BEE'S!

September 6, 2003

Okay, I was out looking for an easy 1/1 geocache today in a local park. Found it no problem, about 30 feet off the trail, hidden in the crook of a tree right where the clue said it would be. I wedge my GPS into a crook in the tree, pull the ammo box out, and lay it on the ground. Oh look, there's a bee. I feel a sting on my neck. Uh oh, there's another. Holy $#%@, there's a freaking swarm of them. I start swatting with my hat, and it goes flying off into the woods. I beat feet outta there, doing the "holy crap, I'm covered in bee's! dance". I stop about 50 feet away, swatting the last of them off, waiting for an alergic reaction to overcome me. Nothing. Good. I've gotten stung before and felt a little woozy. I cautiously reapproach the cache site. The bees are now swarming all over the cache, laying on the ground. I'll be #$%^#'ed if I'm gonna leave my GPS in the woods! I quick snatch it up, and turn to retreat again, swatting the whole way. No new stings, but I'm thoroughly humbled. My hat is still laying back there, hanging in the brambles, along with the abandoned cache.

Nature is a Mother!

September 6, 2003

Bummer... You didn't get to sign the log? grab some benedryl and mosquito netting & head back in there!

1.1k · September 6, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by bitbrain:
Bummer... You didn't get to sign the log? grab some benedryl and mosquito netting & head back in there!

Bitbrain, you dog! You cache enough in SoTN/NoMS to know better! Be nice to this poor guy! (just messin' with ya, Bit!)

-Dave R. in Biloxi

24.7k · September 6, 2003

Bee's. Another occupational hazard to keep this sport interesting.

September 6, 2003

Oh, I'll be back to this one! Even if I have to go back with a can of bee fogger, I'm getting my stupid hat back!

1k · September 6, 2003

Sorry to hear it but your not alone. I was swarmed by yellowjacket wasps while hunting a swampy cache today. No bites, thank god but very scary none the less!

Kar

September 7, 2003

Go back at night when the bees are not as active. Fog the joint and run! Return in the morning and get your hat and the find. Just watch out for dead bees. Their stingers are still active when they die.

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I have never been lost. Been awful confused for a few days, but never lost!

N61.12.041 W149.43.734

September 7, 2003

I feel for you. A couple of weeks age at a coming back from a cache I was being harassed by a Horse/Deer Fly? Darn thing got between my glasses and my eyeball, when i swatted at it my glasses went flying down the Trail lense side down, needless to say they got all scratched up.

Take Care,

Mike

''Oh Jersey, we salute thee. Oh Jersey, sovereign state. Oh Jersey, magnificent empire; magnificent home of the natural slob. Oh Jersey.'' Jean Shepherd

September 8, 2003

I feel your pain! While geocaching in Oregon, we came across very nice blackberries, just begging to be picked. We returned with tupperware containers to hold the blackberries. I was so intent on getting the ripest ones, that I stepped right near a yellowjacket nest and got 9 stings for my trouble. I also got to see just how fast I could run... No allergic reactions, but it was still painful for awhile!

September 12, 2003

Q. What happens when 10 geocachers are bushwacking through the woods together and one of them disturbs a nest?

A. Just ask the participants in the NJ State-wide Cache Hunt. A minor problem at the 2nd stage caused a log jam that had 10 of us together at stage 4. I was at the back of the pack and was the second to be stung. Most of us were still getting stung in our cars, miles down the road.

September 17, 2003

No, I didn't find your hat. For those whohaven't heard this story, here it is:

Here's MY adventure! Found the cache at 1:23P without reading previous logged visits so was unaware of the bees. While digging through the cache to see what was there, noticed the number of bees inceasing to swarm proportions. Grabbed the log and moved away, having been stung twice. While filling out the log, I noticed that the place was not the kind of place I wanted to return to at any time soon. Using my Toss-Across skills from the 1960's, I tossed the log book back into the case (from a distance of about 30 feet)! I tried the same procedure with the Ty Teeny Beanie Baby - Nook The Husky (keeping with the dog theme) but I overshot it.

I left the site with the cache open and the prize I left outside the box.

