Tower climber here dealing with hornets

[Z'sTrees]

I was working next to a cell tower last week and noticed a bald faced nest about 80ft up. It was built around the cable so I imagine even to get close enough to spray them the climber would have already disrupted the nest and agitated dozens of those little fuckers.
I feel sorry for the poor sob that has to go up that one next, I hope he knows what he's in for.

 

[Tree Hooligan]

Thanks for the responses. Going back up today wearing a bee suit to kill them. I like the paint ball gun idea!

 

[Woodwork]

Climb up after dark with a flashlight and slag the nest with hornet spray.

I don't think they'll fly at night.

 

[chiselbit]

Climb up after dark with a flashlight and slag the nest with hornet spray.

I don't think they'll fly at night.

But every one of them is home.

 

[Jonny]

We used starting fluid (ether I think) to kill a bunch of yellow jackets at close range before.
Probably not the best option but worth keeping in mind.
Mind the wind... could probably drop a grown man with that stuff too.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

We used starting fluid (ether I think) to kill a bunch of yellow jackets at close range before.
Probably not the best option but worth keeping in mind.
Mind the wind... could probably drop a grown man with that stuff too.

Yes, ether..and very flammable. If you could get close enough with ether you could have been much further away using a proper 'bomb spray' that shoots 15-20'

I can envision using a piece of pointed brake line attached to the aerosol spray can to inject the spray inside a nest

 

[Woodwork]

But every one of them is home.

That's the point: You get them all and they won't come after you. Bang and done.

 

[SomethingWitty]

That's the point: You get them all and they won't come after you. Bang and done.

It seems like sneaking up on a sleeping bear with a bowie knife. Yes, you can probably end it very quickly... but what if you miss?

 

[MA Arborist]

Thanks for the responses. Going back up today wearing a bee suit to kill them. I like the paint ball gun idea!

Good idea but don’t forget to duct tape your gloves to your wrists and your pants to your boots.

Make sure the suit doesn’t fit too tight. They can definitely sting through...

 

[colb]

Take some video...

 

[rustykfd]

Take some video...

Most important tip right here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Woodwork]

It seems like sneaking up on a sleeping bear with a bowie knife. Yes, you can probably end it very quickly... but what if you miss?

More like shooting somebody in the head while they snore.

I've done it at least a dozen times and I've never had the hornets do anything more than fall off the nest twitching after they were hit with hornet killer...doing it at night is the key. They're basically asleep at that point and very docile. Never had one even come after me after dark. YMMV but I doubt it.

 

[samsquatch]

Dunno. I've done it at least a dozen times and I've never had the hornets do anything more than fall off the nest twitching after they were hit with hornet killer...doing it at night is the key. They're basically asleep at that point and very docile. Never had one even come after me after dark.

Read somewhere that the bald faced hornet doesn't mind being nocturnal in addition to the day. may work well for all other species tho.

 

[Woodwork]

I think the key there is keeping the flashlight off until you're ready to pull the trigger on the hornet killer. I have had some kind of bees/wasps/hornets (not sure what kind) come out at night while I was welding, of all things. They seem to be attracted to the arc flash.

Never had any trouble when slagging their nests at night, though. In fact, the last time I did it (maybe a month or two ago), it was BF hornets. They had big long nests in between two long I-beams on a trailer that I'm converting to a bandsaw mill, so I had to get right up close and basically "looking down the muzzle" to spray up into the tunnel between the I-beams...

I think we may be making this more complicated than it needs to be. They're hornets, not rhinos.

 

[JeffGu]

More like shooting somebody in the head while they snore.

I've done it at least a dozen times...

Guns are noisy. I use a brick.

 

[Jehinten]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2004862556281730&id=471106609657340

A drone with a flamethrower should take care of them.

 

[39Buick]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2004862556281730&id=471106609657340

A drone with a flamethrower should take care of them.

I can see the headline, "local tree service blamed for the trillion dollars in damages caused by recent forest fires" But not one sting!

 

[Nish]

When an aerial rescue will only prolong a climber's suffering: scramble the flame thrower drone! There's dignity in incinerating all evidence of the your employee's errors and ANSI violations. Hoping to see an uptick in casualties by spontaneous combustion in the TCIA accident briefs.

 

[southsoundtree]

Consider the nest temperature, not only the light.

Near Dawn/ dawn seems like the coldest time, and if things go sideways, it's not an incident in the dark.

 

[Woodwork]

Consider the nest temperature, not only the light.

Near Dawn/ dawn seems like the coldest time, and if things go sideways, it's not an incident in the dark.

+1

Here on the VA coast, we get heavy, heavy dew almost every morning all summer, and I suspect the dew "dampens" their enthusiasm to fly, too...