We are still a month away from prime yellow jacket season, but one beekeeper has already dealt with 30 cases, and he says the nests are larger. That means you need to take extra caution when you're outside.
It's a sound Harrison Kennedy will never forget. "They sound like jets are coming at you..."
That's what he heard when a swarm of yellow jackets attacked him. "Going 'ohh' like an engine. I was going boom boom- just fighting them," he said.
He was working in his yard when he disturbed the nest. "I didn't know if they had cell phones or two way radios because they get together real fast."
Ernest Jones was working in his yard too when he came across a Hornet's nest with an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 bees inside.
"I never seen a nest like that before," he said. "Eight to 10,000 bees? That's what I think is enough to cover me up when they get on me that's what I think."
In the coming months, more people will come in contact with yellow jackets and bees.
"I would say the most dangerous are the yellow jackets because they can get on you and repeatedly sting," says Bee Keeper Dale Richter.
He says Southwest Georgia is covered in yellow jackets, he thinks due to the short, warm winters.
"We are getting yellow jacket nests that are over wintering and have numerous queens."
Which means bigger nests and more bees. "They can be a half gallon jug size or as big as the back of my truck."
This nest for example? Richter thinks it will be one of the largest he's come across. "This one will be four to five feet wide and a couple feet deep."
If you do come across some bees, don't even try to find the rest of them. And don't try to take care of them yourself. If you don't get rid of all of them they will come back with a vengeance.
The beekeeper will remove that yellow jackets nest early in the morning.
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