I found a piñata hanging in a tree while in the woods this weekend. I think next weekend, I'll bring broomstick with me and give it a good whack to see what's inside!
This kind of wasp/hornet nest is new to me. We didn't have those in Oklahoma. I almost bumped into that as I was scouting out some sugar maples for spring tapping (tapping a maple tree is also new to me ). It is just about head high. Man there was a LOT of activity coming in and out of that thing! Do they pretty much leave you alone if you leave them alone? I don't have any idea how aggressive they are.
If thats a bald hornet nest they are best left alone until it gets cold outside. The bald faced hornets in the woods here where i live will decimate your a#$%s if you mess with them or their nest. Just getting stung by 1 of them isnt so great.
If you want to watch the occupants when they feel threatened, stand way back while someone else messes with the nest. When I was a kid I saw one being removed with bug spray and it looked pretty darned risky to me. I would have loved to see a large torch instead of the bug spray. If they had to fly through flames to get to me it would have felt safer. Ours was hanging under the eave of our house and dad got volunteered to deal with it. The one he had to deal with was a bit bigger than a softball in size, maybe 4 inches diameter.
Attacking a hornet nest the size of the one in the pict brad m posted above with bug spray is a suicide mission imho.
I think Hornets in general have reputation for being pretty aggressive...and the few times I have been stung by one I'd say the sting is much worse than the average wasp or bee
I had one in my front yard about 8-10 feet up last year, mowed under it every week without any problems. As a kid I did take every opportunity to use them as a piniata some times with a very poor outcome. Yes I was a slow learner!
Brad M you;\'ve brought back some great memories and funny ones at that! After dinner one Sunday years ago, my son and I decided to take a walk through the property.....after about 10-12 minutes, he sp[ies a nest of large proportions. About the same size as that one. We watched for a little while before advancing on it. Couldn't see any activity (it was in the fall of the year) so we ended up walking right up to it and tapping it with our hands.....nothing. Not even any noise from inside. Well, I broke off the sapling that it was on, and started carrying it out of the woods much like an old hobo would put his stack over his shoulder. Just about the same time, another sapling brushed lightly against the back of my neck...WOW! You should have seen me drop that nest, jump and start running yelling get out of here all at the same time!
I had one that size attached to the fascia of my garage last year. Didn't bother anyone until late summer, then they started getting aggressive for some reason. I waited until dark then emptied a whole can of aerosol wasp spray on the nest. Literally tore the nest apart with the spray. Next morning a lot of dead wasps under the nest and that was the end of it. My father saved an abandoned nest (they will not winter over, nor reoccupy old nests), that was attached to a white birch limb. He cut the limb off and has had the nest for years. I told him I would like it for decoration in my garage - my wife won't have it in the house for some reason..... I want to hang it right over the doorway and have visitors panic. Maybe get an iPod to play a buzzing sound when someone walks in.
I recommend grabbing it and giving it a good shake first to make sure you don't go hitting it for no reason. What a disappointment it would be to beat up a pinata like that just to find out there was nothing inside.
Um. One tactic not to use. Finding such a nest in the winter while fishing, and tossing it in the back of a Blazer. Those critters WILL come back to life while being given a nice warm ride...... Nooo good. Just sayin.
