(upbeat music)
- [Coyote] Hold on, oh it's flying.
Hold on let's go back towards the nest.
No wait, wait, wait, don't move.
- [Mark] Did you get it?
- Yes, yes.
I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter the sting zone
with the yellow jacket.
Here we go.
(yelling)
(upbeat music)
Today we are headed out into the suburban wilds
of Westerville, Ohio to search for any species of paper wasp
which can be carefully caught and ultimately used
to give me a good series of stings.
Welcome to another day in the office
for Coyote Peterson.
- [Mark] Coyote, are we doing
what I think we're doing today?
- Oh yes, today is yellow jacket day.
Now you guys may remember a little episode called,
"The Bullet Ant Challenge"
where I was stung by a bullet ant.
(yelling)
And then a subsequent video called,
"Bullet Ant Kryptonite"
where I used a product called Sting-Kill
to help alleviate the pain and the itching.
A Sting-Kill absolutely loved that video
and then they came to us and said,
"We'd love to work with you guys and do a sponsored video,
but let's get you stung
by something a little more commonplace."
You know, not many people are running into bullet ants.
So they said, "What if you get stung by yellow jackets?"
Now we all know that yellow jackets can be found
at your local park, maybe you see them in your backyard,
sometimes they even get into the house.
We know they're angry, we know they're aggressive,
and people are often stung every single summer.
So what we're gonna do today
is actually build a bug vacuum.
(record scratches)
- [Mark] A bug what?
- [Coyote] A bug vacuum.
Bear with me here for a second.
So you see this?
I found this online, right?
- [Mark] Looks pretty cool.
- Right, the Extreme Bug Vac.
But unfortunately, I have one opened up here.
This is supposed to have a lot of suction,
Mark put your hand out.
- Yeah, no.
- Pretty sure that's not gonna catch us any hornets
but what I love about this is the plastic capsule.
Check that out.
It's got this little revolving door
and you are supposed to be able
to suck a bug in there, close it up,
look at it through the magnifying glass
and then of course it's go a little screen,
so that the insect can breathe.
What I wanna do, is actually take
this capsule from the bug vacuum
and Macgyver something with a real vacuum.
(vacuum sucking)
Check out that suction.
- Oh yeah. - Yeah.
- [Mark] Suction power there.
- Oh yeah, that's gonna catch a hornet.
But what I need to do is reconstruct this,
where I'm gonna actually cut the hose
and duct tape the capsule in between.
Then I'll be able to use this end with the nozzle,
which has great suction power.
And then I think we're gonna be ready
to go out and start searching for some yellow jackets.
Oh I almost forgot,
I am gonna mount the GoPro on it as well.
- [Mark] So where are we today?
We're in Ohio, right?
- We are in Ohio.
We're actually right in my backyard
here in Westerville, Ohio.
And I actually put in a phone call
and email to a number of my different friends in the area
and I said, "Go out this morning and look around
near the eaves of your house."
You know where the gutter attaches to the roof?
"And let me know if you see any wasps nests,
hornet nests, yellow jacket nests,
anything that looks like a stinging insect,
let me know and we may come and investigate it."
So we're gonna kinda go on a little bit
of a field trip today guys,
until we can find ourselves some good stinging bugs.
- [Mark] Are we testin' it out?
(vacuum sucking) - Yep.
I think it's gonna work.
- Last step.
(Mark laughing)
Now it's like a proton pack.
(Mark laughing)
Oh yeah, this thing is awesome.
Alright, well if you guys are ready,
let's go try to catch some yellow jackets.
- [Mark] Let's do it.
(Coyote cheering)
- Alright, well we might as well
check the park that we started at.
Great structures here for us to invest.
You see that all these eaves and overhangs,
perfect place for paper wasps.
- [Mark] Now why do paper wasps like these under hangs here?
- Well because it's a great spot to build a nest.
It's out of the realm of predators and the rain.
See anything yet?
(mysterious music)
There are eight known species of wasps that call Ohio home.
And many of them can be encountered
right in your own backyard.
However, unless they are intentionally
or accidentally provoked,
your odds of being stung are actually very slim.
Let's go this way.
- [Mark] Come on Mario.
- Well it's a fun day at the park.
- [Mark] Yep.
- On the weekend.
- [Mark] Should've brought a soccer ball.
What do you see?
- [Mario] Did you see something fly out?
- I did, I think it was a honey bee though.
Now honey bees, you often times see on clover.
Let me see, there's one right there.
Look, look, look, look.
That's a honey bee.
- [Mark] European honey bee.
- Yep. Now that is not what we're after.
honey bees actually have fur all over their bodies,
whereas yellow jackets are completely bald.
Bees also have barbs on their stingers,
so when you get stung by a bee, it's stinger gets removed.
If you get stung by a yellow jacket,
no barbs, so it can sting you over and over and over.
