Yellowjackets in Mobile, Alabama

[Heatgain]

So my wife and I are at Cottage Hill Park (aka Medal of Honor Park) today enjoying our new-found hobby of disc golf. We're out at an open field near hole 16 practicing grips, side arm, and such. After about 30 minutes we decide since we're so close to hole 16, we'll shoot 16, 17, and 18 and call it a day.
We get to hole 18 and there's a long vine across the tee pad. So I move the vine aside, thinking "This wasn't here yesterday, why would anyone mess up a course on purpose?"
Then I feel like a mosquito sting on my forearm. Then it went in deeper and harder. OW! A whole nest of very angry yellowjackets rise out of the ground and buzz around, VERY aggressively. I yell to my wife to run, and see her frantically swatting around her head. We run.
I got stung once on my forearm and my wife twice over her right eye.
We go to the office near the tennis courts to tell the workers there, and they tell us they already know it! The lady in the office actually said ,"Bees? Hole 18?" before we told her where we were stung. She said they can't do anything about it until the bees settle down.
Unbelievable.
A sign would have been helpful. It certainly would've prevented this pain and swelling. Nice work, Mobile Parks Department. Wouldn't want you to get off your large butt and post a sign.
Anyway, if you're a local.....BEWARE.
I know what I'm packing in my disc bag next time we play. A large can of bug spray.

 

[drickanderson]

We have Tarantula Hawks out here (yes, they are wasps big enough to eat tarantulas). I don't know anybody that's been stung by one, but they are freakin' HUGE. I've seen them dragging dead grasshoppers across my lawn before.

What if you had been allergic to them? If they knew there was a swarm of them there, then you'd think they would have posted a sign or something right? Sorry man, that sucks!

 

[bettsjc]

I was jjust reading about Tarantula Hawks yesterday after getting stung after stepping in a yellow jacket nest.

Out here in Charlotte usually fellow disc golfers or disc golf club members are good about posting signs at nests, or even going out to take care of them themselves. But to walk into the rec center and them pretty much know what happened to you and that they've done nothing about it?!?!? Come on man!

 

[Heatgain]

What if you had been allergic to them? If they knew there was a swarm of them there, then you'd think they would have posted a sign or something right? Sorry man, that sucks!

Exactly! My poor wife's eye is way swollen. My forearm hurts a lot so I know she's in a ton of pain.
Park employees too lazy (& fat) to put up a warning sign. I work for this city also and know there's a multitude of lazy employees. All this pain, and who knows how many other people have been stung, could have easily been avoided by the employee getting off her chair, walking 50 yards to the start of the course, and hanging a simple sign.

 

[ian.]

We have Tarantula Hawks out here (yes, they are wasps big enough to eat tarantulas). I don't know anybody that's been stung by one, but they are freakin' HUGE. I've seen them dragging dead grasshoppers across my lawn before.

What if you had been allergic to them? If they knew there was a swarm of them there, then you'd think they would have posted a sign or something right? Sorry man, that sucks!

yea tarantula hawks are crazy..never seen one in person..not here in sc but i have seen em on tv..we have cow killers but thats bout as bad as it gets

 

[drickanderson]

^^ I was just out in Columbia last week! I would SOOOO move there if I could. That place is beautiful. Ate at a Waffle House for the first time too ... lol! Who knew that waffles with pecans would be so yummy?!

 

[magictenor1]

I played cottage hill a couple of weeks ago and didn't have any issues there. Saw no dangerous creatures.

 

[Heatgain]

I played cottage hill a couple of weeks ago and didn't have any issues there. Saw no dangerous creatures.

I played there the day before I got stung and had no issues.

 

[Heatgain]

UPDATE

My wife called the Parks & Rec Department about the yellowjackets and the garbage strewn about the course. They apologized and cleaned up both the very next day.
Kudos to the City of Mobile!