I had to spray a yellow jacket nest to look for a cleanout pipe, a pity because they had lived in peace with us all summer - they had a high angle flight path and a slightly lower return path - it was like living near an airport. I went out to spray them at night, heavily clothed and masked, and found them standing guard by the entrance, a ring of eight about the hole, very still and gleaming in the light. I would not have liked to blunder into them unexpecting but the poor things were no match at all for modern weaponry - I didn't need my armor at all.

A few days later some creature dug up the nest to eat the brood. I wonder if it got sick from the poison.

Sort of a requiem for the yellow jackets.