It was a cool September evening and I was wrapping up work on a friend's flower garden just after sunset when a thorn-covered weed caught me in the ankle.

Or so I thought. The sting was unlike other thorny weeds I'd encountered. And the initial sting was followed by another. And another.

Illumination from a front porch light reveled a gathering swarm of yellow jackets flying out from beneath a patch of lavender. By the time I sprinted some 70 feet down the driveway, I'd been assaulted at least six times by ole Mr. Buzzy. For the first time in more than five years, I became a statistic - another hapless victim of angry yellow jackets.

The encounter will be repeated thousands of times across Michigan this month as colonies reach maximum size and wasps become more aggressive as they enter the twilight of their lives.

The Sting

Each year, more than 500,000 people visit hospital emergency rooms for insect stings. For most sting victims, the biting pain of the sting and eventual itching are simply an inconvenience - and a lesson in caution. But for others, a bee sting triggers a life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis, which is responsible for an estimated 40 deaths annually.

In Michigan, stinging insects most likely to be a problem are in a group called vespids, consisting of wasps, yellow jackets and hornets. They're the ones that make paper-like nests by chewing up wood and mixing it with their saliva. European paper wasps fall into this category and are responsible for umbrella-shaped nests beneath deck railings, under grill covers, behind shutters and in wood piles.

The ones I encountered are a type of yellow jacket commonly known as ground hornets. They're a very aggressive insect that build nests underground. If you inadvertently step on the nest opening while working in the garden or mowing the lawn you likely will get stung. People who disturb a ground nest typically don't realize it until they've been stung a few times.

After realizing I was under attack, I bolted down the driveway, arms flailing, to ward-off the unseen attackers. Yet a few still followed me - or were trapped beneath my T-shirt as I fled.

It's not far-fetched to suggest I was followed.When they sting, yellow jackets leave behind traces of a chemical that serves as a honing device for other yellow jackets eager to join the fun. For this reason, entomologists recommend you flee before the remaining colony swarms for the kill.

Steve Nunn, 27, is still haunted by an encounter with bald-faced hornets when he was a lad growing up on the northeast side of Grand Rapids. Only in this case, he had it coming.

"I was eight-years-old and was outside with friends,'' the Kentwood maintenance worker recalled. "We saw the nest in a tree and we messed with it.''

Nunn and his playmates gathered stones and pine cones and made the overhead mud nest a target. Nunn, a Little League baseball shortstop and pitcher, had a pretty good arm back in the day. He hit the mark and "the bees charged the mound.''

He got stung in the arm and his friend was stung in the face. "My mom and the other kid's mom made a concoction of baking soda and water. They put it on us like mortar - like they were building a brick home. It was in a yellow Tupperware bowl; I'll never forget it.''

A Bug's Life

Yellow jacket colonies are started in spring by an overwintering queen who does all the work until a first generation of workers emerge. In late summer, a new generation of reproducing male and female yellow jackets emerge to mate. A new queen looks for a place to spend the winter while the old queen and her colony die off.

Colonies are most dangerous this time of year when they're at their largest. Maybe yellow jackets are also more aggressive in fall because they know their days are numbered. Most are eliminated after a hard freeze. Those living underground may take a little longer to perish.

Common sense dictates it is best to leave wasp and yellow jacket nests alone - unless they're in an area with lots of human activity. Ground nests beside a walkway, in a playground or near a door should be decommissioned with an aerosol can of Wasp & Hornet Killer. You have the greatest chance of success spraying at night when the insects are tucked in their nest.

With a LED spotlight strapped to my head, I emptied a can of Wasp & Hornet Killer into the golf-ball sized opening, covered the hole with a five-gallon bucket and ran like hell. The next day, a dozen or so yellow jackets who apparently missed curfew flew around the bucket. I used a broom handle to tip it over, revealing scores of dead yellow jackets piled in the opening and around the sides of the hole. The remaining Wasp & Hornet Killer dispatched the unlucky stragglers. Mission accomplished.

Had the nest been detected and sprayed in spring, there's a better chance it would have dispatched the queen, thereby eliminating future problems.

Honeybees, on the other hand, are pretty benign when it comes to aggressive behavior. They won't sting you stumble over a log containing its nest - or foolishly heave rocks and pine cones in their direction.

Email: jjhogan001@gmail.com