Watch Out For Bees....

[Deep Beeps]

Just wanted to drop a quick beware.

Recently, while detecting in the Yuma area, I came up on two separate bee hives. The first was in a big gulch with lots of drifts in the bench. Fortunately, it was first light and still cool and as I was beeping near the mouths of the old timers mines. I saw a few bees and realized quickly what was in this placer drift. if it had been warmer, the screaming junk may have agitated this hive.

The second was much more eye opening. I had made my way up a very narrow side gulch and hopped over to work back in another even smaller draw. I beeped my way down stuffing my coil under any bush and cactus as that was where I was having luck in this well detected area. As I came down I worked the old stone walls the old timers had made getting to the false bedrock. I had just got a nice .5 gram and was re-enthused. This area was sparse to say the least of vegetation. I came on a 4-5' tall creosote bush and was half way under the bush with my coil when I noticed what looked like a dark brown cowboy boot laying near the ground. As I looked a bit closer that boot turned out to be a bee hive. It was only 6" off the ground. I slowly backed off and shut my GPZ down and took 5 minutes to thank the gods for not upsetting that nest. This was a very small, very steep gulch that I would have had no way out of if they had decided to rain hate on me. It was hot that day and bees where everywhere in the air as the desert was in bloom. Damn lucky I was.

Just wanted to share my lucky day and bring light to these tiny guys. We are always on point for rattlesnakes.... I myself have never been snake bit but have been messed up by bees several times in my life. So keep your eyes peeled as your working that coil this spring/summer.

Deep Beeps

[dirtman]

Good Advice ! 👍

I remember one season when I was out Summertime it was I had just returned to camp on my Quad parked got off it and suddenly I heard in the distance a slight hum like an Aircraft approaching from the distance.

Well that's NOT what it turned out to be, (BEE) 🙄.

From the distance the sound grew stronger and then ,... Holey Moley a big Dark Patch appeared and it was headed directly at camp this GIANT swarm appeared they were just about 15-20 feet off the ground and flew right thru camp in between our 2 trailers and kept on going 😘

For a moment I thought it was Good Nite Irene ! 🤒😳

Luckily we escaped a Tremendous Problem that day.

Yup they can be a force to recon with 👍.

Be safe out there eyes an ears open at all times ✔️😎

 

 

[F350Platinum]

Last spring Chase and I were detecting a field, and I walked down into a ravine to see what was there. Kept hearing this humming sound and wondered where it was coming from. Looked around and I was smack in the middle of a swarm of honeybees buzzing around some low flowering weeds.

How I got out of there without getting stung is a mystery, guess they were busy 😅

[Doc Bach]

It was an epic battle but the Bald Face Hornets won by a vicious TKO!

Long story short I spent the remainder of the day hunting for indian artifacts with one eye.

[GeoBill]

I keep bees and currently have several hives but I can only speak to how honey bees behave here in norcal. In general honey bees will only sting if defending their home or if trapped against your skin (stepped on, caught in hair, etc). When bees are swarming, like dirtman described, again they are very unlikely to sting as they are migrating to set up a new hive and are not in a defensive mode. Swarming bees are also engorged with honey which makes it very difficult for them to bend their bodies to drive in the stinger. This is in part why we "smoke" bees when checking their hives - they load up on honey in case they need to flee, and it also confuses/dampens their defense alarm pheromones.

What Deep Beeps describes, "I came on a 4-5' tall creosote bush and was half way under the bush with my coil when I noticed what looked like a dark brown cowboy boot laying near the ground. As I looked a bit closer that boot turned out to be a bee hive", was most likely a swarm that was away from the hive waiting for the scouts to decide on where their new home should be. When honey bees swarm about 10,000+ of the workers and the current queen will leave the hive, find a resting place while scouts come to consensus on which of previously identified potential new homes is the best. This decision process is actually studied in business schools (Honey Bee Democracy). This decision process can take several days so when the bees leave the hive they engorge themselves with enough honey to survive that time. It is very unusual for honey bees to make a hive in the open which is why I suspect that was a swarm, and also why they didn't react when you got close. When capturing swarms I can usually walk up to them and just shake them into a box. Also bees keep their hive temperatures around 95F which is difficult to do in the open, and if you find and watch a swarm it is constantly churning, the outer bees moving inward so everyone stays warm.

Now, to where you were detecting. It's been a long time since I did geologic fieldwork down in Arizona so I don't know how things may have changed or progressed. 30+ years ago we were strongly cautioned to be on the lookout for anywhere we saw dead small animals that didn't appear to be predator kills because there was a potential for a killer bee colony nearby. I've never encountered "Killer Bees" (Africanized honey bees) but apparently they are reactive to movement and will sting and kill small animals that venture too close to their hive. Apparently scavengers and predators leave the carcasses or are also chased away.

I'd love to hear any killer bee encounter stories you all have to share. Anything I could learn about their behavior to make me safer now that I'm retired and hope to get back to the deserts.

Cheers

[paradiceau]

I had an experience very much like Dirtman mentioned, about two years or so back I was at one of Bill Southern's get together at LSD (Little San Domingo) and was progressing down a wash with my 500 humming along quite nicely.  I may have stopped and removed my head phones I don't remember now.  At any rate I noticed a distant noise which I could not identify and I stood still for a moment listening and wondering what I was hearing, at some point I thought it was the sound of a four wheeler approaching and I was waiting for it to come into view......  What came into view was a dark cloud of beeez, doing what bees do, swarming and I just happened to be under their air space, when I became aware of what the commotion was all about I just lay down in the wash and let the traffic clear....  I lost count but there were a good many in the swarm and they were maybe ten or fifteen feet AGL.  I thought at the time that they should not be a threat because they were just changing locations and weren't at all aggressive.  Since I am allergic to beeez I was very relieved when their tail lights faded into the beautiful evening air.

