On yellow jackets. They are especially abundant this summer and lately seem to be very aggressive.

If you've ever seen a propane tank in the summer, you know that's prime nesting area for these little stinging bastards. I kill them by the hundreds, maybe thousands, every day during the summer with a little shot of cool, refreshing liquid propane, fresh from the delivery hose. I've been bitten and stung by yellow jackets more times than I can remember. They like to bite first to get a good grip...then they sting. Unlike bees, yellow jackets can sting multiple times. They don't loose their stingers.

Up until today the conflict between the YJs and me has been rather low intensity. I have several traps around the house that keep a constant, fresh supply of yellow jacket souls populating yellow jacket hell. I haven't actively sought them out for termination. But today, one of the yellow fuckers stung my little girl Corgi puppy on her paw.

Shock and Awe time. My favorite weapon is a little MAPP gas torch. Find a nest bulging with larvae and incinerate it. It's also quite rewarding to nail one in flight and watch him fall out of the air. Pulled the trigger on the torch once trying to get a few that hadn't quite made their way into the trap and it didn't ignite. Second trigger pull ignited the gas that was left inside the glass trap from the first, failed ignition attempt. Blew the cork lid right off! But, it also killed the live ones still buzzing around inside and swimming in the vinegar/sugar water. For locations where fire isn't appropriate the foaming spray works fine. Fire and mini explosions are more fun, though.

I found a large, underground nest but couldn't did it up and destroy it because of all the rocks in the ground. No problem. A 1200 pound bucket of dirt from the front end loader right on top of the entry hole will keep them digging for a while. Plus I can amuse myself with the torch on the others that are buzzing around wondering where all the damn dirt came from.

I'm estimating I've killed at least 2500 of the sons a bitches today, including the larvae. Probably hasn't made a dent in the population around here but my little Corgi is laughing her ass off. Mrs BG is wondering if I'm having some sort of PTSD episode but she hasn't called the cops on me. Yet.

Time to have a cool one and contemplate other creative ways of killing them.