Red Wasp

The overhead cover at the Panola 600 yardline has a wasp nest in the end of one pipe. I went to 600 early and was walking equipment to the line when I thought I felt a grasshopper hit my wrist. Wasn't a grasshopper of course, it was a red wasp who got a stinger in me twice right at my watchband.

It's a shock to get stung but I'm not particularly sensitive to wasp poison. I brushed him away but what happened next was the most interesting: I got to watch him set up his attack.

He flew about shoulder high and would take a dip at me, then recover and buzz back for another look. He didn't go round and round, never turned his back, instead making a series of dives and pull backs. If I had been carrying a badminton racket he would have been toast due to his low speed and hovering. I'd seen an attack before as an observer when red wasps attacked and stung my uncle once at his lakehouse while I watched from the pier. They took three or four dips in and then finally pressed an attack all the way.

At Panola I moved back and sideways to make him have to reconfigure and relocate me between dips. He finally held off when I had enough distance. Nobody had any hornet spray or gunscrubber but I did try a little sight black on them. It ended up being a draw, though I wouldn't give much for their chances. Someone will toast them.

Wrist has a slight puffyness today and an itch. Sting point has a little scab.

Update: Itchy wrist for the past couple days. When I got back to 600 at Panola two guys were sitting and talking, one at the concrete bench used for testing loads. I had to warn him about the black widows that web up under the edge so that he wouldn't have an encounter with gentle woodland creatures.