My seach was part of a routine bike ride around the lake. After two hours of feeling guilty about leaving the box open and exposed to the elements, and returning to my car, I realized that I had a Tyvek suit! I returned to the geocache site, donned the head to toe suit and took on those bees!

I wore two pair of latex gloves and the hooded and bootied Tyvek suit and put the Beanie Baby in the box, grabbed the funny dog get-well card and closed the box up properly!

Bees be damned!

FUN!

September 23, 2003

Some time when your at home, and think you might have a picnic out doors, go to the dollar store get a can of the cheap SUPER HOLD Hair spray.

when them yellow jackets come around the table to bug ya, with your back to the wind, and away from the food, spray them. The usual result is that the hair spray makes them not able to fly. After you see how that works, with good results for you I hope take one with you into the woods in your back pack.. Hope this helps ...

September 23, 2003

Gallant uses Super Hold hair spray as a safe, non-poisonous alternative to keeping from being stung by bees. The bees recover, and Gallant gets his cache!

Goofus uses Super Hold hair spray and a lighter to create a flame thrower that will slay all life in a 20 foot swath. The forest may recover in 5 to 8 years, and Goofus gets his cache!

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Searching for the lost, Geocache.......

September 23, 2003

A local cacher had a similar experience with one of our caches. Go here and look at the August 24th log. Yeeeowch!!

September 24, 2003

I beeleave the plural of "Bee" be "Beez", not "Bee's".

October 3, 2003

Oh jeez!

Searching, for the lost Xanadu

9.4k · October 4, 2003

The most recent log on one of my caches mentioned bees or wasps about 15 feet from the cache. I guess I'll just wait until winter to do the next maintenance check.

Took sun from sky, left world in eternal darkness

1.3k · October 4, 2003

If you're not opposed to killing bees, a solution of watered down dishwashing liquid will quickly dispatch them. Get a good pump-up sprayer and fill it with the soapy water. Insects breathe through pores on the sides of their abdomen. The soapy liquid sticks to their bodies, clogging the pores. They quickly suffocate and you haven't exposed yourself, or the environment to any poison. Soap tends to be a lot cheaper than commercial bee sprays as well. I once saw an entire swarm killed this way on a nature program. It took only moments before the whole swarm was reduced to a brown pile on the ground.

[This message was edited by Bloencustoms on March 32, 1999 at 25:60 PM]

October 5, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by mckee:
Gallant uses Super Hold hair spray as a safe, non-poisonous alternative to keeping from being stung by bees. The bees recover, and Gallant gets his cache!

Er, no. Hair spray is plastic, a polymer to be more precise. There's nothing non-poisonous about it. Coating a bee in a plastic shell would suffocate it.

A better way would be smoke--makes the bees sleepy/mellow and they will recover. (Beekeepers use specially designed smokers for just such a purpose [opening hives].)

No, I DIDN'T say set the woods on fire!

Heh,

Randy

PS: Other hair styling products coat your hair in polymers as well--then since it's all thick/sticky/greasy-looking they coat it in silicone for shine. Gross huh?

October 5, 2003

quote:
Originally posted by Bloencustoms:
If you're not opposed to killing bees

I recommend against killing bees because the bee population has been trouble for some time now. The numbers have reduced and we all could suffer from a lack of pollenation if that keeps up.

That Quack Cacher:

Lone Duck

When you don't know where you're going, every road will take you there.

November 9, 2003

To avoid the Bees cache in Michigan winters. The bees are not active because they are too busy warming up the queen.

November 20, 2003

Funny how honey bees are forever getting a bum rap. You didn't mention having to remove stingers, so I'll lay odds your attackers were hornets or yellow jackets.

Once a bee stings you, it leaves a pheromone (odor) that marks you as an intruder so the other bees can zero in. It doesn't take many honey bee stings to have a serious poison and/or allergic reaction. First aid would be antihistamine capsules in case of an alergic reaction and swabbing the bite with ammonia to help neutralize the acidic poison.

Bee trivia: This time of year, female worker bees have a most intriguing habit of driving the useless male drones out of the hive to freeze to death.

There--more bee lore than you ever wanted to know from a former bee keeper.

UtahJean (bzzzzz)

2.3k · November 21, 2003

Stumble across an angry swarm way out in the desert and you are dead, nowhere to run and hide at all.

