Bad bugs

[Sgt Stevo]

This may seem off topic, but I dont think so. I was hiking above Laguna nigel in southern cal a few weeks ago.
some guys were clearing brush. A bunch of bees chased me and my dog for long time. I took a couple of stings. My wifes dog took a lot more.

I ran along way. I heard they could have been the killer bees everyone is talking about.

My questions are these. How if Hunting do you avoid these little basterds/ And has anyone heard that they have made it all the way up here to northern ca?

I spend a lot of time in the hills and more in the hunting season.

had I not run screaming like a litttle a girl, I have no doubt I would have been hurt bad.

 

[Oldnamvet]

Were the guys clearing the brush bothered? Or did they just stir things up for you and the dog?

 

[Sgt Stevo]

This is how it happened.
I was about a hundred yards from my inlaws house. It over looks canyon.

Just below there house is a common area. It has grass and veiwpoint for the old people community they live in. There is a fence on the cliff. It was complety overgrown with brush.

the Home owners, hired a crew to cut it all back. As I was walking back up the hill from a hike. I saw two gardener type guys run to there white truck and drive about half a block away.

I did not clue into anyhing being wrong. Then my dog yelped and bit at herself.

I looked up and there was a cloud of bees at the overlook. I turned and ran to the inlaws house. I got nailed twice on my bald head, and a couple of times in the legs.

they followed me up the driveway buzzed around for long time. My father in law called vecter control. they said peivate property was not there problem.

I pulled and scrapped lots of stingers out of the dog. freaked me out. Now whenever I hear buzzing. I am ready to bolt.

 

[Art Eatman]

Sounds like Africanized bees. The gene is extremely dominant. I've not read of any normal honeybee which will pursue beyond a short distance; maybe fifty feet or so at most.

The experimental program in South America that let this problem loose was trying to use domestic bees to "tame" the Africans and get a sweeter variety of honey. We've wound up with a helluva problem with territoriality and not just bad temperament but the lengthy chase deal. Bummer.

We've had some folks need hospitalization from attacks here in Terlingua; one dog died.

A buddy of mine, a near neighbor, had a swarm near his house. He had his wife drive their truck up close while he sprayed with long-range wasp/hornet spray through a small window opening into the main body of the swarm. The truck wound up covered with bees. Hundreds of bees died; they drove away for a mile or so and the bees gave up. The remains of the swarm moved on. Nothing in the last year or two.

I don't know of any defense against them when out hunting. Alertness is about all, I guess, plus being cautious about getting into any thick brush that might be habitat...

Damfino.

Art

 

[lawson]

i had a pretty nasty bee experience here in AZ while quail hunting. a bird i dropped landed in a bush, and as i walked over to retrieve it, i noticed a lot of very angry bees swarming about. it didn't take long for the instinct to run to kick in, and i hightailed it out of there, being stung several times before i got back to the Arctic Cat i was using. they lost interest once i hightailed it down the road. i was stung about 12 times. luckily i was pretty well covered, long sleevs, long pants, game bag, hat.

that was one bird i considered a loss

 

[olazul]

Best Bee defense- they don't see really all that well and apparently don't see fine detail like branches and twigs. I was a beekeeper once upon a time. If you are being chased by bees run under/through trees and scrub. The bees cannot fly through this and will lose your track. Of course you may need to run through more than 1 tree/large scrub to achieve this.

To remove a stinger use a knife edge and scrape them out. If you grab the stinger you will compress the poison sac and inject any venom left over.

Have they made it to Northern Ca? Don't know about that one but definitely to So Cal. I had an encounter in AZ as well.

Interestingly, in the late 70's just as the whole african bee thing came out we had hives that were known for being extremely aggressive, and some that were very docile.

If you have a swarm on/near your house I wouldn't spray with bug spray as this will kill some of them but make them very agitated, a better option is to build a smudge pot with alot of smoke near them as their natural enemy is fire. They should move on nice and peacefull like.

Regards,

Olazul

 

[redneck]

Did they look like normal bees?
Over the last couple summers we've had some surprisingly aggressive bees show up here in Ohio. There was one type I came across baling hay a year or so ago that I'd never seen before and haven't seen since.
They were really large bees, looked almost like a wood bee/bumble bee which normally don't bother anybody. These things were mean as all get out,and had made a nest in a stack of old straw bales. They stung me once through my shirt and chased me clear out of the barn, and got one of my buddies through his jeans. We went back early in the morning when it was cool out with about 6 cans of spray and dug out the nest. It was actually pretty small,maybe 8" across and 4" thick, and was like a wad of little half inch wide round pods. Didn't look like any honey comb, or nest of any sort I'd ever seen before.
We came across another nest of them in a hay field that same week. Unhitched a wagon and let the tongue drop and it hit a clump of orchard grass. Next thing you knew those same huge bees were swarming all over.

Then last summer we were out trail riding and my dad and his horse got swarmed by bees and stung all over. Horse put its head down and wouldn't budge and dad had to jump off and drag it along to get away from them. They both got it pretty good. I went back the next morning and hunted around and came across a hole in the ground they were flying in and out of. They looked like normal bees, but seemed overly agressive. A little gasoline and a light tame them pretty quick though

Anyhow, I don't know anything about the africanized bees or how far they have spread so far, but it does seem like aggressive bees/insects has become an issue to keep in mind. So far the best defense does seem to be to get out of the area as fast as possible. Seems like normal hunting hours for most are early morning and early evening when bees aren't quite as active so that may help out too.

 

[Sgt Stevo]

I dont know if they looked normal. I was running like a coward. They looked like lots of dots coming at me.

I know the bad bees are in orange county in southern cal were it happened.

I had just heard they be up here as well. I just have bees on the brain since that day.

 

[Browns Fan]

Quote:
"They looked like lots of dots coming at me."

Looks like a good time to do dot drills.

Sorry... I couldn't resist.

 

[lawson]

so, what's the best caliber for bees?

 

[zoom6zoom]

Yellowjackets will act like that also.