Grandpa’s surefire yellow jacket trap

5/24/2006

The May Two-Four weekend is widely regarded as the kickoff to the outdoor season in Canada.

Unfortunately, with barbecues and bonfires comes the arrival of biting bugs and stinging pests. Most of us can handle the odd mosquito or black fly, but yellow jackets are another matter entirely.

Yellow jackets are those busy little bees who can’t seem to resist feeding on your hot dog, your ice cream, the lip of your pop can, or your lips in general. This can be a real problem for the timid, the hyperactive, or the severely allergic.

If you are one of these people, fear not. All you need is grandpa’s surefire yellow jacket trap.

Invented who knows how long ago, the trap is non toxic, pet and wildlife friendly, and harmless.

It is also deceptively efficient in removing all the yellow jackets from a campsite in a matter of a single day. By the end of one week, an entire campground can be free of these hostile pests that make camping and other outdoor activities miserable.

To build your trap, begin by adding one or two inches of water to a dish pan or wash basin. Mix in one tablespoon of liquid dish soap, preferably non-scented, and slowly stir it in. Be careful not to leave any soap bubbles floating on top of the water.

In the dish pan, build a tripod out of three sticks, each about one foot long. Bend a short piece of wire into a hook, tie it to a string, and tie the string to the tripod so the hook is dangling above the water.

Attach a piece of raw fish to the wire hook.

Tie the string to the top of the tripod so that the meat is only half an inch above the water level in the pan. Do not get any of the soapy water on any portion of the fish, or your trap will be useless.

It works, because yellow jackets love fish and will begin to cut off small pieces to take back to the nest. In their excitement of buzzing around the bait, a few will occasionally hit the water. The soap in the water breaks the surface tension of the waterproof coating on the yellow jacket, and it sinks instantly.

Even the best swimmers will drown in a few seconds. Some yellow jackets will successfully haul a piece of meat back to the nest, and promptly tell all their friends where this great food source is.

Soon all the wasps from the nest will be working on the fish and, over a period of time, all will eventually make mistakes and either fall off the fish and into the water, or bump other wasps flying around and knock themselves into the drink.

Leave your trap somewhere up and out of the way, and it will only take a day or two to wipe out nearly every yellow jacket in your area.

A thin piece of fish with vertical sides works best for having the insects fall off. The best part is, while everyone else is busy setting up camp, you get to go fishing right away—for yellow jacket bait