Can we talk about intentionally causing the extinction of some species?

cowman

cowman

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Cowman
Lets start with Yellowjackets.

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Cause I'm sick and tired of getting stung repeatedly when I'm out mowing. I've lost count of the number of nests I've had to wipe out in the past 2 years.

This time was great, I'd stopped to move something and left the mower running when they swarmed and started stinging.... so now I have a running lawn mower with a swarm of yellowjackets buzzing around.

So... I assembled a professional mower retrieval toolkit out of what I had, donned a heavy duster in the middle of summer, and went on the attack.

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Fortunately I got my running mower back without any more stings... but I hate these things. Last year I got the mower hung up on a tree root when they swarmed... before that my dog found another nest, and being the brave creature he is tried to dig it out. He had a big welt on his nose for over a week. I can kill a nest, done it many times but they keep coming back in new places.

I'm thinking in this case mass genocide of the yellowjacket race is an entirely appropriate and reasonable response. I mean do we really need them? And how about the mosquito too while we're at it...
 
I also got stung on my head yesterday by one of those things. Arrgh.

And they are bee murderers. Foodchain be damned - these guys are just *******s.

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during your mowing in the day,, mark a nest with a frizby, then get away!!!
go back at 0100 when it is cool, use your best bee kill juice that night, do that again the next night...
 
cowman said:
I'm thinking in this case mass genocide of the yellowjacket race is an entirely appropriate and reasonable response. I mean do we really need them? And how about the mosquito too while we're at it...
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Well, yellow jackets do feed on caterpillars, flies, and spiders so there is *some* value there (especially for farmers as the wasps feed on caterpillars) but it might be a fair trade off. However, as one who is allergic to wasp/bee venom, I admit a bias toward eliminating them.
I would have *no* compunction about eliminating mosquitoes.
 
I have this fargin corksucker waiting for me right outside my front door. I swear I hear that lil fkr laughing at me when I run out to get the mail.

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I just got lit up last week while doing some AC compressor maintenance. I began trimming some nearby hedges to get them away from the AC compressor and got stung 2-3 times by wasps of some sort. I have no idea if I was near a nest or I just happened to hit the bush they were on, but I paid for it. The stings didn't hurt much, but my knee/calf swelled a bit to make walking awkward for a day or two. I seem to have to attack the red wasp nests a few times each year when they try and build nests in various gaps on the house trim/siding.

Side note: Home Depot sells Spectracide Pro Wasp/Hornet killer which is great stuff. Just a black/white can, no fancy graphics but it will drop them instantly.
 
Those Japanese hornets are the worst. Had them when I lived in N. Ga, big old buggers. I agree though, those yellow jackets will chase yo arse and catch up and zing you. I was flying with a student once in Mississippi in a C152 and a wasp crawled up my leg. Let him/her get up a ways and then I whacked my pants leg and thought I got him. I didn't but he got me. I whacked again and got him this time. Thankfully I don't have much of a reaction to wasps.

Watched a show the other night on bees (exciting stuff eh?) and it was interesting. Showed a Japanese hornet trying to raid a yellow jacket hive and those little buggers jumped that hornets arse and killed him dead. If the hornets buds had been there the yellow boys wouldn't have had a chance, but this cat was by himself and out numbered, or is it out stung.
 
eman1200 said:
I have this fargin corksucker waiting for me right outside my front door. I swear I hear that lil fkr laughing at me when I run out to get the mail.

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Get a broom handle or similar and knock that sucker down. Then run away a short distance. Looks like a wasp hive and they won't chase you. At least they haven't me when I've knocked them down. Just don't trip. Or just get some wasp killer and saturate that hive. Repeat if needed.
 
mscard88 said:
Get a broom handle or similar and knock that sucker down. Then run away a short distance. Looks like a wasp hive and they won't chase you. At least they haven't me when I've knocked them down. Just don't trip. Or just get some wasp killer and saturate that hive. Repeat if needed.
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Oooh a little nest. It will get bigger unless you get to it now!
 
