Yellow Jackets?

[Bethany1]

Yesterday I was running/walking around the track and had what looked like a yellow jacket buzzing around me. I took off as fast as I could (which isn't that fast) and he finally disappeared. I came around to the south part of the track and he was there again buzzing around. I took off and went over to the bleachers and started walking up/down the stairs.

Today I was out, hit the south part of the track and once again, there he was. This time he followed me more than 100 meters to the north part of the track. Totally petrified, I ran home as fast as I could.

I am terrified of bees, wasps, hornets and I'm not about to go back to the track tomorrow if they are out there. Are they attracted to sweat or something else I'm doing? They like the evenings around 7-8pm and need to go out earlier? Any suggestions? If I go out around town, I usually end up rotating my hip which is why I started going to the track.

Thanks!

[salsabike]

Bethany, I wonder if there is a nest by the south end of the track. If so, is there any way you could avoid going past it, by, say, running 3/4 of the track and then going back the other way?

[Bethany1]

That's what I figure. I've been using the track for a couple of weeks and I'll see one or two by the bleacher wall, but the past couple of days are the first time I've seen one on the track and been "chased". This was a hornet once I went online. Nasty little buggers. Bees are okay even if I'm scared of them. They are at least useful as they make honey.

If they'd just stay in one place and leave me out of it, I'd feel much better. LOL.

[Maye]

How do you know it was the same yellow jacket all the time? ;-)

[Bethany1]

LOL. I should bag and tag it just to check. Had one follow me down the street today to a neighbor's house a block away. I wonder if the government has reverse engineered the hornet population to monitor suspicious looking people.

It's not like there's a zillion around either or I'd look for a nest. Just this one and a couple by the school track.

[Trek420]

I wonder if the government has reverse engineered the hornet population to monitor suspicious looking people.

Nah. That's the yellow jackets in the black helicopters.