If I was looking for honey bees, we'd be in the right spot.
But unfortunately, yellow jackets do not pollinate clover.
Alright, let's keep lookin'.
(mysterious music)
- [Mark] So why are we looking at the ground now?
I thought we were looking up.
- That's a good question actually.
Oh.
That could be perfect, I see some ants in there.
A lot of times yellow jackets
will actually build their nests underground.
So if you see something that looks like a mole hole,
just respect it from a safe distance
because it's possible that yellow jackets
have built a nest in there.
A cavity in a tree like this is also fair game.
But there's nothing in this tree.
Not sure we're gonna find anything in this park, guys.
Might be time to take a road trip,
see where else we can look for yellow jackets.
You ready?
- [Mark] The bug suckers are hittin' the road.
- Oh yeah, vroom vroom.
(upbeat music)
Well it is 12:43, which means it's officially lunch time.
And we have a new plan.
- Searching for the yellow jackets ourselves
is not exactly panning out very well.
We found some nests that were vacant,
we found some honey bees, and some bumblebees.
But we haven't found the infamous yellow jacket.
What we're gonna do, bear with me here for a second,
is actually have a picnic.
Because often times, if you think about it,
yellow jackets show up when you're at a picnic.
So I'm thinking if we get some soda pops and some ice cream,
we hang out in the sun, maybe these stinging insects
will come to us and we will then be able
to use the Bug Sucker 5000 to just sit there and just go,
vroom, and suck 'em up.
Give me this, I'm gonna go look in the garbage can right now
and see if there are any hornets.
Guys, we are really lookin' hard for these hornets
but you know what, they empty their trash a lot.
Check this out.
There's like nothin' in there.
Can't exactly find hornets
if there isn't a bunch of sticky stuff around.
And what Mario did was, he put,
look at that.
Ice cream in the grass on top of a lid.
Maybe that will bring in the hornets
and the yellow jackets, and the wasps.
I don't know, I guess we'll see what happens.
- Mmm.
- [Mark] Pretty good, huh Mario?
I'm enjoying mine.
- It's a beautiful day for a picnic.
- I'll see you then, alright bye.
- [Mark] No yellow jackets though.
- Guys.
- [Mark] What's up?
- We might be in business.
I just got off the phone with my friend, Jasper.
Now I know at the beginning of the video,
I kinda made a joke and said,
"Yeah I sent an email and texts to my friends that live
"in the area and I told 'em to go outside
"and check around their houses
"to see if any yellow jackets were hanging out."
Sure enough, my friend Jasper went out
and he said right on his back patio,
there's a little nest and there are three yellow jackets.
And I said, "You're sure?"
He said, "Well, they're yellow and they're black
"and they look like they wanna sting."
So, I think we may actually be able
to put the Bug Sucker 5000 to the test.
You guys ready?
- [Mark] Let's do it.
And can we bring our treats with us?
- Oh of course.
- Yeah.
- Let's catch some yellow jackets.
Alright guys, well we are at Jasper's house.
Now he has asked to not be on camera,
because he's not used to being on YouTube.
So you won't get to meet him today,
but he has given us permission to go out on his porch
and scout for these yellow jackets.
If they're there, we're gonna use
the Bug Sucker 5000 to catch them
and then go to a controlled environment
so that we can get me stung.
You guys ready?
- [Mark] Sounds like a plan, let's do it.
- Gear up, you guys grab the other cameras
and we'll be ready to go.
- [Mark] You look happy.
- [Coyote] See that corner right there?
- [Mark] Uh-huh.
- That is a small nest
and there are two yellow jackets.
Now Jasper has provided us with a step stool.
He was thinkin' ahead.
So I'm gonna use this step stool
and get up close with the Bug Sucker 5000.
You guys ready?
We're gonna have to do this quick
'cause I already see that they're on the alert
with their wings kind of propped out
ready to swoop down and sting us.
So we really just have one shot at this.
Okay so what I'm gonna do, I love my Ghostbuster pack,
but to really make this work I do have to take
the Bug Sucker 5000 out.
- [Mark] The moment we've all been waiting for.
- Let's put it this way,
it's either gonna work, or we're all gonna get stung.
(vacuum sucking)
- [Mark] Move fast.
(vacuum sucking)
Did it work?
- We got one of 'em in there.
- [Mark] Oh there's still one on the nest.
(vacuum sucking)
- [Coyote] Get the net, get the net, get the net.
Oh it's flying.
Hold on, hold on let's go back towards the nest.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, don't move.
(vacuum sucking)
- [Mark] Did you get it?
- Yes, yes.
- [Mark] Shut the door, shut the door.
(laughing)
It totally worked. - Look at that.
Totally caught the yellow jackets.
Both of 'em, just like that.
(cheering)
The Bug Sucker 5000 pays off.
