I Googled.




Who knew……

Why Yellowjackets Collect Fish
• Protein Needs: While adult wasps run on sugary energy from nectar and fruit, their larvae require protein to grow.
• Scavenging: Yellowjackets hunt insects or scavenge on flesh, meat, and fish—especially in late summer when natural food sources run low.
• The Meatball Process: A foraging worker uses sharp mouthparts to carve a piece of fish, shapes it into a compact ball using its legs and mandibles, and flies it back to the underground nest.
• Trophallaxis: In return for the solid protein, the larvae secrete a sweet, nutrient-rich liquid that the adult worker consumes.

See them in the fall on deer carcasses and such

Just figured they liked a little meat in their diet

When I go to put fish in the smokehouse they swarm me.I think its as much the sugary brine they were in as it is the fish.Also cutting corn off the cob outside for canning they swarm around.My wife puts out bowls of sugar water and that catches dozens of them. They get in and cant get out.Put a few new bowls out every day.As much as they swarm,,i have yet to be stung by one.

Smashing and dealing with aluminum beer/soda cans can get kind of exciting this time of year! LOL

Same here, they swarmed all around me even landing on me several times but didn’t sting me.

Here’s a closer look…..eventually. lol

I've got, or had, a nest in a stack of bushel baskets, pyrethrum spray didn't bother them, neither did home defense, but they were pretty well behaved, was able to get the mower out no problem and could stand in front of the nest..finally put out a package of tuna with a small dog dose of flea stuff. (fipronel)..they wouldn't touch it for several days which surprised me cause they always came to the flats of crab bait out of the cooler.
checked today and the tuna was half gone and dead yellow jackets all over the ground and no stragglers in the nest flying around.

If you don't try and whack them, and stay relatively quiet around the nest they seem to ignore you, but if I shook up that stack of baskets or ran over a nest with the mower, all bets are off!, lol

Try doing a skinning demo in August, I've only been stung twice in 10 years by them but no fun!