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Thread: Hornets....0, Short Fat white boy (with can of sprectracide) 17 >>>>>

  1. #1
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    Angry Hornets....0, Short Fat white boy (with can of sprectracide) 17 >>>>>

    I just battled 17 of these ferocious bastards. I made it out without being stung.
    However feeling a bit lightheaded from fumes.
    I think I pulled every muscle in my body.
    This short fat white boy has got some crazy hornet avoiding moves....... who knew.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Anyone else seen these huge hornets?

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    Might be wrong (i'm no insectologist ), but it looks like an African Fruit Wasp.

    I battled a few of them infesting an Apple orchard I was lighting a wedding marquee in over here a few summers ago.
    Damn things scared the living S**t out of me! They all swarmed into the marquee once the sun had set and I was focusing the lights...

    I only found out later that they're supposedly harmless. Felt like a right pansy!
    If in doubt... Give it a clout?

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    We have something like that around here and we call them Japanese Hornets.

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnYayas View Post
    We have something like that around here and we call them Japanese Hornets.
    That's what i thought it was. These things are so big they don't so much buzz, but flap. I've read somewhere that the drone they make is akin to the sound of a hercules plane.
    I trapped one under a pint glass a couple of years ago, and i swear it was eyeballing me from under the glass.

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    We have its giant wood eating BEE cousin, a half inch in diameter or more, infesting our barn. Intelligent for a bug, big, and it takes large amounts of spray to even wound them. Gives a Harrier jet lessons in acrobatics. Goes for your face, not your body. I've yet to bee stung, but my Mom has. Chews a 3/4" hole though a 3/4 pine board in a half hour or so. Tends to bee territorial, so if you can run fast enough to get out of its "zone", it will return to its daily plan of chewing multiple large holes in your barn. Paint does not deter them. You spot them from the massive (for a bug) pile of wood chips on the ground.

    To kill them, I have to expend enough spray that I worry about being exposed. Takes a good 5 second jet spray into a larva's hole to kill it, and they squeal in a long, nasty way while they die.

    I hate killing them, such a magnificent creature.

    One of the few bugs I like.

    I'm glad you made it, and I've seen those wasps before.

    Steve

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    Steve we have carpenter bees here. This was a mini swarm agitates when the dog knocked one to the ground. Then his friends showed up. I was thinking Japanese hornet?

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    Quote Originally Posted by no-esc View Post
    I just battled 17 of these ferocious bastards. I made it out without being stung.
    However feeling a bit lightheaded from fumes.
    I think I pulled every muscle in my body.
    This short fat white boy has got some crazy hornet avoiding moves....... who knew.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	Gigantic_Hornet.jpg 
Views:	75 
Size:	749.7 KB 
ID:	31929

    Anyone else seen these huge hornets?
    Scary!

    Be careful with those insecticides though as most are based on nerve agents. Weak for humans but still not too good when you start inhaling them.

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    they're pretty bad around here..

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    suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness.

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    mixedgas's Avatar
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    "Small" bee of what I'm talking about. Ours are a durn sight larger then whats in this pic:

    Meet Xylocopa_virginica.jpg, The "Giant" carpenter bee.

    http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CCYQ9QEwBQ


    Drills a 1/2" diameter hole 2" deep. Then it does a right angle turn for a 1" deep chamber.
    The hole is perfect, looks like its done with a drill bit.

    Amazingly manuverable.


    I think what your dealing with is some cousin to this:

    something like:

    Vespa mandarinia

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fTrSOFyfxs

    Not for the faint of heart:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L54ex...eature=related

    I'd love to know what lens they used to shoot that opening flight with....

    OK, a little digging says you likely have a "European Giant Hornet", which is not as venomous as its oriental cousin.

    Steve


    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 04-30-2012 at 09:58.

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