Ground meat bees in GMU 67

Gunnihunter

Active Member
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863
I was told by my buddies that the ground bees are extremely bad and aggressive this year, the worst ever. Their hands were being stung many times while working on the elk. A miserable experience. The bees seem to run in cycles. Anyone else experiencing aggressive bees around the state.

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I saw the same thing on the elk I killed, never seen them even close to that bad before. Felt pretty lucky to only get stung once.
 
Never had anything that bad. But I bring a clam (pop up screened enclosure) that I use at camp to cut up/finish and rebag the meat. Keeps the bees and flys out.
Been wanting to build a hanging rack inside but have not got to it yet. From my daughter’s moose hunt a few years ago.
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We have way more than I’ve ever seen before. We have giant nests everywhere. This one’s as big as a volleyball.
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The Entomologist in me says they are not bees. They are wasps. Yes they are bad this year.
I think you are correct. I was using the term bees in the vernacular. These particular pests nest underground. When they’re bad, you can’t even eat a sandwich without being attacked.
 
A solution to wasp: pan/dish with 3"-4" of water, put a few drops of dish soap it it. hang a piece of meat/food a foot or so above it. Works like a charm. You may need to empty the mess a few times.
 
The underground “yellow jacket” nest really suck when near horse trails and the horses get into them. Plus this time of year they get aggressive
 
It's crazy to come on here this morning and read this thread! I was camped in 37 this last weekend around 10,000 ft... have never experienced wasps like that in my life. I thought I had set up my camp near a nest at first, but they were still thick even when I was over a mile away from my camp. I managed not to get stung but it made for pretty miserable camping. I ate all of my in-camp meals in the cab of my truck.
 
That was the other thought I was considering as I ate my snack 30 yards away haha. Seemed like the dirt had been moved quite a bit by something larger than an insect!
I’ve seen evidence of bears digging up yellowjacket nests several times. i guess it must be worth the stings.
 
It's crazy to come on here this morning and read this thread! I was camped in 37 this last weekend around 10,000 ft... have never experienced wasps like that in my life. I thought I had set up my camp near a nest at first, but they were still thick even when I was over a mile away from my camp. I managed not to get stung but it made for pretty miserable camping. I ate all of my in-camp meals in the cab of my truck.
??????
 
hahah it definitely crossed my mind how ridiculous I looked while doing that, but I didn't mind looking ridiculous when the alternative was trying to eat with 5-6 wasps darting at my face every time I took a bite :ROFLMAO:
 
It’s not ridiculous to protect yourself. Anyone who thinks it’s funny has never experienced the hazard. The wasps can’t be ignored. The wasps were on the elk that was killed before the hunters could even get to the kill. Bears don’t seem to be bothered to much by the pests. I’ve seen bear scat filled with dead wasps. Surprising to see.
 
Is this an issue one might run into in 76 high country?
Yes. Hunting next door up to 12,000 and the hum of yellow jackets foraging everywhere starts before dawn and continues throughout the day. I’ve found several huge paper nests. Need a hard freeze or several to knock these down. Hate to think what will happen if I get one down in the next couple days.
 
I used to hunt mule on the Deschutes River in Oregon, when we killed a mule deer we would quarter it up and hang in game bags in the shade. The Oregon boys used to put a sacrificial piece of rib bone with meat about 15 yards away in sunlight. It was amazing to watch them yellow jackets destroy that meat daily.
 
When I lived in New Mexico guys carried pepper to keep the flys and bees off. It seemed to work pretty well actually as another option...
 
With the number of bulls being wounded and lost (2 out of 3 groups I met in the field ?) I think there should be enough sacrificial meat out there to keep them off any kill I might make.
 
Yep, this past weekend was on border of Utah and Wyoming scouting for moose and seen wasp traps in a lot of the camp spots and anytime I cooked they would show up. This weekend I will take a tupperware bowl, dish soap and a chunk of meat and give them heck.
 
Many years ago I had gout (bear with me as the bee thing will come up). Hurt like crazy every step I took, every muscle movement, every jaring bounce in the road was painful.

I finally gave in and started taking the gout medicine. Directions said to take a pill every hour until you poo. So, I popped one in my mouth, took a slug of Mountain Dew and went towards SLC. Next hour, same, next hour same. About Grand Junction, I felt a bit of rumbling, but no poo.

Got to camp (at a little over 10K MSL) and on the way up the hill.....bingo, the poo came out. I walked around a bit, kinda smug, and started setting up the tent, normally a 45 minute job.

Not this time as that gout medicine really kicked in. It took me nearly 4 hours to put the tent up. I just hung my butt over the trailer tongue. The sound....it was like a cow pizzzzing on a flat rock. By this time I had given up on keeping my pants/underwear on and just went at setting up camp with boots and a smile.

It was already warm out and the poo was getting some attention from a handful of bees. Maybe they were meat bees, I don't know and was not concerned about their genealogy. All I cared about was the idea that my sack was just above the object of their attention. I had two options to chase the bees away; the Kimber on my hip or a can of WD-40.

I ended up moving the trailer and dousing my poo with kerosene.
 
