Author Topic: Bee season opens (Read 3367 times)

Shorty · « **on:** April 01, 2006, 01:52:57 PM »

'Was outside today thinking that this first hot day of spring might show a carpenter bee. Just then one or two started whizzing by me. Dang! The Single Six is in the house! :wink:

Keith L · « **Reply #1 on:** April 01, 2006, 03:42:52 PM »

Still to early here. Last Sunday I saw some flying Gnats, but then it cooled off once again.

Jerry Lester · « **Reply #2 on:** April 01, 2006, 04:12:28 PM »

Our Bee's ain't coming out yet. It's usually on up in April before they really start flying good. It won't be long though!

Graybeard · « **Reply #3 on:** April 01, 2006, 06:18:52 PM »

I'm sending the bee police after you guys. If you shoot all of them how are my blueberries gonna get pollinated? I'm seeing fewer bees on the blooms this year than any year so far since we've had them and that's over ten years. Now I know why, you guys are killing all my bees. :eek:

Keith L · « **Reply #4 on:** April 02, 2006, 04:04:52 AM »

Does that mean a bee hunting forum is out of the question?

Jerry Lester · « **Reply #5 on:** April 02, 2006, 01:27:10 PM »

Quote from: Graybeard

I'm sending the bee police after you guys. If you shoot all of them how are my blueberries gonna get pollinated? I'm seeing fewer bees on the blooms this year than any year so far since we've had them and that's over ten years. Now I know why, you guys are killing all my bees. :eek:

But GB, we're only killing the carpenter Bees that eat your out buildings!

Buy a Bee Gum, and get you a honey Bee hive going. You'll get all your polenating done, and have a gallon of honey each year to boot.

Graybeard · « **Reply #6 on:** April 02, 2006, 06:02:16 PM »

Surprisingly honey bees are rated as poor pollinators for blueberries. The primary pollinators of them are tiny bees called these days blueberry bees, when I was a boy we called them sweat bees. Them and the huge bumblebees and yes those look alike carpenter bees are the major players as blueberry pollinators. Simply amazing isn't it?

Graybeard · « **Reply #7 on:** April 02, 2006, 06:05:44 PM »

Quote

Does that mean a bee hunting forum is out of the question?

In a word YES it is out of the question and for a reason you'd not even think of.

There was a poll started by someone on here a year or two ago to have an "insect hunting forum". I thought it kinda silly but it got the 12 votes needed and I was prepared to set it up. No one, not the guy who set up the poll or any of the other eleven who voted yes would moderate it. In fact the guy who started it said he did it as a joke. If I recall correctly I terminated his membership. Unlike him I didn't think it so funny. So no there will never be such a forum at GBO, not even if you got 1000 yes votes on a poll.

Jerry Lester · « **Reply #8 on:** April 02, 2006, 06:28:18 PM »

Quote from: Graybeard

Surprisingly honey bees are rated as poor pollinators for blueberries. The primary pollinators of them are tiny bees called these days blueberry bees, when I was a boy we called them sweat bees. Them and the huge bumblebees and yes those look alike carpenter bees are the major players as blueberry pollinators. Simply amazing isn't it?

:shock: Oh well. I just learned something new. I always thought Honey Bees were the ultimate for pollenating.

I doubt though that our Bees up here in Virginia are helping you out much, so I'm gonna keep on playing "mini sporting clays" with them.

Graybeard · « **Reply #9 on:** April 02, 2006, 06:43:09 PM »

Quote

Oh well. I just learned something new. I always thought Honey Bees were the ultimate for pollenating.

I think overall they might be but just not for my specialty crop.

Quote

I doubt though that our Bees up here in Virginia are helping you out much, so I'm gonna keep on playing "mini sporting clays" with them.

I figure you're right about that. I don't expect we get many bees visiting us from VA.

But they have blueberry growers there too.

Keith L · « **Reply #10 on:** April 03, 2006, 12:41:37 AM »

Quote

No one, not the guy who set up the poll or any of the other eleven who voted yes would moderate it.

You can count on it that were I to seriously start a poll to get a forum going I would volunteer to moderate it.

And yes, I was joking with my last post on this subject. But I would like to get good directions about how to field dress the little critters...

Darrell Davis · « **Reply #11 on:** April 23, 2006, 05:20:53 AM »

Morn'in "Bee Shooters,"

Hadn't given much thought to shooting bees, although some like Yellow Jackets could be "shot out" for all I care.

