And the B-52 of wasps, New Mexico's state insect, the tarantula hawk, with a sting so severe that entomologists suggest assuming the fetal position and sobbing for about five minutes.
Keep in mind that all bees and wasps that sting are females, and they are reacting to the CO2 in your breath. If you can hold it, all the better.
This one, in my back yard, was a little over three inches from antennae to tail. Fortunately, they are fairly mellow.
fullsizeoutput_11ee by ComeWatson, on Flickr

We have something euphemistically called a "cow-killer" with a similar reputation. I don't have a picture...

I really thought I was going to see some republican congress members.

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:
We have something euphemistically called a "cow-killer" with a similar reputation. I don't have a picture...

Isn't this also called a red velvet ant? It kills the Cicada Killers.

Well, everyone has to eat. The red wasps around here are very aggressive but their choice of food is spiders which weigh more than they do. I love to watch them paralyze the prey then carrying them up to the wall until they have takeoff height carry them back to the nest/ larvae. Save me from being hit by a Hornet ever again. Those guys hurt. About 8 years ago I got nailed on my leg by what I thought might have been a brown recluse spider, anyway I was concerned enough to go see the doctor just in case. When I dropped my pants + she was on her knees to see the 1st thing she said was "OH MY GOD! I was a bit uncomfortable with that so I asked her to not scare me like that but damned if she didn't say it again, "OH MY GOD!" I couldn't help myself at this point, my comedy survival factor kicked in + I told her "Well I appreciate that but now can I turn around + show you the spider bite?" True story.

quote:

Originally posted by Greg K:

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:
We have something euphemistically called a "cow-killer" with a similar reputation. I don't have a picture...

Isn't this also called a red velvet ant? It kills the Cicada Killers.

Sounds like a good description, the little buggers don't look like much but I've been told they hurt like nothing else.

I've watched a hornet carry off a spider after a tussle on the side of a tent.

Yesterday I was walking into my shop with my son + noticed a fairly good size yellow jacket nest right by the door. I was going to get a broom but my son says, No, watch this. He just reached up quick + smashed them + nest with his open palm. He says you just gotta do it quickly, you can't approach slow or they get agitated. He says he got more free lunches out of that one when he was working in the oil field. Bet some guy for lunch that he could do it, then did.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Yesterday I was walking into my shop with my son + noticed a fairly good size yellow jacket nest right by the door. I was going to get a broom but my son says, No, watch this. He just reached up quick + smashed them + nest with his open palm. He says you just gotta do it quickly, you can't approach slow or they get agitated. He says he got more free lunches out of that one when he was working in the oil field. Bet some guy for lunch that he could do it, then did.

Must have been scary the first time...

Not for him but for me. He was always the kid that would wait for a rattler to strike then grab it by the tail before it could recoil + then hit it in the head with a tire iron. I've earned all my grey hairs.

We have a lot of what we call whitefaced hornets. They build a paper nest, sometimes up to a basketball size.
They eat flies around the livestock so we try not to bother them.
I was stacking some extra firewood between the posts of an open pole shed. If I hit the post to hard with a chunk of wood, it vibrated up to a nest they had off the rafters. One hornet would come down and zap me on the arm or shoulder, then leave. A little while later I hit a post again, down came another hornet to zap me again. I got very carefull, but still ended up with 5-6 stings before I had that load piled.

50 years ago I went hunting in an old rock quarry. The towers were still there + that's where I perched. It was WAY up there in the tower; had a good view of the deer coming across the field. Right at 1st light, I was ready with my Rem 600 in 244 Rem. when I just chanced to look up above me in the tower + there was a red wasp nest that was as big as a semi-truck tire; so I just SLOWLY started down the steel steps on the tower. if I had fired my rifle they would have been on me like white on rice + even if I jumped off thy would have stung me before I hit the ground.

Jesus Bill if that thing was chasing me I'd be running down the street screaming like a little girl.

NC, thats a scary story.

It was a scary experience. Several years ago I had a guy that I had done some work for + then wouldn't pay me. Long story short I got him to give me an old pickup in lieu of the money owed. We towed by a chain one evening. I had no idea the truck had no brakes until the guy behind me rear-ended me hard enough to shear off the bolts of my bumper. We got it home + the next morning found a red wasp nest under the dash as big as a platter. Helpful hint there. They will not leave the nest in the dark.