North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[mangodance <bmn@iglou.com>]

road's end farm wrote:
> In my experience yellow jackets aren't aggressive at all unless you 
> start swatting them or disturb the nest. We have a lot of them, and I've 
> never been stung except as a result of accidentally halfsquashing one or 
> messing up a nest, and neither have other people here. I think they get 
> their reputation for aggressiveness from people who start swatting at 
> them first.

Most of the yellowjacket species folks may run across are predators 
(with a little scavenging) preferring juicy meals like caterpillars. 
What happens though, is that the hive goes into breakdown in late summer 
when the queens leave.  The rest of the colony goes a little nuts and 
that's when they turn mostly to scavenging.  You'll see them come to 
coke cans, picnics, etc.  At this time, they are quite a bit more 
agressive and that's when folks usually get stung.  Keep in mind though, 
they can sting and bite repeatedly (unlike the one-time sting of a 
honeybee).