I was attacked...

[+markp99]

by BEES!

 

I was making a friendly visit to a local cache while scoping out a potential new hide. The cache was there and in great shape (w/new container). As I grabbed the cache, I saw a bright streak of lightning in the sky followed by a LOUD clap of thunder a few seconds later.

 

I decided to high-tail it outta' there (lots of very tall trees all around). Big raindrops were falling. As I dashed thru the underbrush I felt that familiar burning/electric sensation all over the back of my legs (wearing shorts). Ughhh, BEES!. Lots of them (small honeybee variety)!!

 

I made my way very quickly to the path/clearing where I ditched my mtn bike, brushing more than a dozen bees from my shirt, shorts, arms and legs. I was collecting more and more bites. I attempted to jump onto my bike as quickly as possible, but managed to catch my calf on the front sprocket (a nice boo-boo, w/blood dribbling down my leg ).

 

I finally got my bike up and moving, swatting bees all the while. I darted down the path as fast as I could go (rain was still falling, so now I had mud to deal with). I could feel bees in my hair. Arrhhh!! There were even bees in my hiking BOOTS biting my ankles.

 

It was only about a .5 mi ride to my Jeep, but when I arrived BEES were still flying around me. These must have been passengers, unless bees can fly that fast. I swatted and killed the 3-4 bees outside my Jeep as I hung my bike on the rack. I jumped into my Jeep quickly, hoping to leave any more of my new friends behind.

 

On the ride home I noticed I had a few more hidden friends. A few bees were under my shorts, and a couple under my T-shirt, adding a few more bites. I squished the ones I could (swerving just a bit as I did), but sent one flying inside my Jeep (windows closed due to heavy rain). I finally squished that last one and continued home. Ugh, that sucked.

 

I was waiting for signs of anaphylactic shock as I drove the 5-6 miles home. Welts were rising on my arms and legs, but no big reaction, yet. The bites on my ankles seem to hurt the most, almost as much as the new pattern of stab wounds on my calf from my bike's sprocket.

 

When I got home, I popped off my boots and dumped out 4 bees (still squirming) and then inspected my body for more bees and to assess the damage (bee stings and boo-boos). I washed the chain grease and blood from the sprocket imprint on my leg and added antiseptic ointment. The bee stings were calming down.

 

That was a fun adventure!

 

Almost as fun as when I noticed I STEPPED on my GPS, shattering the screen just 1 hour earlier.

 

I should have stayed in bed??

 

Note: I will make a note for that cache to mention the nasty bees in the vicinity.

[+Kabuthunk]

Harsh man. If you start feeling dizzy or anything, get yourself to a clinic! I have no clue what a ton of bee-stings will do to a person, but I'm pretty sure that whatever is in those stingers isn't good for you.

 

Well, it'll make for a helluva log anyway.

[+sparqui66]

Yikes! I hope you're okay....and your GPS too. Give us an update when the swelling goes down.

 

S.

[+Team Snoopy]

Oh ouch! And I thought my one wasp sting was bad enough, I can't imangine multiple ones! Hope you're okay!

[+Lakeshore Geocachers]

I think you probably depleted the total bee population so the next finder won't have as much of a problem...hey, there are a few around here that could use a good de-populating...ya free soon?

[+New England n00b]

Ack! Dude that sucks, both for the stings and the crushed GPS! You went and dried out my cache a while back (thanks, by the way I think I said that in teh log, but it bears repeating).

 

Heck of a way for karma to pay ya back... Owwwww.

[+Wile E. Dragonfly]

Take a dose of benadryl, just in case. Just don't drink any hootch with it...

 

On my honeymoon, hubby and I were canoeing on the Rio Grande River in Big Bend State Park. Long storey short, got stung by an africanized bee in the outhouse and chased by a swarm... luckily, got far enough away. Hubbys uncle (an EMT) was conoeing with us, had to strip down a bit to get the stinger out. He gave me benadryl as we were far away from a hospital and didn't want to have any allergic reaction thing. Then, we went out to eat in a nice for us kinda place. What the heck, it was my honeymoon, so ordered a margarita... They had to explain to the waitress why I passed out at the table. We were going to camp that night... hubby found a hotel instead. Makes for a great memory!

 

One thing for sure, you won't forget that cache!

[+piscatore]

You might not be as bad off as you think. Check out this link BEE VENOM THERAPY.

 

Wife and I both got stung multiple times last week while clearing brush. We are both old enough to experience lots of joint pains. After the initial pain, we both felt better for a few days.

[+AMH209]

Myself and Deut31-8 had our families out caching with us last summer. The kids were having fun and had found the cache while Deut31-8 and I talked. My daughter started screaming, then Deut's kids started screaming. So I made a dash over there to find the kids being swarmed by bees (they had placed the cache on top of a hole in the ground where the bees were nesting). Deut and I got the kids out there and the wives started treating them (I carry a first aid on all our caching trips). Deut ran back to the car for ice, I being the dedicated cacher went back and recovered the cache, signed the log, and placed the cache back. Luckily none of the kids had a bad reaction to the stings, but to be on the safe side gave them the old Benadryl. Needless to say that brought our caching for the day to an end.

[+markp99]

Interesting link to the Bee venom thing. My lower back was very stiff this morning (lots of biking & walking yesterday), my bee stings didn;t help me much there

 

The welts have subsided overnight. Mainly just itchy patches now.

 

The more painful part is still the pattern of puncture wounds on my calf from my bike's sprocket. I think there may still be chain grease in there. The area looks pretty red this morning, so I may have a small infection brewing. Ugh!

 

It's a beautiful cool sunny day around here today, and I am home without a functioning GPS. I've seen a few bookmarks out ther for caches not requiring a GPS. Maybe I'll go chase a couple of those.