[blackjack]

9 hours ago, GeoBill said:

I keep bees and currently have several hives but I can only speak to how honey bees behave here in norcal. In general honey bees will only sting if defending their home or if trapped against your skin (stepped on, caught in hair, etc. ]

Yes I agree, this is my experience with 'Domestic' bees in my topic " Killer Bees ! Or Famous Last Words " Corey had a bee caught in his hair, which stung him, that set off a rapid chain reaction from the bees. However years ago my wife and I were the target of an 'unprovoked' attack from a wild hive. It happened on the top of a steep rocky hillside, which made a rapid escape difficult I was stung at least 6 times but my wife with her long hair was stung more, about 10-12 times. We were about 20 meters from the hive when it happened. I have no idea if we have/had Africanized bees in Australia. This happened in 1989 in Western Australia at Kalbarri.

[Deep Beeps]

On 5/2/2023 at 11:53 AM, GeoBill said:

I keep bees and currently have several hives but I can only speak to how honey bees behave here in norcal. In general honey bees will only sting if defending their home or if trapped against your skin (stepped on, caught in hair, etc). When bees are swarming, like dirtman described, again they are very unlikely to sting as they are migrating to set up a new hive and are not in a defensive mode. Swarming bees are also engorged with honey which makes it very difficult for them to bend their bodies to drive in the stinger. This is in part why we "smoke" bees when checking their hives - they load up on honey in case they need to flee, and it also confuses/dampens their defense alarm pheromones.

What Deep Beeps describes, "I came on a 4-5' tall creosote bush and was half way under the bush with my coil when I noticed what looked like a dark brown cowboy boot laying near the ground. As I looked a bit closer that boot turned out to be a bee hive", was most likely a swarm that was away from the hive waiting for the scouts to decide on where their new home should be. When honey bees swarm about 10,000+ of the workers and the current queen will leave the hive, find a resting place while scouts come to consensus on which of previously identified potential new homes is the best. This decision process is actually studied in business schools (Honey Bee Democracy). This decision process can take several days so when the bees leave the hive they engorge themselves with enough honey to survive that time. It is very unusual for honey bees to make a hive in the open which is why I suspect that was a swarm, and also why they didn't react when you got close. When capturing swarms I can usually walk up to them and just shake them into a box. Also bees keep their hive temperatures around 95F which is difficult to do in the open, and if you find and watch a swarm it is constantly churning, the outer bees moving inward so everyone stays warm.

Now, to where you were detecting. It's been a long time since I did geologic fieldwork down in Arizona so I don't know how things may have changed or progressed. 30+ years ago we were strongly cautioned to be on the lookout for anywhere we saw dead small animals that didn't appear to be predator kills because there was a potential for a killer bee colony nearby. I've never encountered "Killer Bees" (Africanized honey bees) but apparently they are reactive to movement and will sting and kill small animals that venture too close to their hive. Apparently scavengers and predators leave the carcasses or are also chased away.

I'd love to hear any killer bee encounter stories you all have to share. Anything I could learn about their behavior to make me safer now that I'm retired and hope to get back to the deserts.

Cheers

Great insights GeoBill. It was in the low 80's that day and sunny. I had plunged my coil in pretty close to those guys before I saw them. This explains why they were so docile. Tbh... I was amazed I didnt get messed up but this explains the situation.

[Deep Beeps]

On 5/2/2023 at 6:46 PM, paradiceau said:

I had an experience very much like Dirtman mentioned, about two years or so back I was at one of Bill Southern's get together at LSD (Little San Domingo) and was progressing down a wash with my 500 humming along quite nicely.  I may have stopped and removed my head phones I don't remember now.  At any rate I noticed a distant noise which I could not identify and I stood still for a moment listening and wondering what I was hearing, at some point I thought it was the sound of a four wheeler approaching and I was waiting for it to come into view......  What came into view was a dark cloud of beeez, doing what bees do, swarming and I just happened to be under their air space, when I became aware of what the commotion was all about I just lay down in the wash and let the traffic clear....  I lost count but there were a good many in the swarm and they were maybe ten or fifteen feet AGL.  I thought at the time that they should not be a threat because they were just changing locations and weren't at all aggressive.  Since I am allergic to beeez I was very relieved when their tail lights faded into the beautiful evening air.

Glad to hear you got through it. Hope you keep an Epipen around then. I always carry Benydryl with me in case I do get hit by bees or a rattler.

[Deep Beeps]

On 5/2/2023 at 9:47 PM, blackjack said:

Yes I agree, this is my experience with 'Domestic' bees in my topic " Killer Bees ! Or Famous Last Words " Corey had a bee caught in his hair, which stung him, that set off a rapid chain reaction from the bees. However years ago my wife and I were the target of an 'unprovoked' attack from a wild hive. It happened on the top of a steep rocky hillside, which made a rapid escape difficult I was stung at least 6 times but my wife with her long hair was stung more, about 10-12 times. We were about 20 meters from the hive when it happened. I have no idea if we have/had Africanized bees in Australia. This happened in 1989 in Western Australia at Kalbarri.

Sorry to hear. Ive been hit on occasions over 10 times in the head alone... Im not allergic but couldn't sleep either time those nights from the venom to the thinker.

Murphy's Law... You're always in some tough place when it happens. Never next to your truck door.