my old boss has a run-in with them
he was a deer hunter, hunted with some older folks down in the southern part of the state, on a lease.
August, they start 'getting things ready'. Had a bunch of box stands out there and they typically run out there a couple weekends in august to clean up and such.
His friend (about 77 as I remember at the time) went down to do some cleanup, during the week. His wife called me on Friday wanting to know if he'd been by here. I ain't seen him, why? She said he went to camp and ain't nobody heard from him. My boss was out at a meeting at the time and when he came back I told him that the wife of the man called trying to find him. Boss said "he's at deer camp". He tried to call the people who live in the area and they were in Florida, so my boss just left to go check on him. Well aparently the man got up in the box stand and got into a bunch of red wasps, that swarmed him and killed him. That would have been on Tuesday, so his stung body was in the stand for 3 or 4 days in August, so you can imagine.
I don't mess with wasps of any kind and I despise red wasps. I will kill every single one of them. Always have, but I've been stung a bunch of times as a youn'n, to the point where I'm allergic to those and hornets and yellowjackets. I get bad swollen in the neck where it's hard to breathe so I have to keep one of those epi pen things with me most times.
In my front yard I have some bushes, kinda close to the house. One of the bushes has a bunch of those little wasp-looking things that go in and out of it all the time during the day. Never been stung by one but I am gonna find a way to get rid of them one way or another without killing the bush.
Then in my shop I have dirt dobbers. They build the nest along the door jambs and they set off the alarm and cameras. I can't get rid of them either, the more I kill the more show up and build more nests. They will sting as well if you smack them or something. BUT I also understand that they have a purpose, and they eat spiders and I TRY my best to get along with them for that reason. I have lots and lots of widows and recluses in the shop. Seen a recluse earlier and mashed it with my shoe and then burnt it with the propane torch. I hate them. And I hate tarantulas too, which we have plenty of around here.