Just in time for summer, here’s a quick and easy way to deal with the hoards of yellow jackets that are just waiting for you to grill those steaks on a warm evening. This trap can be built from stuff you have around the house. And a piece of fish.

You will need:

• A dish pan or wash basin.
• A tablespoon of liquid dish soap (preferably unscented).
• Three sticks about a foot long.
• A couple of tie wires.
• A piece of wire a few inches long.
• A foot of string.
• A hunk of raw fish.

Use these objects to construct a trap like this (but don’t get soapy water on the fish!):

Detailed instructions about this project at the Alaska Outdoor Journal Field Notebook.

How does it work?

The yellow jackets love fish and will begin to cut off small pieces to take back to the nest. In their “excitement” of buzzing around the bait a few will occasionally hit the water. Some yellow jackets will successfully haul a piece of meat back to the nest and tell all the other gatherers in the nest where this great food source is. Soon all the wasps from the nest will be working on this fish and over a period of time, all will eventually make mistakes and either fall off the fish and into the water or bump other wasps flying around and knock themselves in the drink.

Good riddance!

[via Make Blog]

This article is about Frugality, House and Home  Saturday, 20th May 2006 (by J.D. Roth)