PSA Killer Bees in South Texas

[netboy]

A good hunting buddy of ours was killed by a swarm of killer bees while clearing a part of his property last week in the Brackettville area.

Wow, so many great memories of the dove hunts and great grilled dove dinners afterwards.

Be careful if you are in South Texas. Those things are deadly.

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, netboy said:

A good hunting buddy of ours was killed by a swarm of killer bees while clearing a part of his property last week in the Brackettville area.

Wow, so many great memories of the dove hunts and great grilled dove dinners afterwards.

Be careful if you are in South Texas. Those things are deadly.

Dang that had to be a horrible way to go.  
 

On the other hand I love a good dove shoot!

[fishinwrench]

Curious.   What is it about "Killer bees" that make their attacks potentially deadly? 

I got attacked by what I assumed were yellow jackets a couple years ago , and suffered 11 stings all at once on my neck, back, and arms.   That SUCKED ! and had me a bit worried for a bit, but other than the pain I never suffered any noticable reactions to it.     

I knew a guy that worked for the phone co. that opened a pedestal and got pummeled by bees.....it didn't kill him but it ended his career, and he went on disability afterwards.   

[Quillback]

Guy that lived across the street from me when I lived in Washington was killed by hornet stings.  He was allergic to them.  Out at hunting camp, he was cutting some firewood, disturbed a nest of them and they got him.  

[BilletHead]

    @netboy we are sorry about your friend. This is really scary and if that type of honeybee ends up here I would give up beekeeping. I have an EpiPen handy. If I get stung by just one bee in the head or neck I get terribly ill. Sick to my stomach, dizzy and other things thank goodness so far no signs of anaphylactic shock. Our doctor says I'm one sting away from that.  So far every hive will have seem to be very docile. I do a walk around our apiary a couple times a day just making sure all is going well. No bee jacket needed. When bees swarm most people freak out. Thats when bees are about as docile as they can get.  I put myself in two what I call beenados this swarm season. No protection. This is one of the most memorizing things I have ever seen. Mother nature is amazing. I'll share a couple videos. Hopefully they will come through clearly. This was from a few days ago. Normally I would not keep a swarm this late in June but this one was rather large. We watched it leave one of our hives and land 40 feet up in and oak. Two days later it found a swarm trap in the corner of the yard. 

[BilletHead]

[BilletHead]

In a matter of minutes they settled into their temporary home. It's hard to believe all those bees are in that six frame box. 

[netboy]

16 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Curious.   What is it about "Killer bees" that make their attacks potentially deadly? 

I got attacked by what I assumed were yellow jackets a couple years ago , and suffered 11 stings all at once on my neck, back, and arms.   That SUCKED ! and had me a bit worried for a bit, but other than the pain I never suffered any noticable reactions to it.     

I knew a guy that worked for the phone co. that opened a pedestal and got pummeled by bees.....it didn't kill him but it ended his career, and he went on disability afterwards.   

Here is post about an African bee attack from a South Texas fishing forum....

"A few years ago the wife was mowing in the back of the property around the equipment barn and the arena while I was working in another barn up by the house. I heard her scream, saw her jump off of the lawnmower flapping her arms and then run and dive into a nearby water trough, luckily it clicked as to what was going on, I grabbed two heavy duty slicker suits off of the barn wall and proceeded to go get her out of there. Once I got her covered and wrapped up in a slicker and out of the area they moved on to chasing the horses, the horses hauled butt so they then went hot and heavy after a 900 lb steer that was in the pen next to the arena. The steer died about 3 days later, the wife ended up with around 200 stings to the head and neck, a half a bottle of benadryl and a trip to the emergency room. I ended up with around 25 stings to the face and hands. The slicker suits and the benadryl both helped the situation a lot."

[netboy]

Wow. just got off the phone with the family and got the details.

Chuck was shredding the area on an open tractor. His grandson was with him and at the truck, Apparently, he ran over a log and disturbed the nest. They immediately swarmed him, and he jumped off the tractor and ran to the truck with the bees swarming him. The grandson, who is 14, got him into the backseat and was also being stung. He "drove" the truck out of the ranch and found a highway patrol officer and stopped the truck. The officer got Chuck out of the truck as there were still bees in there and laid him on the shoulder of the highway. They called the EMS and by the time they got there, he was gone. 

Coroner said there were 700 stings.  

[fishinwrench]

Man that's terrible 😔. 

I can't even imagine.