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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Is there a "season" for them? i wanted to do a trip up to the Donner area sometime next summer or fall, but I am quite allergic.
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i'm gumby dammit
Sport climber
da ow
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No because those aren't bees they are wasps. They are not known as pollinators so if they were all to go away we would still have food.
And Phylp they are typically most active between mid august and late september.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Thank you, I'm Gumby, That is helpful info.
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DonnerCoolerCrew
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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They have been pretty bad on Donner Summit at Snowshed especially. I set 4 traps on Friday the 2nd. Hopefully it helps.
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BFK
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Sep 12, 2016 - 09:23am PT
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Sounds like Yellow Jackets are bad everywhere! Was checking out some of the more obscure areas along Sonora pass this weekend and they were horrible,... breakfast was only possible inside the truck.
Talked to an older gentleman up there fishing and he mentioned something about a 7 year cycle for the wasps and that this was 'the' year for them. Anyone have anymore inside on this 7 year cycle idea?
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hossjulia
Trad climber
Carson City, NV
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Sep 12, 2016 - 12:35pm PT
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I can usually put out a vibe to the yellowjackets not to mess with me or I'll kill them. It seems to work, that and putting a bite of my food about an arms length away from me. But this summer, too many of them. Within 5 minutes of settling at a rest stop to eat a bite, I was being bugged. Ants too! Had some big black ants literally attack my foot in the middle of the night when I stuck it out of the tent to get up and pee.
Above 8500' or so, I've not had a problem with yellowjackets.
The damn black flies however nearly ruined my first two trips this year, no reasoning with those guys! Mosquito bites are nothing compared to the reaction I get from biting flies.
I've never been stung by a yellowjacket, just had chunks bitten off my arm. My understanding is they don't sting, just bite?
My trip to Cochise in April I cut short due to some very aggressive honey bees. It dawned on me they were probably Africanized and not to be messed with. Haven't been that frightened in a long time. Scared me pretty bad, they hated my Red Tahoe! I had to move very slowly and calmly, almost impossible for me to do around bees. This was on the west side of the Stronghold. The east side I didn't see any bees.
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chainsaw
Trad climber
CA
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Sep 12, 2016 - 07:03pm PT
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Was at Wolfeboro on the Stanislaus North fork. The meat bees were tolerable, but both in our party got stung or bit. One got stuck under my glasses and nailed me on the lower eyelid/ cheek. Luckily Im not allergic. Im not sure, but they seem less nasty venom-wise than other stings like paperwasps and bees. Anybody know any info on their relative toxicity or immunogenic properties?
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Sep 12, 2016 - 07:13pm PT
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Friend in Iowa was bit by a single wasp in mid-August. Had a bizarre reaction leading to coma and quickly death. Super fit awesome person gone in an instant. 54 years old.
Am told it was "Kounis syndrome".
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Stewart Johnson
Mountain climber
lake forest
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Sep 12, 2016 - 07:23pm PT
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Need a proper freeze...
Coming soon!
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Sep 12, 2016 - 07:28pm PT
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Yellow jackets attacked me on the roof, damn near killed me.
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John M
climber
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Sep 12, 2016 - 07:54pm PT
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Meat bees bite and sting. They can take a chunk out of you with their mandibles and sting you with their tail. Nasty buggers. To reduce their numbers, its a good idea to set out traps in the spring. You can catch queens who are trying to establish new nests that way. The queen over winters by hibernating, and then emerges to start a new nest. Thats the best time to catch them and stop the cycle.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Sep 12, 2016 - 07:56pm PT
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The wasps have been bad at our home in Boulder too. The bait isn't working and they are building monster hives everywhere. There is clearly some metropolis under our front porch (we can't get to it). The other homes have been annihilated. Mo-fos for sure!
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John M
climber
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Sep 12, 2016 - 08:23pm PT
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The bait isn't working
have you tried a piece of meat? sausage, hotdog or bacon usually works.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Sep 13, 2016 - 12:02am PT
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They can take a chunk out of you with their mandibles
No they cannot. Not unless you have skin like wet tissue paper. I've had to conduct fieldwork in a friggin' cloud of wasps ever since August or so. Never seen it so bad in several decades of working in the woods here. And I've yet to get stung this season. I've learned to suppress my startle reflex and let them nibble all they want. They usually fly off after 2-3 seconds of trying to break the skin (and failing). I did have one make a little progress on an elbow scab, but he gave up too. The bite is harmless, other than the fact that it usually elicits a response in people that, in turn, elicits a sting.
7 year cycle idea?
Not a thing. Mild spring + productive spring a summer for their prey + no measurable precip all summer = perfect storm
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Sep 13, 2016 - 03:01am PT
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The darn things! They have some spots in bushes and a main nest in the ground along
one side of a storm drain. Then they moved a branch into the box sofit next to the front door.
I actually saw a hornet. Sized one crawl in only later to realize it had been a Queen.
The flight plan that takes them across the street to the storm drain & back means they hit the screen door when it is open. I have reduced the activity to nil, l but they still come back looking to get in.
A sad thing in 2014, Brian Delany a long time east coast climber as killed when he inexplicably
Threaded his rap device incorrectly, the best guess as to why , how? Is that he was under attack, his ankles showed some evidence but not enough for a finding from what I was told.
That same summer I got stung on 3 or 4 occasions about A dozen stings each time. The
last time was I was swarmed, I had to run.
They got into the loose shirt forcing me to rip it off and stop drop and roll....
The result from that was over 20 stings and I was drooling slurring my words.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Sep 13, 2016 - 05:51am PT
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John speaks the truth, something to remember for this coming spring.....
. To reduce their numbers, its a good idea to set out traps in the spring. You can catch queens who are trying to establish new nests that way.
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Sep 13, 2016 - 07:54am PT
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Recommended protective distance from yellow jacket.
YJ's are so mean, they'll attack even a dog. They went for this one's eye, but up on the roof they went for my ears, which in turn almost knocked be over the edge.
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John M
climber
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Sep 13, 2016 - 08:49am PT
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Guess I have skin like wet tissue paper.. LOL. Don't know what to tell you. All that I know is that my friends dog was chasing a ball and landed on an undergournd nest, breaking it open. Hundreds of bee flew out and started attacking her. We both ran and once we were away I started digging the bees out of her hair. She had 20 or 30 on her crawling through her hair. She has long hair. As I was digging them out they started attacking me. I ended up with 20+ stings of my own, plus what appeared to be two bites taken out of my skin. So these bees weren't just walking around on me. They were aggressively attacking me. I took the dog to the vet who also treated me. The vet said two of the sites looked like bites. Sorry, no pics. Guess it didn't happen.. heh heh.
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Willoughby
Social climber
Truckee, CA
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Sep 13, 2016 - 09:03am PT
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Interesting. Maybe their exploratory foraging bites pack less enthusiasm than their KILL, KILL, KILL bites. Like I said, they've been biting me all season, and I just let them. When I'm breaking down my bird nets early afternoon, when they're reaching their peak of activity, I actually take my shirt off so there's less chance for them to get hung up in the fabric. They're all over me at that point, especially at my Blackwood Canyon site, nibbling away. It's sort of a scratchy, pin-prick feeling, but they can't break through. Maybe I'm just hard as nails (but I doubt that very highly).
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