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Hornets around/in rock faces?

Original Post
Teddy K · · New York, New York · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 0

Has anyone been experiencing such a problem lately? I was at two locations in Northern Jersey, both of which were swarmed with hornets.

Rob D · · Queens, NY · Joined May 2011 · Points: 30

lots of hornets at the gunks this weekend. live and let live seemed to work fine for me.

Nick Goldsmith · · Pomfret VT · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 440

I have never been stung by the fall swarm. it happens every year on warm days before winter.. all the times I have been stung on climbs it was yellow jackets livein in cracks. The hornets and wasps never seem to sting.

FrankPS · · Atascadero, CA · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 276

A yellow jacket is a type of wasp. I think.

Jake D. · · Northeast · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 365
FrankPS wrote:A yellow jacket is a type of wasp. I think.
correct.
joshua corbett · · Wolfeboro NH · Joined Jun 2009 · Points: 3,015

I have found south facing cliffs have a lot of yellow jackets. Longstack has more this past week then in the summer.

Nick Goldsmith · · Pomfret VT · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 440

whatever.Just seems like every fall there are a few days when the cliffs seem like they are swarmed. I climb anyways and never get stung. even solo durring those fall swarms. I have been stung in the summer by yellow looking hornets/ bees? that have a nest in the crack.

gtluke · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2012 · Points: 1

Gunks had a billion of them this weekend, I think they are harmless and non aggressive. Wasps are total assholes, but the Hornets seem fine. I have the mud dobber Hornets in my garage, I looked them up and it appears you have to be attacking them in order to get them to sting you. Not sure what species the Gunks ones are but they look and behave similar.

Matt Murphy · · Pearl River, NY · Joined Apr 2011 · Points: 215

I have noticed this as well. Chalking it up to the impending end of the world. Kind of like when my dog knew a big storm was on it's way. I've never seen as much activity as I've seen in the last year.

Pete Spri · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2009 · Points: 347

It's going to be a bad winter.

Gunkiemike · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 3,492
Spri wrote:It's going to be a bad winter.
You promise?
turbotime · · CT · Joined Sep 2012 · Points: 0
Spri wrote:It's going to be a bad winter.
gtluke · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2012 · Points: 1

"They" say, acorns = snow.
We had tons of acorns this year. We also had tons of acorns 4? years ago when we had that awesome winter of like four 18" snow dumps in NJ. I think that was even more acorns than this year though.
I'm sure this is all super reliable information.

Kevin Heckeler · · Las Vegas, NV · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 1,616

Acorns fall in a relatively predictible cycle (mast years). Snow does not.

blogs.massaudubon.org/yourg…

"Scientific research can tell us what a mast year is not. A mast year is not a predictor of a severe winter. Unfortunately, plants and animals are no better at predicting the future than we are."

Kevin Heckeler · · Las Vegas, NV · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 1,616

This year was my first in 5-6 years climbing that I got attacked by a swarm of yellow jackets approaching a cliff. Bit 5 times. Some in my party got bit more. Yesterday bees were everywhere but mostly just lumbering, looking for food. Definitely not aggressively protecting a nest or anything. That's the only time they get aggressive. We must have walked right by a nest and didn't even realize it.

Carry Benedryl. All of us took some after we got bit, and ended up enjoying our day just fine.

Michael C · · New Jersey · Joined Jun 2011 · Points: 340
Teddy K wrote:Has anyone been experiencing such a problem lately? I was at two locations in Northern Jersey, both of which were swarmed with hornets.
I was at allamuchy two weeks ago and they were brutal on the main wall. where else are they buzzing?
Teddy K · · New York, New York · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 0

^ Rick's Rocks and the water gap. Must have been upwards of 1000 of them at each location.

Morgan Patterson · · NH · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 8,945

those brown f'ers are so freakin scary but I've never seen anyone stung. They were out in force in CT this past Sat. I recall being on high E and about half way to the GT ledge only to realize the entire face was crawling with hundreds of them... sickest feeling in my stomach ever. Them landing on me, all over the holds, every where in every direction, left right up down front back. Two weeks ago my girl and I stumbled into a nest and had hundreds of regular bees attacking us. Luckily I dropped a rope bag and they focused on the bag, covering it completely as we ran.

Bawdy B · · Denver, CO · Joined Oct 2013 · Points: 95

I'm in a totally different location than most of you, but the wasps have been out in force in CO. Gotta say, it makes me really not so sure about putting my hand in a crack when there are wasps wandering all over it.

Nick Goldsmith · · Pomfret VT · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 440

Disturb a ground bee nest and you will get stung! the brown/black wasps never seem to sting when they are simply bounceing arround on the side of a house or cliff. 30+ years of working on houses only stung once when the wasp got stuck under my hat. same day i wne home and ran over a ground bee nest with the lawnmore and got seriously nailed. had to do the benadryl thing.

Nick Goldsmith · · Pomfret VT · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 440

Disturb a ground bee nest and you will get stung! the brown/black wasps never seem to sting when they are simply bounceing arround on the side of a house or cliff. 30+ years of working on houses only stung once when the wasp got stuck under my hat. same day i wne home and ran over a ground bee nest with the lawnmore and got seriously nailed. had to do the benadryl thing.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Northeastern States
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