Can you guys believe that?
Holy mackerel, we caught 'em.
Wow.
That was crazy, the one was actually climbed
onto this thing and I was like,
"Uh, oh. We're gonna get stung."
I was like, "Get the net, get the net."
But then it went back up to the nest
and sure enough, got it inside of the capsule.
- [Mark] So alright Coyote, now we have to go
to where we're gonna get you stung.
Not at Jasper's house.
- Yeah, no we're gonna go to a controlled situation,
and we're gonna get these yellow jackets
out of the little capsule and get me stung.
But what I'm gonna do for transport,
is not take this hose apart.
Now I'm actually just gonna place it inside
of the bug net just in case they get out.
And just like that, we're ready to go.
- [Mark] Nice.
- Awesome, high fives guys.
(laughing) - That totally worked.
- That's so cool that that worked.
- [Mark] That totally worked.
Boom.
- Alright guys, and we're back.
Now we do have the yellow jackets on hand.
But first let's talk about the kit
that I have here on the table.
Now as always, with these sting episodes,
I have my trusty entomology forceps here.
I'll be using this to actually hold
one of the yellow jackets against my arm to induce a sting.
And just in case something goes horribly wrong,
as always, the epinephrin pen.
- [Mark] Now do you think you're in the clear at this point?
You've been stung a bunch.
- I have and you never know.
Every single insect sting is unique
and you never know how your body will react.
Even a yellow jacket can force you into anaphylactic shock.
So I always have this just as a safety precaution.
And of course, the star of today's episode, Sting-Kill.
Who probably is sponsoring this episode.
Now what we're gonna do after I'm stung,
is try out both of these products on the sting,
to make sure that it can relieve not only the pain,
but also the itching that's gonna come after the fact.
You guys ready to see the yellow jackets?
- [Mark] Let's bring 'em out.
- Alright, well they did transport safely inside of the net
and still inside of the little capsule.
- [Mark] Pretty happy they didn't escape in the car.
- Yeah that would've been a bad situation, wouldn't it?
All of us in the car and then yellow jackets flying around.
And sure enough there they are inside of the capsule.
Now what I need to do is actually remove
the hose from the capsule
so we just have this individualized.
And then I can carefully get one
of those yellow jackets out of there.
Now here's a really interesting little fact to remember,
all hornets are technically wasps,
but not all wasps are hornets.
How about that?
And anything that is black and yellow
is technically considered a yellow jacket.
- [Mark] So what do we have, what did we find?
- This I believe, is what's called a European paper wasp.
But because it's yellow and black,
we're just generically calling it a yellow jacket.
- [Mark] And is this what we find at picnics?
Is this what's swarming us when we're trying
to eat our ice cream?
- No, that is usually a hornet.
Now a hornet has a much stockier looking body,
a thicker abdomen and a narrower thorax.
But these ones look just like wasps.
You see the very pointy wings, if you kind of see there.
Do you see where the thorax leads
into the abdomen right there?
It's very narrow and indicative of being an actual wasp.
But I think at this junction, what we're ready to do,
is bring the bug net back into this,
place the capsule inside, and work on getting one
of these yellow jackets out of the container.
You ready for that?
- [Mark] So what's the process here?
You're gonna let 'em go inside the net
and then grab them with the forceps?
- Yeah, here's what's gonna happen.
So I'm gonna place the capsule down
inside of the net like this, keep it contained.
I'm going to open the capsule,
hopefully only let one of them out,
close it back up, remove the capsule,
and then go in there with the entomology forceps,
to pick it up, bring it out, and place it on my forearm.
(suspenseful music)
I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter
the sting zone with a yellow jacket, here we go.
One, (breathes), two, three.
(suspenseful music)
Ow.
- [Mark] Did you get there?
- [Coyote] Got me there, yeah.
(suspenseful music)
(yelling)
- [Mark] Did you get it?
- Yeah it got me twice.
Ah. Here we go.
(suspenseful music)
(yelling)
- [Mark] Was that the worst one?
- [Coyote] Yeah that was the worst one so far.
- [Mark] Are you good?
(yelling)
- He got the stinger all the way inserted into my arm.
Oh my arm's startin' to hurt a little bit,
hold on, let's do this.
We're gonna get back into the capsule.
- [Mark] Gonna lay it back.
(breathes)
- Ah, yep there you have it.
You see all those welts?
I took several stings all right in that area.
And look at this, there's a lot of red coloration
developing right near the veins.
That is really interesting looking.
And it burns and it's really warm, really warm right now.
Honestly, it's hot to the touch right?
- [Mark] Yeah you can definitely feel the swelling.
- Yeah, now it was not nearly as painful
as any of the other stings I've gone through.
I was actually able to keep the yellow jacket on my arm
as it was inflicting stings.