9.4k · November 21, 2003

...even if worse if you're wearing solid black while stumbling across the desert

2.3k · November 21, 2003

Hey Sax, you are getting closer, only 20 more posts to go, until you break 2000, can you do it today?

9.4k · November 21, 2003

I'm going to go back to work when I hit 1999. That'll leave you guessing on when I'll make 2000!

Edited November 21, 2003 by Team GPSaxophone

November 25, 2003

9.4k · December 12, 2003

The most recent log on one of my caches mentioned bees or wasps about 15 feet from the cache. I guess I'll just wait until winter to do the next maintenance check.<BR><BR><A HREF="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NM_Geo/" TARGET=_blank><IMG SRC="http://www.9key.com/images/nm_button.gif"> </A>Took sun from sky, left world in eternal darkness <IMG SRC="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ihazeltine/bandbass.gif">

I did my maintenance check last week, no sign of bees. (Winter must be here as it snowed today!)

December 17, 2003

Just a tip for everyone about bees. Cell phone, everyone should have one. If you get stung a feel like you are having a allergic reaction ( trouble breathing, severe swelling, swelling in an area of your body you did not get stug, chest pain, etc...) Call EMS first, better safe than sorry, next epi-pen. If you don't have one and have had severe reactions in the past, get one! Just ask your doctor. (peds have a diffrent dose called the epi-pen jr.) Make sure your give the right dosage to your children. If you don't have an epi-pen, caffeine, coffee, not soda! for those with MDI's or inhalers use them. Those that do not have any of the above, get to the ER, don't drive yourself. You'll put others at risk and EMS can treat you when they get to you. Be safe!

Edited December 17, 2003 by Ken243

1.2k · December 17, 2003

Not Cache related but a good Bee story none the less.....

My cousin had his car stored for a while and when he got out on the road again he had a bit of an incident. He was driving along on a war summer day so he turns on the A/C, suddenly a swarm of Bees comes flying out of the vents. Apparently they had made a hive in the duct work of his car. He werved and the car landed upside down in a ditch. he was fine but the car did not survive.

December 17, 2003

As a fellow EMT I agree with what Ken243 says. That's some pretty sound advice. I hope everyone remembers it.

Edited December 17, 2003 by lisavemt

4k · December 17, 2003

Not Cache related but a good Bee story none the less.....

My cousin had his car stored for a while and when he got out on the road again he had a bit of an incident. He was driving along on a war summer day so he turns on the A/C, suddenly a swarm of Bees comes flying out of the vents. Apparently they had made a hive in the duct work of his car. He werved and the car landed upside down in a ditch. he was fine but the car did not survive.

I had this happen with Yellow Jackets in my truck at 55mph. I slowed to a more reasonable 30 mph, locked the e-brake, and bailed out!

I'm allergic to bees and yellow jackets, and carry an epi-pen with me. Back when I was a paramedic, I got stung at the station after returning from a call, and had to have my own crew red-light me to the ER in anaphylactic shock. I didn't have my epi-pen that day, and my hands were shaking too badly to give myself an injection from the med-box on the unit. :lol:

January 7, 2004

Benadril liquid, should normally take effect quicker than the antihistimine tabs(as mentioned by Utahjean above).

I wonder how many other EMT, EMA, or Paramedics are geocachers there are on here. I'm a Paramedic in Ontario.

January 16, 2004

AEMT here (similar to EMT-I but not as many tricks in our bag). Plan on going paramedic next year. BTW, we now carry an Epi-pen and Epi-pen Jr. after a scary encounter with some sort of ground-dwelling stinging buggers last fall in KY. No serious reactions but 3 out of 5 of us ended up with multiple stings and my then 6yo son did end up with hives. We already carried liquid Benedril. We fortunately have an understanding family doctor that knows our lifestyle and penchant for hanging out in remote areas and she had no problem giving us a script for the Epi-pens...

January 16, 2004

I too ran into a bee hive while caching once...

It was actually the first one I've seen before int he wild. Luckly I didn't disturb them the cache was nearby but not bothering them. I took a picture and carefully went on my way without even one sting....

Edited January 16, 2004 by CWL

BEE'S!

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