[+The GeoGadgets Team]

You still haven't said which cache you were on. I'm concerned as you aren't all that far from my QTH (location). Come on... spill it.

[+Kacky]

That sounds like a nightmare! Tis the season, I guess. Check out this cache

Edited September 11, 2006 by Kacky

[+Pablo Mac]

Here's my log from an Africanized bee attack at a cache on the Oregon Coast.

[+Kacky]

Little kids getting stung is the WORST! Very distressing!

[+VeryLost]

by BEES! [scary story snipped]

 

Sweet Fancy Moses, that doesn't sound like a Good Time At All!

 

Now that you're reasonably sure you're not going to die (ahem ), first order of business will be to count the individual stings. When you tell this story, you just KNOW people are going to ask. A nice big number will help make it even more fascinating - not that it needs any help.

 

 

I got attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets as a kid. My own fault - I didn't know they were there, but I sure as heck annoyed them accidentally. By some miracle, I had worn a brand new pair of jeans that day, and though my legs were absolutely covered with wasps doing their level best to kill me, I actually was stung only once - on the top of my head. Needless to say, I'm still kind of twitchy about wasps now, almost 30 years later.

 

My story isn't near as good as yours. This is a case where I don't mind not being in the lead

[+VeryLost]

got stung by an africanized bee in the outhouse

 

I bet that hurt. I've never been stung in the outhouse. Once in the old shed, and another time by the flag pole, but never in the outhouse!

 

[+markp99]

The cache was "Elkins Road" in Beaver Brook near Nashua, NH.

 

I haven't counted the number of stings, as they appear as very itchy clusters (3-4) all over my legs, but a few on my wrist and forearm and one under my armpit.

 

The sites are extremely itchy yesterday and today. It's driving me crazy, expecially my ankles. These crazy bees were in my hiking boots biting me thru my heavy socks.

 

I found one of the buggers in my my house near where I took off my boots (dead). It seemed a bit small to be a honey bee. Could have been a yellow jacket. Though, I pulled out a few stingers, but not at every site. The clusters lead me to believe it was a wasp, not a bee. I don't think the africanized bees have made thier way into NH yet.

[+OHMIKY]

very unlikely to be africanized bees in your neck of the woods - but dude, you surely can tell the difference between the honey bee and the yellow jacket!?

 

regarding the comment that you might have depleted the number of bees in the vicinity, killing a few hundred bees would barely dent the population of a beehive. I don't think yellowjacket hives typically have populations numbering in the tens of thousands as beehives do, but even so, where conditions are right for one colony, there may be more.

[+MAG315]

I don't know why it is but bee stings on the ankles and calves hurt the worst. I've gotten stung by yellow jackets about six times this year while mowing grass and it takes about a week for the swelling and itching to go away. Stings don't seem to bother you as much on other parts of the body.

 

I think what you encountered were yellow jackets because unless I'm wrong, I don't think honeybees can sting multiple times.

Edited September 12, 2006 by MAG315

[+Kacky]

The wasps are thinner and more agressive. I have bees near my outdoor water spigot and all over the flowers that are near my back door. We're around them all the time and they don't do anything. In my goldenrod field I have the giant bumblebees and they have even gotten stuck in my hair but never stung me.

 

Do you guys keep antihistmine cream, like Benadryl, handy? that and acetaminophen kept me in the rally the day of my stings.

[Skippermark]

Bees tend to hang out around flowers, clover and other plants and are usually pretty docile unless disturbed or threatened. I don't think I've ever actually come across a true bees nest while caching.

 

Wasps (yellow jackets and others) on the other hand are everywhere. They will sting for no apparent reason and are usually found in holes in metal and wood objects, in pipes, under roofs and other things. We've come across many wasp nests while caching, and because I suffer from anaphylaxis, I'm always nervous when a cache description says something like, "You can't see the cache so feel around for it..."

 

As for how they sting, honeybees leave their barbed stinger in you with a little sac of venom that continues to pump for awhile. You don't want to "squeeze" the sac to pull it out because it'll push all the venom into you. Wasps (yellow jackets) can sting you over and over multiple times.

[+FSUgly]

Yellow Jackets will build nests in the ground. 2 weeks in a row (in the same location) I was out mowing my lawn when I got popped in the back of my leg by one of these things. The first time I thought it was just a wasp out flying around. The second time I knew there was a nest somewhere. Standing back and looking around, sure enough, a hole in the ground about the size of a quarter. I had some wasp spray that I sprayed down in that hole (which by the way did nothing but tick them off), and I couldn't believe the numbers of yellow jackets came out of that hole.

Glad you're OK and didn't have any type of reaction.

[+chuckwagon101]

Didja get SWAG? Forget the bees, tell us about the swag ya got!!!

 

[+Kacky]

This is off-topic, but there's a section in my yard where nothing grows, and there are lots of wasp nests there. They look like anthills but the holes are wider. I cut plastic water bottles in half and screw them into the ground over the holes. 2 years ago there were too many nests to count, and it's down to less than 10 now. I also hang a juice trap nearby. And I don't discourage skunks from being in my yard at night. They get the nests I miss.

[+markp99]

There was a post today from another cacher who also picked up a couple bee stings at this same cache.

 

Ouch!

[+RealWorldAvatars]

Well, that solves one little problem I had. As soon as I finish my long-term project to hollow out and waterproof this future cache container, I'm going to name it markp99's Big Adventure.

 

[Skippermark]

That looks like my grandma's old fashioned "bee hive" hairdo.

[rogheff]

OOOHHH! Bad memories... Almost this exact time last year my son and I were attacked by a swarm of honey bees as well. 111 stings between us. Good time to make the warning of caution around stumps and hollow logs.

 

BTW: We couldn't outrun them either, they just kept coming at us.