Originally Posted by
Der Gebirgsjager
The yellow jackets can become a real menace. I had some property over in the Oregon Coast Range for about 18 years and we had a vegetable garden. We'd see a few around but didn't think much of it. One day I was out looking for some veggies and there seemed to be more than usual. I got stung a couple of times, so backed off and observed. I spotted a hole about the size of a tennis ball where they were coming and going from underground. I got a 30 minute highway flare, fired it up, and stuck it in the hole. Lots of smoke coming out of the hole, and pretty soon on the other side of the garden fence I spotted smoke coming out of various little holes and cracks in the ground. After about 20 minutes the grass caught fire over an area about 20'x20'. After it burned out the ground had sunken in about 4-6 inches. There must have been lots of paper nest underground. I was standing by with the garden hose, but the fire didn't spread. There remained a charred, sunken in place there for the rest of the summer.
DG