Today, while I was weed-eating the trails, I suddenly felt like I was being stung all over by fire ants. Because my goggles were somewhat foggy, I didn't know what was stinging me until finally I saw a lot of somethings hurriedly flying around me. That's when I thought "Yikes! Wasps!!!" I had to think FAST. I knew if I laid the weed-eater down and left it running, the wasps would focus their attention on it because of the loud noise and vibrations, which gave me time to run for it.
After a while, most of the wasps went back into their ground nest. Meanwhile, around 15 to 20 were still flying around and lurking on the weed- eater. I knew I had to turn the machine off so I slowly walked over, wearing my gloves, hat and goggles, and turned it off. Two wasps were stationed close to the on/off switch. Leaving it running was not an option due to safety concerns. Getting stung another 10 to 20 times was better than having a fire start. Luckily, not one stung me. With the weed-eater turned off, after what seemed like eternity, they were all back in their home, which allowed me to retrieve the weed-eater. The sting operation was over, and now it was time to get through the pain. Thankfully, I'm not allergic.
These aggressive wasps were likely southern yellowjackets (Vespula squamosa).
