Skidmarx
Member
I can pretty well guarantee you a bug a salt won't work. I've hit flies from 3 feet that are still flying. It's an intriguing concept, but it don't work....at least for me.
Carpenter bee shells.
- Thread starter bullseye308
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bullseye308
Member
I’m guessing it’s too cold for them to be out. Yesterday it was 75 and almost snowed last night and barely cleared 50 today. Maybe tomorrow will be warmer.
GeoDudeFlorida
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Super soaker filled with Palmolive dish detergent. It clogs their spherules and “drowns” them. Perfectly harmless to any air breather with lungs.
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bullseye308
Member
Sounds like it should work, but wouldn’t be near as much fun.
Encoreman
Member
My load data is in the shed, but memory serves me I used .38 special brass or .357 brass open the primer hole a bit, I used about 2.5-3.0 gr Bullseye, thin cardboard wad, uncooked rice, thin cardboard on top and hot glue it on. I then mark the base of the brass so not to get confused with real loads. I use my lubrisizer to punch out thin cardboard like the cardboard sleeve on Federal primers. However due to the shortage of primers, I may have to continue with the bee traps.
Swampman
Old Fart
I'm a "Dawn" man myself, it gives faster more reliable knockdown than those hand softening poodleshooter type detergents...
RetiredUSNChief
Member
I used to shoot flies with a BB gun on one of my uncle's farms. Eye protection a must.
The basement area of one of the places I used to work at while in college had cockroaches in the joists overhead in the area we used to keep large cardboard boxes. I used to shoot them with a CO2 pistol.
GeoDudeFlorida
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bullseye308
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Don’t think the wife would go that for the bees. I could come up with a few other uses tho, but none practical enough to warrant the expenditure.
GeoDudeFlorida
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When I was a kid I made a flamethrower out of an insecticide sprayer and naphthalene. My grandparents ran a plant nursery and had naphtha for cleaning fertilizer bins and sprayers for all kinds of stuff hanging around. They're stupid easy to make - a little harder to control and you have to use a quality valve system made of solvent-proofed parts or you can end up with a real catastrophe on your hands.
Don't ask how I know.
Swampman
Old Fart
Remember back in the day when WD40 was propane powered rather than CO2?
WD40 + Bic + Stupid Teenagers = -1 Barn (almost)
On the bright side, it was HIGHLY effective on red wasps...
WD40 + Bic + Stupid Teenagers = -1 Barn (almost)
On the bright side, it was HIGHLY effective on red wasps...
Armored farmer
Member
LOLBELL
Member
My home is LOLBELL protected, I’m not going to sit by and watch a bird destroy it. The Feds are welcome to come get their wood peckers if they want to protect them. If not I will protect it with up to and including lethal force.
Encoreman
Member
Several years ago I took my great nephew to the range with his .22 cricket, he had gotten pretty good at taking the X out of a target, this was at 25 yards and I was looking thru my spotting scope and noticed a fly at 6 and asked him if he saw the black dot on bottom of target and he said yea and I told him to shoot it and the kid got it. I wrote the place, date and signed it as a witness and I told him to keep it. I need to see if he did.
George P
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Right Guard and a candle worked well for spidersRemember back in the day when WD40 was propane powered rather than CO2?
WD40 + Bic + Stupid Teenagers = -1 Barn (almost)
On the bright side, it was HIGHLY effective on red wasps...
GunnyUSMC
Member
Carpenter bees have been around for a long time. I’ve shot them with corn meal loaded in CCI shot capsule. But no matter how many I killed, more kept coming They love all types of wood. Treating the wood with insect spray worked the best at keeping them away.
I was given an old Cypress beam that was salvaged from a 150 year old barn. Look at what I found when I turned some bowls from the beam.
Those are Carpenter Bee holes. I think they add to the look of the bowl.
I was given an old Cypress beam that was salvaged from a 150 year old barn. Look at what I found when I turned some bowls from the beam.
Those are Carpenter Bee holes. I think they add to the look of the bowl.
GooseGestapo
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- 6,148
This is the first year I haven’t loaded any .45Colt “BEE” loads. Primers $$$ and unavailable.
I use a 7/16” wad punch I got from Harbor Freight. They come in a set from 5 from 1/4” to 1/2”.
I cut over the powder wads from discarded wine boxes. I find these are heavier and stronger than cereal type boxes. For over shot wads, I use regular cereal boxes.
