Lol, We used to shoot the Carpenter Bees , the ones that drill in the wood in barn.
Bird shot with the 12ga we would let them fly in the big door side and BAM. Like skeet but smaller. Your comment brought back the Memory lol.

Here's a picture I borrowed off the 'net to show what kind of nest this is. Mine is pretty much the same except bigger. I am going to wait until it gets good and cold here to do anything with it.

Muskrat-If I can get it down intact I will put it in a bag and spray in some Raid or something...just in case. I'm doing a bunch of gun shows in Spring and will put it up for sale.

Warrior-By looking at the nest do you think I can safely assume it's bald-faced and will be empty once we get some good hard freezes?

The Yuppies who have moved in around me will have no tolerance for blasting them with a shotgun, much less a lot of other stuff I have done here for years. They are a plague.

Thanks for all the advice!

Moosetrot

Interesting. I had more than a couple of nests brought into the classroom by students during the winter months that started dropping live hornets about third hour as the nest warmed up.

Seems like a lot of folks have an interesting story about a bald faced hornet's nest. Awhile back on a fishing trip to the Turtle Flambeau, Patrice and I spotted the perfect one, right on the edge of the road near the boat landing and only 6 feet up in some thick brush. Next morning we came back early and it was cold, about this time of the year, armed with cans of wasp and hornet spray. We hosed that baby down good and went fishing for the day thinking that when we came in at the end of the day it was ours. I stopped the truck and began cutting it loose from the branches when Patrice remarked that it was odd to hear an outboard motor this close to the road. Being the astute feller that I am I yelled run! and took off down the gravel road. Patrice commented that I looked like that keep on truckin guy from the 70's. As a side note I do not recommend leaving your truck running with the doors open while removing a hostile nest as it makes you look kind of foolish to the other folks leaving the landing. Next morning we stopped back, clipped it into a garbage bag and soaked it again with spray and that was the end of them. It hangs proudly in our house yet today.

Moosey, do not leave the nest too much longer as the woodpeckers will trash it. Given your recent hip replacement it would behoove you to recruit an agile but somewhat dimwitted assistant.

Zim

Zim-Great story!

Unfortunately the hip replacement has not happened yet, so even more reason for me to find an "agile but somewhat dimwitted assistant."

Moosetrot

Ah, the memories! I just saw this, Moosey! Those bald faced hornets are tougher sometimes than you'd think!

Zim and I looked so foolish standing there on foot waaaaaay down the highway from our truck which we couldn't reach. Armed with nothing but a can of Raid that was almost useless. As we were running I would turn around and try to shoot behind me. Too funny! I hit a few stragglers that went buzzing in circles along the pavement behind us. I'll never forget that sound as they buzzed around in circles on the highway and still wouldn't quite let go. Wow!

In the end it took three trips and three full cans of Raid. It took a long time before I was sure that more of them wouldn't come out of that nest when we least expected it.

This is what bald faced hornets look like.


And here it is, in our home.


There. THAT was easy!

Good luck to you, Moosey. I hope we hear back about a successful mission!

Nasty critters, far worse than yellow jackets.

Patrice
Yes that is exactly what they look like right before they do the bald face hornet jihad on you.
When I see one like that my first thoughts are, “Uhh oohh, this is gonna hurt!”
They dont fight fair, when one comes after you they bring a bunch of their evil friends and they all whup up on you.

Moostrot let me know when your going to tackle that baby. I'll bring my camera set in video mode?? just to help of course..
Be great adventure! LOL!

Mac

My uncle found one on a cold frosty morning. No hornets. He cut it and threw it in the back of his truck which had a shell. He forgot the thing was in there and in the afternoon with all that nice warm sunshine coming through the glass, there was quite the hornet hatch. The inside of that cap was alive with them!
I usually have a nest of them hanging around here when the leaves go down where you can see them. They have been there all summer without problems. By spring, the nest is gone. As somebody said, there are plenty of insect eating birds that will eat them through the winter.
Oh. I shot a nest out one time thinking to go back for it in a few days when the bees were gone. A skunk tore the thing to pieces and I guess it ate the bees and larvae. A skunk can also dig out those ground wasps and eat them. That makes a skunk a useful critter in my book.

He didn't ask for the FUN WAY to get rid of them.

It sounds more like bald face hornets than paper wasps that you have. Paper wasps build under eaves and sheltered type areas. I get them underneath the railings on my deck. Any insecticide that specifies it kills hornets will work. Regular flying insect killer just makes them mad.

Always have loved that one !

Boy howdy, Patrice, does that story bring memories ! I laughed at your "keep on truckin " image - know that art instantly

Many years ago I too cut a nest of Baldies , thought it was evacuated for the winter, brought it inside my cabin in Idaho , set it on a shelf in a back room and went about the day. A few hours later when I returned , I was horrified to see them trying their best to warm up enough to fly. One did manage to take off and slowly fly my direction toward a window....it sounded like a B-52 ! Like you, Ill never forget the sound.

I ducked aside and proceeded to swat them all before they had the chance to take off.

I didn't even want the nest after that- I took it outside and burned it.

Like T 7 mentioned, paper wasps are the tame ones of the clan....the most tolerant ....yellow-jackets bad, Baldies terrible.

I saw a takeover of Baldies on a yellow -jacket nest. It was a fight that lasted some hours, with the Baldies winning and tearing apart the nest.

Ugh.......

Yes, that's hornet nest and imo best bagged before cutting and done on a cold day. Left in the bag a few days-or weeks- the buggers will die off.
Hornets do come back to life after a hard freeze if brought into the warm house, like in Muskrat's classroom. I don't know how many days of being frozen they can stand but several below freezing nights and cut on a 10F day with snow on the ground.

Paper wasps- dish soap in water is much better than 20'wasp spray and also won't destroy the part of the house the nest is attached to. Wasp spray damages things like tar paper, roof shingles, plastic light fixtures, wire insulation, foam insulation and vinyl siding. Pump sprayer cup of soap gallon of water will kill paper wasps all summer.

I have heard that hornets can come right through a plastic garbage bag. Is that true?

And are they not chopping up wood fibers to make that paper nest? That would make a Hefty bag seem like child's play ...

Just spray it with a hose. Everyone knows they cant swim.

Lol ! Riiiiiiight........

I don't know how fast they can fly but it is faster the a 10 year old boy pedaling for his life downhill on his bicycle. One stung me right in the eye my head face swelled up like a pumpkin. I didn't look near death so of course the old man wouldn't let my mom take me to the doctor. Took a few days before I was back to just being homely.

The only one I ever saved , I cut down after a cool down in weather .
Placed it in an air tight tote.
Left an open dish of rubbing alcohol inside the tote with it for few days (seems like maybe a weekend long)??
Hung in the breezeway between house and garage for many years, after airing it out some.
I have heard of springtime hatches if the eggs/ larvae survive the winter.
Might want to consider a spray on preservative for the outside of the nest, lasts longer they say.