Outdoor expert offers tips on yellow jackets

The yellow jacket problem this year is the worst I have experienced in more than 60 years in the Santa Monica Mountains. The yellow jacket, the size of a bee with yellow and black body design, is of the species including wasps, bees and ants, but build their nests underground.

When my brother and I camped or crawled under the chaparral as children, we were never stung by a yellow jacket. On picnics at Malibu Creek State Park and Orion Ranch-Star Route, we have encountered yellow jackets but were never stung.

My brother, using a tractor to clear a field on Aug. 16, ran over an entrance to a yellow jacket nest and was stung. On Aug. 23, a child playing at Malibu Creek State Park encountered an entrance to an underground nest and was stung numerous times by yellow jackets. (My grandchildren have stepped there many times and never been bitten.)

While hiking through brush the evening of Aug. 27, I felt the first yellow jacket sting through my dark slacks, and they can sting several times. (They did not attack my arms or shortsleeved white T-shirt.)

My brother and I are beekeepers and have encountered a few bee stings when we don’t properly suit up, but a bee can only sting once and then it dies. This was the first time in our lives that we were stung by a yellow jacket.

For temporary relief, we recommend Sting-Eze, or ice and baking soda. Since each person reacts differently to the venom, check with a doctor if you are stung.

However, there is no need to panic. Wear light-colored clothing, and check the area for yellow jackets in underground holes.

At picnics, use yellow jacket traps or take a small bucket of soapy water with about two inches of meat hanging above the water. The yellow jackets will go for the meat but be too full to fly out and will fall into the soapy water.

Dr. Dana Bleitz of the Los Angeles County Zoo uses large plastic fruit punch bottles with fruit punch in the bottom. She pokes small holes around the top for yellow jackets to get to the punch but they cannot escape.

We sprinkle poisonous dust around the entrance holes on our property.

The adult yellow jackets carry this on their feet, which also kills the larva. It takes a few applications, while bug spray may kill the adults but not the larva.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and, had I been following my own advice, I might have avoided a yellow jacket sting.

Robin G. Mitchell

Torrance

Mitchell is a member of the Malibu Creek State Park docents, the Los Angeles County Beekeepers, and the Beekeepers’ Association of Southern California.