Ryanb said:
Red fire ants. :mad3:
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Yeh those little bas....s can bite! I use Amdro on the mounds and they go away. I think they just move somewhere else and pop up in another location, unless you get the queen.
 
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mscard88 said:
Yeh those little bas....s can bite! I use Amdro on the mounds and they go away. I think they just move somewhere else and pop up in another location, unless you get the queen.
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We have those everywhere in central AR. The more mounds I kill, the more show up.


It's like that Chuk E Cheeze game Whack A Mole!
 
mscard88 said:
Yeh those little bas....s can bite! I use Amdro on the mounds and they go away. I think they just move somewhere else and pop up in another location, unless you get the queen.
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I was out pulling weeds around the house and had one crawl up on my hand, who knew something so small can inflict so much pain :frown2:
 
Black widows and brown recluses - get rid of them all! There are plenty of other spider species around to pick up the slack in the insect devouring bidness.
 
The yellow jackets in my yard (Arkansas) are equipped with infrared targeting equipment. They give chase over a considerable distance and go for the ears. I got stung several times on both ears but no where else.
 
I've been thumped several by yellow jacket, usually as a result of disturbing their nest with a lawnmower. The worst time was when one member of the stinging swarm found its way under the safety glasses I wear when I mow and stung me repeatedly on the bridge of my nose.

My Dad had a bad experience 30 years or so ago. That was about the time the safety folks were targeting lawnmowers, tillers, etc. He had a new tiller with the dead-man switch on the handle, and didn't like that feature. He disabled it by tying it in the "run" position.

One day he was taking the tiller down to the garden and was letting it pull itself along so he didn't have to push it the hundred yards to the garden. Somewhere along the journey, he disturbed a nest of yellow jackets, which proceeded to go after him and the tiller. Dad took off, running through the <thinned out> woods between the house and garden. The tiller, lacking a functional deadman shut-off, continued to trundle on, followed by a cloud of yellow jackets while Dad fought his personal battle with the rest of the swarm. Ultimately, the tiller ran into a tree, tipped over, and burst into flames as fuel spilled on the hot exhaust. I didn't see it in person, but I can picture the events as if I was standing there. Dad running around like a madman while the tiller rumbled on, turned over, and burst into flames.

The truly sad part was that after the event, Dad was unable to locate the nest, so the little beasts never paid the price...
 
Dirt Daubers and I are locked in a constant epic war in my hangar. Little buggars try to make nests EVERYWHERE, including in every hole in my airplane. They just love getting inside my ailerons.
 
I'm gonna have to go look for that nest.... I've got a propane weed burning torch I've really wanted to try on them but they've always been too close to a structure I didn't want to burn down.
 
cowman said:
I'm gonna have to go look for that nest.... I've got a propane weed burning torch I've really wanted to try on them but they've always been too close to a structure I didn't want to burn down.
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They make Yellow Jacket/Hornet spray that has a narrow stream and you just squirt it into the nest opening. Any Yellow Jackets which touch the stuff die, but not necessarily before they contaminate their underground friends...
 
cowman said:
I'm gonna have to go look for that nest.... I've got a propane weed burning torch I've really wanted to try on them but they've always been too close to a structure I didn't want to burn down.
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Fire is good....
 
I can't decide if I want Yellow Jackets or Politicians extinct worse. Probably a tie.
 
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I used my big shop vac to suck them up..then a squirt of raid down the vac hose.
our garden shed is the favorite place they want to nest.
 
I had some nest in a trailer ball hitch last summer. Imagine my surprise when I went to hitch up the trailer... Son of a...
 
One word: Chlordane.

Now illegal in the US. That stuff could kill some critters! It was, however, not an 'instant knock down' killer.
 
Has it ever occurred to anyone that the yellow jackets may have, as an agenda, the elimination of our species?
 
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