I use brass that has been driven into a carbide sizer with a plastic mallet. This sizes it much further close to the base. This allows them to chamber and eject from my .410 O/U. Also still fits the M25 Smith and M94 Winchester.
I use 5.0gr of Bullseye. Seat the heavy card wad over powder. Fill with either Walnut Hull tumbling media or bird shot. Leave about 0.10” from top empty. Place light clad wad over shot/Hull media, and crimp.
From my .410 O/U, I get 8” patterns at 25’. About the max effective range on flying bees. At 15’, It’ll take paint off wood, so use discretion in aiming!
I have 6 traps out, but still got more with the tennis racquet...
Shot loads with #7.5 lead shot will kill squirrels to 50 feet from .410 shotgun. Good snake loads too!
I use a 7/16” wad punch I got from Harbor Freight. They come in a set from 5 from 1/4” to 1/2”.
I cut over the powder wads from discarded wine boxes. I find these are heavier and stronger than cereal type boxes. For over shot wads, I use regular cereal boxes.
I use brass that has been driven into a carbide sizer with a plastic mallet. This sizes it much further close to the base. This allows them to chamber and eject from my .410 O/U. Also still fits the M25 Smith and M94 Winchester.
I use 5.0gr of Bullseye. Seat the heavy card wad over powder. Fill with either Walnut Hull tumbling media or bird shot. Leave about 0.10” from top empty. Place light clad wad over shot/Hull media, and crimp.
From my .410 O/U, I get 8” patterns at 25’. About the max effective range on flying bees. At 15’, It’ll take paint off wood, so use discretion in aiming!
I have 6 traps out, but still got more with the tennis racquet...
Shot loads with #7.5 lead shot will kill squirrels to 50 feet from .410 shotgun. Good snake loads too!
lordpaxman
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- Jun 4, 2011
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- 2,431
Way off topic, but....
Thanks everyone, lots of good info here!
If it were me, I’d be more concerned WHY the woodpeckers are pecking on my wooden house. Their primary food source is wood dwelling insects. Just sayin...
It’s also more functional with a built in drain! I was amazed at the fact those bees loved the outside pressure treated joists of my second floor deck.
Thanks everyone, lots of good info here!
LOLBELL
Member
IF woodpeckers were pecking my house I would be concerned, but they’re not ............just saying
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bullseye308
Member
Finally got to try a few out, and hits under 2’ were kills, anything beyond that was not productive. I upped the charge to 2.0 grains of BE-86 then a wad, then fresh crushed walnut, then glued a wad on the end. Hope to test them out soon.
Zerodefect
member
I put up bamboo bee houses for them next to the entrance to both of my barns. 4 of them. Home Depot sells them.
They stopped drilling in my deck and barns immediately. Now there's a cloud of harmless females that look really close to honey bee's going in and out every warm month of the year. But they completely ignore me. They aren't aggressive at all. I actually think of them as pets. I'm glad they're around.
not sure if they're the same kind off bee's, but I didn't need to kill mine. We need all of the pollinators as we can get. In case you haven't noticed.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Nature-s-W...VBmxvBB0FPQ8JEAQYASABEgKm1PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
They stopped drilling in my deck and barns immediately. Now there's a cloud of harmless females that look really close to honey bee's going in and out every warm month of the year. But they completely ignore me. They aren't aggressive at all. I actually think of them as pets. I'm glad they're around.
not sure if they're the same kind off bee's, but I didn't need to kill mine. We need all of the pollinators as we can get. In case you haven't noticed.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Nature-s-W...VBmxvBB0FPQ8JEAQYASABEgKm1PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
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.455_Hunter
Member
As part of a family who have lived in a cedar siding fitted home in the Colorado foothills since 1966, I can most definitely assure that there are OTHER reasons why woodpeckers will attack a house- namely to find a warm nesting location inside the walls.
RetiredUSNChief
Member
That's absolutely fascinating! I never thought of using bamboo like that and it makes total sense! They'd much rather use pre-existing holes like that than make their own.
Zerodefect
member
Yep. Works like a charm.
I've spent as much as a half hour with my face as close as a foot to those, just watching what they're up to. Dozens of them at any time going in and out.
I've spent as much as a half hour with my face as close as a foot to those, just watching what they're up to. Dozens of them at any time going in and out.
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