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How to Lure Queen Wasps With Meat

Wasps can be an extremely bothersome and potentially painful pest to have around in the summertime. They can also cause a great deal of distress to anyone unlucky enough to be allergic to their sting. By luring and trapping queens in the spring, however, you can head off the problem and significantly lower the number of wasps inhabiting the area around your house. You can do this by constructing a simple lure trap, and baiting it with meat.

Things You'll Need

2-liter pop bottle
Knife
Water
Dish soap
Fishing line and hook
Duct tape
Fresh raw meat
String

Instructions

- 1
  Cut the 2-liter bottle in half, roughly one third of the way down from the top. Set aside the top half for later.
- 2
  Add several inches worth of water in the bottom of the bottle. Add several drops of dish soap to the water, and stir it around gently. The dish soap will help kill the wasps that become trapped.
- 3
  Wrap the end of the fishing line with the hook on it around the mouthpiece of the bottle. Secure it there with the duct tape. The line should be long enough such that when the top of the bottle is inverted into the bottom, the hook is suspended no more than an inch or two above the water.
- 4
  Attach the meat to the hook. Change the meat every few days, as hornets do not like rotten meat.
- 5
  Invert the top of the bottle into the bottom half of the bottle, so that the meat is hanging above the water.
- 6
  Puncture two holes in either side of the top of the trap with the knife. Thread the string through either hole, and tie both sides off. Loop the string over a convenient branch or similar object in the area where you want to attract queen wasps. Set the trap in late winter and early spring, or whenever flying insects first start appearing. This is when queen wasps will be active and building new nests.

Insects & Science