However, I read some place about putting drops of suger water on a piece of paper, allowing them to dry, then putting up the "target" and using the gathering FLIES as aiming points.

Any thoughts or experience in this area? Sounds like a good use for flies to me.

Keep em coming! :wink:

Keith L · « **Reply #12 on:** April 23, 2006, 08:41:33 AM »

Trouble with flys is you have to get so many to have a meal once you have them cleaned.

darrell8937 · « **Reply #13 on:** April 23, 2006, 12:03:45 PM »

I like bees,, unless they sting me and it is all out war. I had this tiny bee sting me once and wow ,, did it hurt. My girlfriend thought it was so funny.. Big ex Army guy complaining about a bee sting. Well as "what goes around comes around"she also got stung by the same type of bee. She didn't take it like a man.. but like a little girl. What were those little buggers making a nest under my porch. Yep ,, they got two humans but I got all of them. Thank god for modern chemistry. ouch..

Old Griz · « **Reply #14 on:** May 14, 2006, 06:03:59 PM »

:cb2: OK guys, I'm here to set you straight! (Yeah, right!) :eek:

Doing some research on Wikipedia, it said;

Carpenter bee nests are rather easy to spot. They bore a highly polished hole directly up into the bottom of an overhang. The entrance hole is about 11 millimeters in diameter. When the female is boring tunnels, there is a collection of fresh sawdust below the hole and the sound of boring can be easily heard.

DETERRENCE
Because pollinator decline is a serious environmental issue, and carpenter bees are increasingly important pollinators, carpenter bees should not be killed.

So guys, you shouldn't be shooting these bees at all. If you really care about the planet, you should shoot environmentalists instead! They are willing to make the sacrifice for the sake of the bees!

It's kinda like the old question, "If you see a Grizly Bear attacking an environmentalist, do you shoot the bear, or let nature take its course?" :-D

Keith L · « **Reply #15 on:** May 14, 2006, 06:30:54 PM »

Quote

you should shoot environmentalists instead!

Unless they are really really tiny and fly there doesn't seem much sport in that.

I did some major pruning in my apple trees last weekend and saw lots of bumble bees. They are mild in nature but are nosey. I hate it when using a chain saw and having one of them buzz in front of my face. The saw takes two hands so the bees were safe.

B_Koes · « **Reply #16 on:** May 16, 2006, 03:14:20 AM »

[quote="Old GrizIt's kinda like the old question, "If you see a Grizly Bear attacking an environmentalist, do you shoot the bear, or let nature take its course?"[/quote]

Heck, this seems like an easy one. Don't shoot the bear...unless of course the bear decides that you're the main course after the appetizer!

S.S. · « **Reply #17 on:** May 24, 2006, 05:21:27 AM »

We go a step beyond bumble bees.
Imagine a Yellow Jacket 2 inches long! These things are European Hornets
and I absolutely believe that ounce for ounce they are the meanest little SOBs on the Planet. I have only ever been stung by one but I now have a great respect for them. the flesh around the sting literally rots and falls out! Also, Imagine an ant an inch and a half long! (it is actually a wingless wasp called a velvet wasp) Terrible sting from those too!! Needless to say, If it has a stinger I will shoot it, spray it, stomp it, Burn it,
beat it to death...Whatever it takes...
I am NO environmentalist when it comes to insects...
Sorry, to the fruit growers, But during the spring and summer I do everything in my power to KILL everything around my house and yard that has more than 4 legs.

CyberSniper · « **Reply #18 on:** May 24, 2006, 06:46:17 AM »

What do you know, I'm not alone....
One time in Colorado, a deer or horse fly was really messing
with me. It landed on a log near me, and I took it out with
a .44 Magnum..

Another time, a scorpian stung my daughter.
She was young, and had picked up a rock in the field...
I found that scorpian, and blew it to smithereens with a .45 automatic.

I've also found a 12 gage shotgun to be effective at making
a yellow jacket nest disappear.

Keith L · « **Reply #19 on:** May 24, 2006, 07:20:02 AM »

Up nort here dere hey we don't have lots of the nasty bugs you southern guys get, but late summer early fall we have yellow jackets and wasps for a few weeks that can drive you nuts. Can't set a cold drink down without them climbing into the can to check it out. Lots of folks get stung this way, and just when a guy wants to socialize outdoors a little. Sometimes I just can't wait for the first hard frost just to cool these guys off a little.

