Wasp nest

[GREENSWLDE]

Don't throw the combs away.Bake them for a few minutes at about 120/140c.The roasted grubs make great bait for Chub. either floating on a greased line or sinking slowly ungreased. Need baking to toughen them to stay on the hook.(Barbless we hope)

 

[Marshhawk]

Hey, all,
I live in a fairly sandy place, one of the sea islands. Is there likely to be sand or other grit mixed in with the paper?

 

[Dale Lilly]

My wife chose to shoot a hornet nest during a nonproductive hunt. Big mistake … ran for our lives. Polecat

 

[Eterry]

My wife chose to shoot a hornet nest during a nonproductive hunt. Big mistake … ran for our lives. Polecat

Thats a mistake you only make once...we hope!!

 

[Flinty Scot]

Hey, all,
I live in a fairly sandy place, one of the sea islands. Is there likely to be sand or other grit mixed in with the paper?

Doubt it. The "paper" is cellulose the wasps chew up, mix w/ saliva and build with. Can't see how sand would get in.
I'd think any on the plants they harvest would be an irritant and ejected. I've no proof,. Just trying logic on it.

 

[Marshhawk]

Doubt it. The "paper" is cellulose the wasps chew up, mix w/ saliva and build with. Can't see how sand would get in.
I'd think any on the plants they harvest would be an irritant and ejected. I've no proof,. Just trying logic on it.

Makes sense. Thanks!

 

[appalichian hunter]

Are you talking about a hornets nest, big as a soccer ball, gray paper?

Spence

Around where I live the big gray ones are hornet nests, best way to harvest them is when it is very cold out place a garbage bag around the nest cut it loose from the branch it is built on, and spray inside the bag with bee killer tie the bag shut and let hang for about a week or two. Kills the hornets, a good way to check for dead bees is place the closed bag in the sun for a bit let it warm up and CAREFULLY open the bag if live hornets are crawling around you did not use enough bee killer. Re-apply or RUN, Also in the winter months as you are wondering around the woods look for pieces of nest on the ground birds will tear up the nest to get to the larvae in the winter.

 

[Leadball loader]

I would not like to be handling nest material soaked in insect poisons!
LBL

 

[George]

Around where I live the big gray ones are hornet nests, best way to harvest them is when it is very cold out place a garbage bag around the nest cut it loose from the branch it is built on, and spray inside the bag with bee killer tie the bag shut and let hang for about a week or two. Kills the hornets, a good way to check for dead bees is place the closed bag in the sun for a bit let it warm up and CAREFULLY open the bag if live hornets are crawling around you did not use enough bee killer. Re-apply or RUN, Also in the winter months as you are wondering around the woods look for pieces of nest on the ground birds will tear up the nest to get to the larvae in the winter.

I don't understand this. According to everything I can find, only the queen hornets survive the winter, all other hornets die in the late fall and the nest is abandoned. The queens shelters over the winter by digging into the ground or into rotten logs, then start the colony again in the spring. She raises the first batch of workers which then take over that job. The whole cycle, the life duration of all but the queens, is 4-5 months.

If what the scientists say is true, there shouldn't be any live hornets or larva in the nests in cold weather.

Spence

 

[George]

I've been told about the old boys using wasp/hornets nest for wadding since I got into the game almost 50 years ago, and have been looking for any documentation of that in primary literature for all that time. I have yet to find a single instance.

Can anyone point me to such documentation in the 18th or early 19th century?

Spence

 

[Carbon 6]

If what the scientists say is true, there shouldn't be any live hornets or larva in the nests in cold weather.

Right, They abandon the nest in fall, and build an under ground nest for winter, then they build a new paper ball nest in the spring. Usually in a different tree.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I don't understand this. According to everything I can find, only the queen hornets survive the winter, all other hornets die in the late fall and the nest is abandoned. The queens shelters over the winter by digging into the ground or into rotten logs, then start the colony again in the spring. She raises the first batch of workers which then take over that job. The whole cycle, the life duration of all but the queens, is 4-5 months.

If what the scientists say is true, there shouldn't be any live hornets or larva in the nests in cold weather.

Spence

I’ve never found anything live in a nest during winter. Thats when I used to collect them and they were always abandoned. It seems up here that early fall is when they move into the ground.
Walk

 

[appalichian hunter]

Do not know about all that spence, I have seen the nests come to life when very cold out and was brought in the warmth, example- it is and was a very common practice to find a nice nest to place in ones man cave added a touch of outdoors if you will, any way knew a fellow who done this harvested the nest like in January brought it in to his den hung it up after about a day in the warmth hornets everywhere. The hornets around here are black and white call them bald face hornets nasty buggers, then there are the yellow jackets, two types of bumble bees big ones and little ones the little ones are the nastiest. Perhaps it is a geographic thing. As to Leadball Loader you do not soak the nest just spray the killer in to the bag. Cannot be worse than handling lead balls to load your weapon, and don't lick yer fingers.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Carbon 6, the bumble bees are known to build underground nests, when making hay or mowing grass it is a common thing to rile em up by running over the nest. never came across a underground hornets nest.

 

[Brokennock]

I've run across underground yellowjacket nests, on numerous occasions, including a huge one that I knew was in the trail to one of my favorite treestands, was there, until a black bear dug into it. Once excavated, it was huge. Also accidentally discovered a colony of them living in a hollow of a triple trucked tree I wanted to put a stand in for years,,,, but that is even further off topic.

The big grayish colored paper nests I've found during pheasant season have been unoccupied it would seem by late October to mid November. After that they are usually too wrecked to be worth collecting. I've given them away so not sure if anything winters over in them. I usually seal them in an airtight container to suffocate any possible living wasps, and let the container sit out in the freezing weather all winter.

 

[Walkingeagle]

The ones I referred were yellowjackets.
Walk

 

[George]

....never came across a underground hornets nest.

The bald faced hornet, which is what we are discussing, do not nest in the ground. When the queens take shelter in the ground or rotten wood in the late fall, they aren't building a nest, just burrowing in for protection from the cold. All the other hornets die, it's the normal cycle for them. All the queens breed in late fall so they are fertilized, they can then lay eggs in the spring to start the colony again.

Spence

 

[George]

No documentation about the use of wasp or hornet nest for wadding, eh? It seems strange that there is none if it was as common as everyone says. I've found references to the use of cut cards, tow, leather, saddle pierce, brown paper, hat, cork, Spanish moss, moss off of apple trees, fearnought cloth, shirt tail....but never wasp/hornet nest in the day.

I'm beginning to think it was something thought up in modern times.

Spence

 

[Canute Rex]

I would not like to be handling nest material soaked in insect poisons!
LBL

If you are worried about the complex chemicals in wasp spray, you can do the bag method with car starter fluid. That's just ether - puts them to sleep for eternity. Caveat: It is, of course, extremely flammable.

 

[bigted]

Really interesting to me that no passages speak to these wasp nests as good wadding. I have heard of "the old dead guys" using it for years and years ... but ... I also have not read nor heard reference to any historic nor original writings referring to wasp or bee nests for wadding.

Interesting for sure!