It did get me one time pretty good right at the end there,
and I had to let it go.
Of course we got it safely back
into the capsule, as you can see there.
There they both are, they'll be released here shortly.
But what we wanna do now, is actually
use the Sting-Kill products
to see if it will alleviate some of the burning in my arm
and of course the itching that is almost certain to come
if I don't use the Sting-Kill ointment.
You guys ready for that?
- [Mark] Let's do it.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- [Mark] Well which one do we want?
Do you want the capsules or do you want the?
How about you take both.
Let's talk about both. - We're gonna give
a shot at both.
So this is the Sting-Kill wipe.
Often times used for anything from a bee sting
or a wasp sting, even a mosquito bite, even a jellyfish.
If you guys are on the beach and you're swimming
and you run into a jellyfish,
this is perfect for that.
So what I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna open this up.
I'll tell you what, I keep myself pretty well composed
in a lot of this, but now that the pain's
actually starting to set in my arm, I do,
I get a little bit light headed.
So the Sting-Kill wipes have a maximum strength mix
of benzocaine and menthol and I actually really like these.
They're neon green, looks like Ninja Turtle Mutagen.
Check that out.
And wow that is a strong smell right there.
Alright I'm gonna put that on the sting, are you ready?
- [Mark] Yeah sure go ahead.
- Oh wow, it's cold.
The menthol definitely cools it immediately.
(sighs)
Yes. (laughing)
Wow that really does have
a pretty incredible cooling effect.
Now similar to the bullet ant,
I was in a lot of pain after that and it did help,
but of course the bullet ant pain
eventually did come back and lasted for nearly 36 hours.
I'm hoping that this relieves much quicker.
Now I do love the wipes.
And I carry the wipes in my pack, but this right here,
the sting kill capsules. - Those, I like those.
- Yeah these are my absolute favorite.
Okay let me open one up for you.
Now they are individually wrapped, see this, very cool.
And all you have to do is pop the back end out like that.
And inside here is a little glass capsule
within the plastic.
So all you have to do, this is my favorite part, ready?
(glass breaks) (laughing)
Shatter the glass on the inside
that has this little cotton swab.
- [Mark] It's strangely satisfying.
- I know, it's like, "Oh here comes the ooze."
Yes, ah.
(laughing)
Oh that is my favorite.
And that real thick serum right there
is literally instantaneous relief.
I personally love to just do this,
dab it right on the sting zone.
Wow.
And as you can see, there is more liquid here
than you get in the wipes.
So if you have a really bad sting,
or you're stung multiple times,
I definitely recommend going to the Sting-Kill capsules,
'cause as you can see, look how much of the ointment
is actually coming out there.
- [Mark] Okay, so once again, Sting-Kill saves the day.
(breathes)
- Yes. Sting-Kill has saved the day.
My arm feels a lot better.
In fact, there's also a little bit of a numbing agent here,
so I can't feel any of the pain at this point.
Wow, arm is a little bit stiff,
but hopefully this formula will also reduce
any potential itching that's gonna come down the road here.
And I know you're thinking to yourselves,
"Coyote, those were simply yellow jackets.
"And you've been stung by tarantula hawks, and bullet ants,
"and hopefully soon warrior wasps."
But keep in mind guys, that the yellow jacket
is something that is right in your backyard.
It's something you can easily come across
and something you definitely have the potential
of being stung by.
Now if you are unfortunately stung,
remember, Sting-Kill is definitely gonna help you out
when it comes to alleviating that pain
and any potential itching.
Alright guys, well I think it's time
to release the yellow jackets back into the wild.
But before we do, I just want to give
an extra special thanks to Sting-Kill
for supporting this episode
and of course, for keeping us kitted up
with sting ointment, when we're out there in the field.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
It is not often that an animal like a yellow jacket
is safely relocated from an urban setting to a wild one.
As most human encounters usually end
with the insect being sprayed and killed.
I know this sounds strange, but it truly made my heart happy
to know that this beautiful pair of wasps
will now have the chance
to continue building their nest in the wild.
No matter what, always admire these insects
from a safe distance.
However if you are stung, all you need to do
is visit your local pharmacist,
where you are likely to find the Sting-Kill products.
And whether you use the sting wipes or the capsules,
both are armed with a maximum strength
benzocaine and menthol formula
that is certain to provide fast relief
to the pain and itching.
For more information, visit Sting-Kill's website
to connect with the brand for special offers.
If you thought (yelling)
getting stung by a yellow jacket was intense,
(yelling)
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where I applied Sting-Kill to help
alleviate the searing pain of the bullet ant's sting.
And don't forget, subscribe.
So you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
What I'm gonna do is open this up,
and let's see if the sting wipe helps
(sighs)
to cool off my arm.
This is nice, these are perfect.
This could fit right in any hiking backpack.
(coyote howling)