In the case I described, by the way, there was no branch to cut off. The nest was one of those huge football-shaped nests, and it was hanging under the porch ceiling near the front door on our neighbour's house. So he put the bag quickly around the nest and pulled it off the ceiling...and that's when World War III started.

Boy, you had to see it to appreciate just how bad a spot that guy was in....

His situation was complicated by the fact that his daughter panicked and locked the front door shut. She was afraid the hornets would come in along with him.

That's why he spent the first, oh, 10 or 20 seconds screaming and pounding on the front door....before deciding to make a run for the hedge.

I wore the beekeeper's headgear and some heavy clothing on my first night attack on the yellowjackets, but it turned out to be unnecessary. They never reacted at all as far as I could see.