Wasp, hornet, or killer bee problems in SE Mississippi? (Lucedale: house, live in)

[SouthernFarmer]

Hey everyone, I'll make this quick, I'm looking to relocate from the mountains of NE Alabama. I've got four places I'm thinking about, and southeastern Mississippi is one of them. George County, specifically, i.e. around Lucedale, MS or Agricola, MS.

I'm allergic to flying, stinging critters - like hornets, bees, wasps, yellowjackets, etc. - as in if I get stung and don't have an Epi-Pen to jamb into my leg, I'm going to meet Jesus.

I know it might sound trivial to some, but this is a big deal for me, so before I pick up and invest all my savings in moving, I want to make sure I'm not moving out of the frying pan and into the fire (we have a serious red wasp problem in this area, as in, dozens if not hundreds of them doing dive-bomb attacks as you walk from your house to your car, or step out on your front porch).

Someone made the comment that "I live in south Mississippi, and we WISH all we had was a red wasp problem", which is --frightening.

So- do you folks down in southeast Mississippi have tons of flying stinging things coming out now that the weather is warm? I know that there are wasps and hornets everywhere, all 50 states, but it seems a WHOLE lot worse here than in much of the rest of the country, like North Carolina where I grew up.

Thanks for any input you can provide!

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P.S. - and while I'm at it, I might as well ask, is there anything else that people routinely are killed by while out in their backyards, i.e. large populations of venomous snakes?

[Piney Woodsman]

I grew up just off the Mississippi-Alabama line, and must tell you that there is unfortunately no question of some risk from stinging insects in spring and summer in this territory. In the course of growing up I was stung by black wasps, honey bees and a bumble bee---and none of these cases were in deep woods or large fields, either. To complicate the consideration, I have found heavily timbered areas much further north (the Missouri Ozarks, for instance) to also be rife with winged, stinging aggression. I'm not optimistic that central Mississippi or Alabama would be any safer from wasps and yellowjackets than George or Green Counties, either.

[Piney Woodsman]

In response to your question about poisonous snakes, I would say that the presence of a substantial number of species (from rattlesnakes to cottonmouths) must be taken into account, as they should in much of the South, but that their numbers do not produce anything like commonplace fatalities.

[jacksonian]

The stinging critters are much more common than the poisonous snakes, but that is not to say that the snakes do not exist. Currently, the honey bees are buzzing around due to all the flowers blooming and the air is thick with pollen this week. Although we have bees, wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets (hornets inflict the most pain, but their numbers are much lower than the rest), they are nothing compared to mosquitoes. Skeeters, as some like to call them, seek out blood rather than pollen, so their bites are always intentional. Fire ants can also become a problem if you're not careful.

I'm not trying to scare you, but these are just some things that you need to know about before making your way down. They do not make life miserable usually, but they can be annoying. If I could get rid of any listed above, it would definitely be the "skeeters."