Yesterday started out as any other day. I went to work, ran a couple service calls, even stopped by Cabela's with the kiddo. I had talked with a buddy of mine and we decided we were gonna run to the hunting club and hang my last stand, check a camera, and do a little scouting in some oak flats. We decided to go scout one area first before we went to hang the stand. So we started through the woods and came upon a couple downed trees. It was a great spot. Sitting on the tree, you could see 3 draws coming up from the lake and about 25 yds in front of you were 8-10 mature white oaks trees, raining acorns. Jackpot!!! My buddy decided to go a little further down. My 5 year old daughter started behind him and I behind her. About 10 steps down, I felt a prick on my chest, kind of like a briar or a fire ant. I then felt one on my back and one on my side. I looked down and immediately realized what it was. I had walked right on top of a yellow jacket's nest. I picked my daughter up and held her as tight to my body as I could as she started to scream and I started running through the woods up the hill. But anyone who is out in the woods right now knows how successfull that was. At first I could feel every sting as they dug in to me. After a few minutes, my body was so numb and swollen, all I felt was pain. I felt my throat starting to close up and my muscles starting to shut down. I fell to one knee, picked myself back up, and pushed on. I made it another 5 feet before my legs gave out and I fell down, dropping my daughter. I yell run to her but all she can do is stand there and scream. She has no idea what is going on. By that point, my buddy had worked his way up one of the draws and circled back around to us. As he is coming down the hill, I point to Becca and tell him to go. He grabbed her and ran her up the hill to the food plot. I pulled myself back up and half crawled up to the food plot, still trying to get the rest of the yellow jackets off me. We got back to the truck and started in to town. At that point, I was still running on adrenaline and the will to save my daughter, as I was barely able to breathe. Becca was quiet and she kept saying she wanted to go to sleep. I worked at keeping her away while my buddy called 911 and got directions to the nearest medical facility. We pulled in and I picked her up and carried her inside. They gave her a little bit of benadryl and a little bit of steroids. She was fine. I, however, was not. I was coming down off the high I had been riding, and I could feel my chest tighten up, my throat closing, and my limbs go numb. They gave me an epi shot, enough benadryl for a horse, and a steroid shot. They put me on oxygen and immediately called an ambulance in. Becca was starting to freak out and it was all I could do to keep her calm and convince her I was ok. By the time the paramedics arrived, the meds were doing their job and I was getting back to normal. We went to the hospital by ambulance and the ER doc gave us a little more steroids and benadryl. After monitoring us for a couple hours, they finally released us and we could go home. By the time we got home, my Ex-wife had arrived. We counted 9 total stings on Becca. We counted 61 different sting locations on my upper body. Some of them are much worse than others, and I imagine that is just where I was stung repeatedly by one yellow jacket. So really, I have no idea how many actual times I was stung. I'm doing much better today. The pain is gone but now I feel like I was worked over with a baseball bat. Thanks to the actions of my buddy, my daughter and I made it out of there. I tell you all this because there are somethings that can be learned from this. 1) Never go out by yourself if at all possible. Even if you are going out to scout and you think nothing bad will happen, it can happen. A bad situation can turn deadly in the blink of an eye. 2) If you have to go out by yourself, make sure to let a couple people know exactly where you are going. Tell them that if you don't check in with them every so often, dispatch 911 to your location. It may just save your life. 3) Find out exactly where all of the medical facilities are within a 20-30 mile radius of your hunting property. 4) Keep a first aid kit in your vehicle. I always keep one in my hunting pack in case something happens while I'm hunting, but as it's not hunting season yet, I didn't have my hunting pack with me. I think a lot of times, we get complacent when we head out for a "easy" walk through the woods, especially woods that we are so used to hiking through. This situation could have been a lot worse. This is something that easily could have turned deadly. Please remember to not be complacent and be careful when you are out. After all, at the end of the day, what we do means nothing if we don't make it back to our families.
Glad you and your daughter are ok. Good to point out travel in pairs or at least let people know where you are. Now if that were me I would be heading back in with wasp killer and an attitude once it got dark. I know they were only protecting their hive but....
Thanks guys. My initial thought was to set fire to the woods lol. But we are alerting all the club members to stay out of that area. Dont want someone else walking up on what we did. Bad thing is I didn't get my stand hung lol. So now I gotta try to get back down there and get it hung.
Thank heavens you and your daughter are ok! I have mild allergic reactions to bee and wasps stings, couldn't even imagine how bad that many would be. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That was quite a "reaction" you had to the stings. I am NOT a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. That said, you might like to consider having your doctor give you a prescription for an Epi-Pen (they also make juvenile ones)...and carry it/them in your pack - always!! Also, in an emergency an 8oz bottle of Benadryl (it won't overdose an adult) can stave off the effects of Anaphylaxis, and may give you enough time to get out of the woods and to a medical facility. Bill
Ive had similar experience. Scary stuff. Glad you both are ok. Especially your daughter. Hope that didnt ruin her taste for the outdoors.
Thanks for sharing; my cousin/hunting partner was hanging stands last weekend and got popped on his cheek by a bald faced hornet. Luckily he was able to make it to a redi-med before his eyes swole shut. He told me he will always have a couple of epis in his pack/ truck from now on.
Glad your ok. I hate Yellow jackets. They're vicious and swarm like nobodies business. My dog and I got lit up pretty good while mowing a few years ago. They couldn't get through my dogs fur that well but got his face. I was wearing mesh shorts and sandles so I got hammered by the little sobs. After that and after several bad reactions to other stings I now carry an epi pen.
Up here in Minnesota the skunks go after the ground nests in mid to late September, I no longer shoot skunks on sight.
Really? I have never heard that. They will definitely get a pass in my book now! I got a new first aid kit to keep in my truck and I have my epi pen in there. Once season opens on Thursday, I'll put my epi pen in my field first aid kit. I don't want to be unprepared again.
I was wearing jeans and none of them made it through my jeans. However, I was still in my work shirt and I wear collared golf type shirts and they blew right through that. My daughter is in this 'i wanna wear a jacket all the time' phase and that really saved her cause they couldn't go through it.
