The Extermination of Ground Dwelling Yellow Jackets

Look at that path of dirt leading to the hole. That was like a landing strip I reckon.

This DIY trick always works

So I was on the ridin’ tractor mowin’ on the back 40. Nice day it was.

Suddenly though, seems I drove over a nest of ground dwellin’ yellow jackets and my peaceful ride was disrupted by the stingin’ and bitin’ from a hoard of these babies… Oh, not just any yellow jackets, but those big badass ones the size of ’62 Corvairs… with armor plating… and stingers the size of rhino horns… well, sorta…. But their stings are plum nasty and they’ll bite ya, too!

Now I considered pourin’ gasoline down their hole and lightin’ it on fire. But the thought of the neighbors watchin’ me run across the yard, swattin’ and screamin’… while on fire… well, it weren’t a pleasant thought. 

Also, I knew that your typical sugar bee traps wouldn’t work either. ‘Cuz these sweethearts aren’t attracted to sugar. They eat meat, as in dead carcasses and human flesh. That’s one reason you often find them in city parks around trash cans and grills. ‘Cuz that’s where the human flesh is.

So this is what I did… I waited ’til night when the yellow jackets were less active and snug in their hole (always wait until after dark). I filled a 5-gallon bucket with really really soapy water… just used a bunch of cheap dish soap. I then done poured the soapy mixture down the hole. And it doesn’t hurt to pour down two buckets (you’ll be surprised how much water can go down that hole).  That’s it.

And like almost immediately, the yellow jackets were dead. And take a look at the pictures. That’s what came floating out of that there hole. No more yellow jackets.

Crazy, huh? But it worked!

UPDATE:

I recently got a nasty nest hole under a large bush. It was a bit too far in so I couldn’t quite get the bucket of suds in far enough to pour it down. So here’s what I did this time. I made me a good ol’ beer bong out of an old funnel and some tubing. Stuck the end of the tube in the hole under the bush, held the funnel up and poured in the soapy water. It ran straight down into the hole and filled it up in a flash like a college freshman on his knees at a house party.

Now, I always use the beer bong. It assures more suds gets down the hole and brings back fond memories as well.