Many years ago I had gout (bear with me as the bee thing will come up). Hurt like crazy every step I took, every muscle movement, every jaring bounce in the road was painful.

I finally gave in and started taking the gout medicine. Directions said to take a pill every hour until you poo. So, I popped one in my mouth, took a slug of Mountain Dew and went towards SLC. Next hour, same, next hour same. About Grand Junction, I felt a bit of rumbling, but no poo.

Got to camp (at a little over 10K MSL) and on the way up the hill.....bingo, the poo came out. I walked around a bit, kinda smug, and started setting up the tent, normally a 45 minute job.

Not this time as that gout medicine really kicked in. It took me nearly 4 hours to put the tent up. I just hung my butt over the trailer tongue. The sound....it was like a cow pizzzzing on a flat rock. By this time I had given up on keeping my pants/underwear on and just went at setting up camp with boots and a smile.

It was already warm out and the poo was getting some attention from a handful of bees. Maybe they were meat bees, I don't know and was not concerned about their genealogy. All I cared about was the idea that my sack was just above the object of their attention. I had two options to chase the bees away; the Kimber on my hip or a can of WD-40.

I ended up moving the trailer and dousing my poo with kerosene.
I have to wear a jock when I poo....big ol nuts
 
I noticed a lot of wasps hunting at 11,500 feet in unit 66 last week. I did not kill an elk, but it did concern to me that the wasps, flies, and heat could be a problem if I was successful. It was a nice time to be in the woods and see wildlife, but it is much easier to take care of the meat later in the Fall.
 
My bull came out of north central co a few days ago and flies were bad but very few wasps, buddies bull came out of southern co and the wasps were unreal! Yellow jackets all over the game bags as we packed out it was a miracle he was only stung once
 
The paper nest posted by bluehair is actually from bald faced hornets and believe it or not they are your friend when it comes to yellow jackets. Here in northern CA when I'm skinning a deer and the meat bees are around I can't wait until the hornets show up. Within about 10 minutes the number of yellow jackets will noticeably be reduced. Call me crazy, but we used to have a hornet nest on the eve of our barn at the club and had no issues with meat bees until one of the guys told me that he knocked down that "wasp nest". He looked at me funny when I asked him why he did it. He didn't believe me about the hornets until shortly thereafter we were suddenly dealing with yellow jackets.
 
The paper nest posted by bluehair is actually from bald faced hornets and believe it or not they are your friend when it comes to yellow jackets. Here in northern CA when I'm skinning a deer and the meat bees are around I can't wait until the hornets show up. Within about 10 minutes the number of yellow jackets will noticeably be reduced. Call me crazy, but we used to have a hornet nest on the eve of our barn at the club and had no issues with meat bees until one of the guys told me that he knocked down that "wasp nest". He looked at me funny when I asked him why he did it. He didn't believe me about the hornets until shortly thereafter we were suddenly dealing with yellow jackets.
Maybe that’s what we saw!!?? As a kid sitting in our NorCal deer camp eating lunch by the fire one day, meat bees were buzzing around us and our food….. all of a sudden here comes some sort of a MAGA wasp!! It knocks a meat bee out of the sky and they land on the dirt next to us and start rolling around for a few seconds. Our jaws drop, we grab popcorn to watch the fight, then pretty soon, MAGA wasp flys off with the meat bee!! :oops:
 
The paper nest posted by bluehair is actually from bald faced hornets and believe it or not they are your friend when it comes to yellow jackets. Here in northern CA when I'm skinning a deer and the meat bees are around I can't wait until the hornets show up. Within about 10 minutes the number of yellow jackets will noticeably be reduced. Call me crazy, but we used to have a hornet nest on the eve of our barn at the club and had no issues with meat bees until one of the guys told me that he knocked down that "wasp nest". He looked at me funny when I asked him why he did it. He didn't believe me about the hornets until shortly thereafter we were suddenly dealing with yellow jackets.
Whatever they are, we have a bunch of them. They look very much like the “meat bees”, just a little blacker and maybe a tiny bit bigger.

And whether they contribute to the meat bee issue or not (I believe they do-based on killing an elk a few hundred yards from where that pic was taken), they sure don’t do a very good job of controlling the yellowjackets who manage to get me several times a year.

The bears should get those nests within the next couple of weeks.

Incidentally, the town next to me is correctly named Yellowjacket. The wasps of whatever kind make a mess of things around here, mud daubers especially.
 
Simple. Just sprinkle it around the kill area. I then sprinkle it on the hide as I work and then around the meat as I work it off the elk or deer. Been doing this for last 25 years. Works like a charm.
 
Simple. Just sprinkle it around the kill area. I then sprinkle it on the hide as I work and then around the meat as I work it off the elk or deer. Been doing this for last 25 years. Works like a charm.
I heard of black pepper when leaving it to hang, hadn't heard about chili powder while gutting/skinning.
 
Yep, citric acid and black pepper keep the pests off your meat. I want them to not sting/bite me as I am breaking down the animal.
 
When clients show up with capes and hides it is amazing how fast the yellow jackets show up. I always have a can of flying insect repellent close by and it seems to work very well. Of coarse you wouldn't want that on the meat.
 

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