Stingers Become Sinkers
Snakes? No, I don't much think about stepping on a snake while out in the pasture and woods in the summertime. What I dread is the inevitable stepping into or mowing up of a yellow jacket's nest. You should have seen me run, and fall, and get up and run again while swinging an opened umbrella in a wide and frantic circle over my head during a rainy walk in the field last year. Got zapped three times on the neck, as I recall.
Here's all I'll need for organic pest control:
- A plastic dish pan or wash basin.
- A tablespoon of liquid dish soap, preferably non-scented.
- 3 sticks about 13 inches long.
- 2 or 3 tie wires.
- A 3 or 4 inch piece of wire.
- 12 inches of string.
- A piece of raw fish.
While this recipe from Alaska uses FISH, I think a chunk of raw pork or beef would work as well. I aim to find out, maybe before this weekend when we'll be enticing the little demons to visit Chez First with an outdoor crowd carrying paper plates full of pot-luck YJ bait.
Comments
Thanks for this, Fred. It's going to save me a lot of WD-40 spraying.
Posted by: Dave | May 24, 2006 8:44 AM
This version is much more efficient and less obtrusive. I use unfiltered apple juice for bait.
I can't imagine that Ann will find that washpan contraption a decorative asset, not to speak how one keeps the cat/dog/racoons from stealing the bait.
Posted by: BJ | May 27, 2006 12:49 PM
We are battling yellow jackets, and I remembered your post about the dish pan with the fish bait. We made a couple, but am worried about the cat getting into it. Have you found anything that works well that you would like to share? Thanks in advance!
Posted by: Susan | September 11, 2006 6:30 AM