Wish I would have planned ahead and gotten better pics of this adventure. I wasn’t expecting it to be a 4 day ordeal. What you (may) see in the first picture, circled in red, is a huge wasp nest. One of my jobs at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum was to take care of little nuisances like this when they threatened visitors or volunteers. I was bitten on the leg one day out of the blue (youch!) and the president of the museum was bitten on the head one day while we were working on the sawmill. Those nests were small and easy to take care of, this one turned out to be a challenge. The wasps were aggressive so I tried to attack in the morning while it was still cold outside and the wasps would be less active. Unfortunately, I’m less active in the cold too, and the wasps weren’t quite as inactive as I expected.
Well, I proceeded as any man would. I found a partial can of that 27′ wasp spray, walked up to the nest, careful to stand up wind, and blasted them with all that was left in the can… all the while being prepared to run. As luck would have it, the nest is higher than 27′ from the ground so no matter how hard I squeezed the trigger or thrust my arm up towards the nest, the stream just did not reach the nest. I was pretty sure I heard little tiny micro giggles.
Not to be mocked, I ordered fresh cans of spray, went out early the next morning and this time stood directly under the nest, as close as I could get, with a fresh spray can in hand and arm stretched straight up I squeezed that trigger as hard as I could! Did I mention there was no breeze? Do you know what happens when you spray wasp killer straight up into the air?
Well, after washing the wasp killer out of my eyes and mouth I had other work to do and the rest of the day to figure out what to try next.
Day 3, got up early, went to the barn with a new spray can of wasp killer. This time I found a 12 ft ladder in the barn. In fact, it is the home-made ladder you see in the picture leaning against the Lombard log hauler. Brilliant. Why didn’t I think of this first. I hauled it outside, leaned it against the the barn wall (see pic below), careful not to put it directly under the nest (I’m not stupid) and climbed about half way up. I didn’t want to get too high on the ladder ’cause I was afraid I’d need to make a sudden retreat. I kept having visions of me panicking on the ladder, one foot slipping off the rung and my body falling while my legs got tangled in the rungs about 10 feet up! *shudder*
Fears pushed aside, I climbed up and began blasting the little monsters. However, these northeastern wasps are different than California or Texas wasps that I’m familiar with. They completely encase their nests with a thick, multi-layer outer wall (is it insulation to protect from cold winters?) Well, it works to protect from wasp killer spray. The spray barely phased them. A couple flew out and buzzed me just to see if I was worth biting… apparently not. Not sure how I got wasp killer on my face this time… ugh.
OK, Day 4. I’ve had enough. Time to get tough. This is where I wish I had thought to take pics because this is the day I invented the Wardlaw Wasp Strike 8000 (WWS8K). You can see it in the pic above, leaning against the barn wall next to the ladder. It’s more impressive in person! Looking around the barn I found a loggers pike pole and another long piece of wood, duct taped the two together to create the 15′ long WWS8K (currently they only come in one size, I’m taking orders for custom sizes soon)! Now, fully armed I climbed about 6 feet up the ladder, hoisted my WWS8K up into the air and thrust it into the wasp nest! I missed the first couple of times and may have lost my balance and almost fallen off the ladder (I’ll never tell), but eventually I struck home and… Aaahhhhhhh! HERE THEY COME! I dropped the WWS8K and began carefully but quickly descending the ladder. I hit the ground running… whew! I think the cold weather slowed them down a bit, I was fully warmed up by then! A couple of them did bounce off my head, but no bites… ah, relief!
And that was the end of that nest. Except for the parts I couldn’t get off, but the wasps were gone. Visitors were saved!
LOL! That is indeed one crazy looking wasp nest! Kudos for getting them! I would have fastened a pick to the drone and then aerial attacked it 🙂 Maybe a second drone could have a can of wasp spray fastened to it with a wirelessly controlled sprayer. I think it’s Instructables time 🙂
Wow! That’s the craziest wasp nest I’ve ever seen. Wasps and bees are one of my fears, so you are a brave man to tackle those pests……….maybe not as smart as I thought you were, but still brave!