Great DIY Yellow Jacket Trap
Allen Hamrick
What is the common activity that unites most people in the summer? It is not the great outdoors hiking your favorite trails. It is not hopping in a boat to your favorite fishing spot. It is not the new bike you just bought to ride the miles of trails and lined trails that stretch across this state. If you live in West Virginia, it seems like there has been a hornet infestation this year. Everywhere you go, the ground is covered with hornets and wasps. They are wreaking havoc on any unlucky creature that discovers their hiding place. From high in the mountains to the lowlands, hornets are plentiful. These small but powerful winged creatures can make the hair on even the strongest person’s head flinch. I have seen people attacked by the bugs flailing their arms and thrashing about screaming as if they were being torn apart. Their very low sound is enough to be a background effect in a horror movie. People are walled up inside their homes, afraid to go outside for fear that they might stumble into one of the many nests they have made. Nests can be found on the ground, on porch overhangs, in kayaks, under porch swings, etc. Remember that tarp you folded up and stored for the future? Be sure to check it first. Most of the time, buzzing wasps stay close to the ground, on flowers, or in dog waste.
There are many speculations as to why the hornet swarms are two or three times as large as last year’s. Some say they’ve never seen the hornets this bad, and try to apply the reasoning to today’s political climate. Honestly, the hornets are bad this season. If you walk around without shoes, you’ll end up getting a hornet-like pedicure. If they climb up to the bottom of your pants, watch out. The dance of St. Vitus takes on new meaning as they sting you so far out of reach that you lose all sense of reason. You run, twitch, and yell in a language only your ancestors knew while trying to get your pants off, searching for the nearest water source or water hose. It happens every year, but this year seems different. Some believe that this heralds a winter of biblical proportions, one that you won’t be able to escape, as the hornets prepare for the winter of 2024. They are so dense in your yard that you can walk into them and they can fly around your head with cat-like reflexes. People carry the latest Hot Shot and other wasp and hornet repellent sprays just to get to their car or to avoid being chased back into their home. One poor guy built a new outdoor toilet complete with fan, light, mosquito net and wall-to-wall carpeting, but forgot to check under the lid. By the time he realized it was not a good idea to open the lid, the wasps had taken over his reason for being there. If you see so many wasps covering your yard like they are now, beware, they may pounce on you like ravenous wolves.
So, here are some rumors as to why they are so abundant this season. The mild winter allowed the hornets to survive, and the heat this summer allowed them to thrive with more nests and bees. The nests have become larger and the number of worker bees has tripled. As the summer progresses, the bees start looking for protein to feed their larvae, whether it be leftover meat or insects. Once that is over, the bees become aggressive towards humans because their habits and preferences change. Now they try to get hold of anything sweet to fill their stomachs. If they know where they can easily get food, they will stay there and continue to build nests. The nests they build will be inhabited by the queen bee for the following spring. It is really necessary to remove the nest. Most of the worker bees die at the first cold snap, and the males and females spend the winter in their hideouts and appear around the house the following spring. Sometimes, if you are brave, you can track the hornets to their nest and destroy it. But most of us who live in West Virginia have had to destroy nests, so we know that if we don’t do it right, we could end up being part of the swarm.
Basically, the hotter it is, the more bees there are and the more aggressive they are. Winters aren’t what they used to be, so unless we get a few harsh winters, bees will be our closest neighbors. If you can’t find the nest, there’s a good way to get rid of them and keep them away from your barbecue. Take a 2-liter bottle, cut off the top, and put the top upside down back into the bottle body to make something like a funnel. Take some dog food or cat food and put half a can in the bottom of the bottle. Apply a little to the entrance of the funnel hole and place the bottle in a nuisance area. The bees can’t resist it. They’ll fly in, eat, and then they won’t be able to get out. It works like a charm. It will last for several days, until it’s full or the smell is too strong. Like it or not, the bees are here to stay and the only thing that unites all people is our summer war for independence against the wasps.
