 ox_unused_css_page_blog true
	 ox_unused_css_page_page true
	 ox_unused_css_page_author false
	 ox_unused_css_page_category false
	 ox_unused_css_page_product_category false
	 ox_unused_css_page_custom_posttype false
	 ox_jquery_migrate_disable true


post_type post_type::post
page blog
page_id url::/2007/08/wasps-hornets-and-yellow-jackets-oh-my/


Stylesheets
	 [altitude-pro-theme]
		 https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/style.css
	 [classic-theme-styles]
		 /wp-includes/css/classic-themes.min.css
	 [global-styles]
		 
	 [siteorigin-panels-front]
		 https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/plugins/siteorigin-panels/css/front-flex.min.css
	 [sow-social-media-buttons-atom-258d97dc48cb]
		 https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/siteorigin-widgets/sow-social-media-buttons-atom-258d97dc48cb.css
	 [cmplz-general]
		 https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/plugins/complianz-gdpr/assets/css/cookieblocker.min.css
	 [dashicons]
		 /wp-includes/css/dashicons.min.css
	 [tablepress-default]
		 https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/plugins/tablepress/css/build/default.css
	 [rocket-lazyload]
		 


Scripts
	[rocket-browser-checker]
	
	[rocket-preload-links]
	
	[altitude-global]
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/js/global.js
	[gforms_recaptcha_recaptcha]
	https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api.js?render=6LfDaA8eAAAAAIiy-vz8Z9Oxtxq7UqSW2fBi7dY0
	[heartbeat]
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-rocket/assets/js/heartbeat.js
	[cmplz-cookiebanner]
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/plugins/complianz-gdpr/cookiebanner/js/complianz.min.js


buffer start...
action ox_dom
link nodes
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/style.css?ver=1675454256
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-includes/css/classic-themes.min.css?ver=1
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/plugins/siteorigin-panels/css/front-flex.min.css?ver=2.20.4
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-content/uploads/siteorigin-widgets/sow-social-media-buttons-atom-258d97dc48cb.css?ver=1675454256
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/plugins/complianz-gdpr/assets/css/cookieblocker.min.css?ver=6.4.0
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-includes/css/dashicons.min.css?ver=1675454256
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-content/plugins/tablepress/css/build/default.css?ver=1675454256
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-content/uploads/siteorigin-widgets/sow-social-media-buttons-atom-24dc1e52da9e.css?ver=1675454271
	https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-content/plugins/so-widgets-bundle/icons/fontawesome/style.css?ver=1675454271
master_file https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/style.css?ver=1675454256
used_css NOT_DETERMIN
can_do_unused true
ERROR: NO USED CSS
Preloading Files
preloading https://www.lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/fonts/mukta-extra-light.woff2
	 https://www.lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/fonts/mukta-extra-light.woff2
preloading https://www.lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/fonts/mukta-extra-bold.woff2
	 https://www.lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/fonts/mukta-extra-bold.woff2
preloading https://www.lifesongadventures.com/wp-includes/fonts/dashicons.woff?99ac726223c749443b642ce33df8b800
	 https://www.lifesongadventures.com/wp-includes/fonts/dashicons.woff?99ac726223c749443b642ce33df8b800
Preloading Master File https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/style.css?ver=1675454256
preloading https://lifesongadventures.com/wp-content/cache/min/1/wp-content/themes/altitude-pro/style.css?ver=1675454256