Wasp's at the bear bait!
Wisconsin
Has anyone else notice a lack of wasps at the bear baits this year?
Not that I am complaining - but other years my baits were covered. What's up?
Racoons seem to be up this year and a real pain!
I posted that same observation on the bear thread back on the 24th of July. So far this year I have not had a single wasp or hornet at any of the baits. Last year if you did not have gloves and long sleeves you got stung a lot. As for coon, about same as last year but I don't mind as later I set traps near the bait stumps. Get some pretty heavy coon off those stumps. I keep the coon interested in coming to the stumps after bear season by using a berry scent spray around the stump.
Last year I got stung at least a dozen times while baiting. I finally got smart and put the Jam on a log a few feet from the bait instead of using one of the logs that were part of the bait cover logs. Not baiting this year but now that you guys brought it up I really haven't seen any in the woods this year. Could be they did not make it through the long cold heavy snow winter.
I did see a Loon with two little ones last week. First young ones I have seen this year and all because of some stupid flies hatching at the same time as the loons were hatching eggs.
Porky's are the problem for me. I think the cold nights have been keepin he wasp numbers down
No Wasps or hornets for me either, what is interesting is, every year I have at least two nests under my decks or some where on my house, not one this year, very strange.
The Mosquitoes have slowed down but those horse flies or what ever they are called are terrible.
Has anyone noticed the ferns and small Maple trees are already turning color?
No wasps for me. But this is my first year ever baiting. NWO, the ferns are still green but here is a pic of a tree I just took from behind my work
No shortage of wasps in the NE corner, in fact Iron Co MI, there has been a big increase in them. The Ace Hardware store in Iron River, selling lots of wasp killer spray......
None in my garage or any of my 27 baits- Sawyer and Southern Bayfield County-very strange. Winter Kill?
I just thought I'd mention it because I made wasp traps several seasons ago to place by my baits (with permission) and no need for them now.
I hate them and blow up like a balloon - I havent missed them - but like everything else in nature - I guess we need them and I am confused by the shortage?
I honestly think wasps and hornets took a bad hit this winter. Everyone I've talk to said those ground-dwelling german yellow jackets are like non existent, and very very few paper wasps out there......and no, they're not complaining either. :)
Not a waspologist and dont play one on TV - but I think most of the pests at bait sites are yellow jackets!
I saw a couple yesterday as they were dining on the smelly stuff I spray around the bait site - but not one in a stump. Really weird!
my partner got his bear back from the taxidermist a few days ago, I saw it today. All three of us got stung dragging him out (right over a hornet (?) nest. I got nailed I think at least 4 times. quite a few burrowed into his fur and next morning (it was cold out so we packed him in ice and left him in the truck) hornets were waking up and crawling out of his fur.
Well the taxidermist found more buried in his fur and he 'mounted' one on top of the bear's foot. Cute.
Serious skills needed to skin, and mount a wasp.lips and eyes must be a B#$ch:)
Also noticed the ferns and some maple trees starting to turn. Also saw today the ginseng leaves are turning yellow and the berries red. A few weeks ahead in my area.
TrapperJack....Speaking of ginseng, never seen any before and is there a season here in Wisconsin that you can harvest it? where is it, do you need a permit, anyone ever do it, any money in it?
NWO, yes Wisconsin does have a harvest season that runs from September 1st to November 1st. License for a resident cost $15.75 and you are only allowed to harvest 3-leave plants. Right now the plants leaves are starting to turn yellow and the berries are turning red. Dried wild ginseng roots can fetch $400-$600 per dried pound and prices can go to $1000 for odd shaped roots. Central Wisconsin is a known ginseng spot with Marathon Co. being one of the largest producer of farmed ginseng. I got a lot of plants marked so far as I scout my land.
TrapperJack, can you take a picture and post it, would like to see what it looks like, I guess I can go on-line also and look. Wonder if there is ginseng in Bayfield County?
Yes NWO, that is one version of ginseng. Have been gone all weekend to Milwaukee for a wedding and will try to get a picture today when I go bait.
No wasps at all at our baits either. Have had to take benadryl twice this year as I got hammered bad walking the blowdowns. Stung over 20 times both times. Not allergic, but that much venom not good for anyone. Just cant see them ground nests until it is too late. Just can't run fast enough in blowdowns either.
Deer flies have been real bad as of late. Nothing really repels them for long either. The skeeters have died back at least.
For a couple weeks now. Have started to see ferns, popple, maple, chokes, and a few other trees. Starting to turn color. It's been a real weird year in the woods for sure.
Something I can't figure out. Is the breaking of branches on a few choke cherry trees. Berries on them still green. Maybe young bear getting some practice in??
