Jonathan Simkins just had one of the best times of his life, though it's unlikely many people would be buzzing with envy.
The Central Florida entomologist and bee-removal expert recently went into a large wooded area to battle a colony of millions of Southern yellow jackets.
"It was so exciting; it was one of the best times in my business and professional career," Simkins said in an interview with local news station WFLA.
At 6.5 feet tall and 8 feet wide, the nest was colossal; by Simkins' reckoning the hive contained millions of workers and thousands of queens. Southern yellow jackets develop multiple queens the second, third and fourth year, he said, which allows the colony to grow to such enormous numbers.
The yellow jackets made so much noise their volume competed with Simkins, who spoke directly into a handheld camera.
"This is amazing. The size of this nest. The numbers flying around here, this is the largest nest I've ever seen in my entire life. I've been doing this for over 20 years. They're all over me," Simkins said hurriedly into the camera as the yellow jackets swarmed around him.
Simkins said he deployed his own secret technique to exterminate the nest, and when he went back to survey the scene the next day, the colony of millions was dead on the ground. As for battle scars, Simkins only got one sting on the chin, which he said came from an irresponsible move while dealing with the nest. But for all its excitement, the encounter with millions of stinging yellow jackets struck a chord of fear in Simkins as well.
"I have to be honest with you, I was terrified at one point, and there were several times that I had to pull out and get a breather. My heart rate was racing, I had hundreds of them on my veil," he told WFLA. "I had so many yellow jackets on me; they kept finding a way in."
Simkins was reportedly called to exterminate the next, which was on private land. Simkins said the nest was on land that's leased out to hunters, adding that if someone unwittingly came across it and disturbed the yellow jackets, it could have killed them.
"If somebody comes across this, you're not going to get away. You can see in the video, I run a hundred yards away and I still have thousands of yellow jackets chasing me, all over me, trying to kill me," said Simkins.
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