35Rem · « **Reply #20 on:** June 05, 2006, 03:46:00 PM »

S. Sumner,

I know about them European Hornets! Hadn't been stung (knocking on wood) but came close enough. My parents live in Randolph Co., AL, it borders the GA line. They got them nasty critters there.

HOWEVER. I DO NOT recommend shooting them with rat shot! Been there done that. Was pretty successful, as they are quite large. One at a time was coming to a tree oozing sap. Another would come up and chase the one on the tree away. This was a regular thing. Well, Ol 35 Rem gets out the 22 w/rat shot and start plugging the little boogers, one at a time. Shot about 3 or 4. Well, Number Five flies overhead about 15 feet, a different flight pattern than the rest. The shooting had stopped waiting on another. Number Five circles around, comes back over the "Scene of the Crime" about 5 feet and gettin' it! I turn to high tail it as he circled around again. As I was turning he hit the end of the gun barrel! Guess he figured that was the culprit. Well, I found another gear at that point.
Not real interested the "flesh rotting" thing.
It was a real experience.

Those are really nasty bugs. They will come out at night, too. Don't leave the porch light on. They come looking for moths and other bugs to eat. We would spray Wasp and Hornet killer around the sliding glass door frame and light and turn on the light. They come up and get in the spray. It makes em real mad and they writhe around and try to sting you through the glass door! The venom runs down the glass...It's very interesting. I definately wouldn't want to get into a nest of 'em. I don't think a fella could survive it.

sigep538 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 27, 2006, 07:46:13 AM »

Wow I cant belive I am saying this yes, I know exactly how to field dress a cricket even though that is a diffrent order Orthoptera as oposed to bees being Hymenoptera internal composition. Im a bit of an entomologist... shoot the heck out of European Hornets!! they are not native and out compete native insects for food and habitat!! open season

Glanceblamm · « **Reply #22 on:** August 02, 2006, 03:37:22 AM »

Shorty
I thought about you just yesterday when I looked outside of the garage and saw a
Carpenter bee. I was armed with the tool that you would use to change out ball-joints....
I Held My Fire

Is kind of like GB was saying, I have not seen anywhere near the bee's that I did last year or in
previous years. Is not a local problem as I live 8Hr north-west of his location.
Have a fair amount of the small blue (mud-dabber) wasp and bumblebees.

flintman · « **Reply #23 on:** August 05, 2006, 03:16:29 AM »

ANOTHER way for the Game and Fish Departments to get some money out of folks!
Wonder what the bag limits will be?
Is there going to be a point system like the duck point systems?
Can you hunt them by moonlight?
Are spotlights allowed?
Where's my medications?
But seriously(?) folks,a powder only charge in a flintlock gun seems to work wonders!

flintman · « **Reply #24 on:** August 05, 2006, 03:34:57 AM »

Bee Skeet,what a concept...
My brother Bob(hey there WAS 14 of us,so we had top have names!) always told me that you'll never get any good shooting at big stuff.He said try hitting a weed blowing in a wind or daisy heads.
It worked!My shooting disabilities are much improved.

StrawHat · « **Reply #25 on:** September 15, 2006, 06:56:16 AM »

I live in a town so shooting the carpenter bees that were eating my eaves was frowned upon. Had to use a stick, settled on one of the big paint stirrers from Sherwin ( Hmmm S&W paint stick).

Then I noticed I had help. My dog, a 90# malumutt was catching the bees as I whacked them! Then he started snagging them out of the air on his own. The only explanation I could come up with is he is part golden so it must be the retriever in him. Course the yellow lab/devil mix isn't interested at all.

no guns here · « **Reply #26 on:** September 20, 2006, 03:28:58 AM »

When I was a wee lad... we lived in a two story house with the back side that went straight up to the roof. Every summer there was a wasp nest somewhere up there. I would shoot it with my Daisy and then sit on the deck and try to pick those red wasps off the side of the house. Got pretty good at it... really helped my aim when it came to the plastic army men wars... we would spend a couple hours digging tunnels, forts, pill boxes, fox holes etc., and sticking plastic army men in them... then flip a coin and take turns plinking the other guy's army men. May have to get my kids into that next time we are back on leave!!!

ngh