Hunting carpenter bees - good fun!

[Chuck]

Has anyone else discovered the thrill of blowing these slow-moving buzz-bombers out of the sky with .22 ratshot rounds? It's my favorite springtime sport!

And when I run out of ammo, the kids and I take to playing "bee-mitten" with badminton racquets.

Good, manly fun. Good target practice, too...especially since the ratshot doesn't mark the sides of our cabin unless fired at point blank (which really isn't sporting anyway.)

[frogmammy]

My daughter always sent her kids (all 7 of them) out with bats...they played BeeBall to see who could hit a bee the farthest.

Mon

[frontiergal]

We had a paddle that we swung at them with and played baseball.....yourrrrrrr out!!! Love it!!

[Chuck]

You should really try the .22 method. Nothing more satisfying than seeing their little wings come fluttering back to earth after you vaporize their house-eating bodies.

[Ross]

Never had much use for the .22 shot shells....never though of shooting carpenter bees though. Guess its still not hot enough for an autoloader? That really would be too much. A veritable Fak battery in a lawnchair!

[EDDIE BUCK]

Yep,that sounds like fun alright,but I'd like to try one of those electronic bug zappers that look like a badminton racket and lectrocute them rascalsI want them to suffer a little for drilling all them holes

I discovered that if I taped a sticky mouse trap onto a tennis racket, it worked like a charm.

[starjj]

String weed eater.

[michiganfarmer]

Ive never seen them here. I did see them when we went to visit my wifes family in eastern NC

[NoClue]

I am truly inspired

[Randy Rooster]

at the risk of being booted from this forum, I will only say your ignorance astounds me Chuck. You are killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

Apparently none who participate in such grade school behavior are gardeners.

[Chuck]

No, I'm killing the things that love to eat my house. Garden or no garden, can't have that.

[Lilandra]

how about bat houses and other eco-friendly ways of limiting the pests that are bothering you.
there are paint treatments that repel bugs such as carpenter bees, ants, termites, asian beetles and such... why not go big and do it right the first time (been to a few graduations this weekend - omg, you should of heard the dr seuss quotes at some of them )

[Nette]

My brother uses a 4-foot length of black hose pipe, like you use for running water lines. It's sort of narrow, so there's a bit of sport involved when trying to whack the bees.

[Beaners]

I always thought that carpenter bees were territorial and that you wouldn't find more than one or two of them in an area. I must have been mistaken because I saw at least six or seven different ones on our rose of sharon bushes at one time last year. I know that they won't sting me, but the neighbors have a good time watching me duck and run for cover when they dive bomb me in the garden.

That's good information to have about them and blueberries. There are a few that frequent the area we planted our bushes in. I have a couple seasons to get their numbers under control before they start bearing.

Kayleigh

[SteveD(TX)]

The ratshot method sounds like lots of fun. But with the way those bees dart around everywhere, I tend to swing at 'em like a wild man. Shooting .22 rounds like a wild man might not be such a good idea since I'd likely take out windows, pets, and other stuff I wouldn't want to lose.

My old tennis racquet works quite well and is good exercise for me. Even better is that little plastic battery powered bug zapper racquet I bought a couple of years ago at the boat show. The added adrenalin rush of hearing that "ZZZZZZZTTTT" and seeing it spark makes bee hunting even more thrilling to me.

[Randy Rooster]

Originally Posted by Wind in Her Hair

well, do carpenter bees really aid in pollination of crops? See this article which suggests the opposite...

http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/Pollinat...ating_Bees.htm

Carpenter Bees

Carpenter bees are large bees that closely resemble bumble bees. Unlike bumble bees, their abdomens are shiny, not hairy. These solitary bees emerge in early spring, excavate tunnels in solid wood, mate, and provision nests.

The value of carpenter bees in crop pollination is doubtful. They are effective pollinators of passionfruit. In Georgia, they visit blackberry, canola, corn, pepper, and pole bean, but their value on these crops is uncertain. Carpenter bees are notorious for "robbing" flowers by cutting slits in the side of the flower to reach nectar without even touching the pollinating parts.

With blueberry, robbing by carpenter bees can be a serious problem because the robbery holes attract other bee species which would otherwise legitimately visit the flower. When possible, blueberry growers should control carpenter bee populations. For infested wood in structures, inject an approved insecticide in individual tunnels, plug the holes and paint the wood surface. See your county Extension agent for help in selecting a suitable insecticide.

I sugget you and the other short sighted members of this forum read this short article full.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_carpenter_bee

[foxfiredidit]

Short sighted ? That may be why I'm missing so many with the BB gun. Or it could be that Evan Williams is not making my range and elevation calls to standard.

Originally Posted by Randy Rooster

I sugget you and the other short sighted members of this forum read this short article full.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_carpenter_bee

The opening paragraph of your Wikipedia article.

The common Eastern carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica, is the carpenter bee most often encountered in the eastern United States. It is often mistaken for a large bumblebee species, as they are similar in size and coloring. They can be important pollinators, especially of open-faced flowers, though they are also known to "rob" nectar by boring holes in the sides of flowers with deep corollas (thus not accomplishing pollination). They sometimes bore holes in wood dwellings and can become minor pests. They use chewed wood bits to form partitions between the cells in the nest.

Essentially reiterates the UGA extension article.

....Alan.

[starjj]

Originally Posted by Randy Rooster

I sugget you and the other short sighted members of this forum read this short article full.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_carpenter_bee

So it is OK to let them drill holes in the house, barns and sheds?

I don't kill honey bees or bumble bees BTW