We've had the darn yellow jacket traps out for months now; earlier this week I re-baited with the pheromone packs. The yellow jackets have seemed only mildly interested. So I figured I'd up the ante by adding a food bait. According to the literature with the traps, at this part of the season (spring, early summer) , yellow jackets are interested in protein food sources. (By late summer, they will be more interested in sweet foods, such as fruits and sodas, so plan accordingly!).
Recommended protein baits are lunch meats. But of course, we are vegetarians. So, research question: do yellow jackets find vegetarian lunch "meats" attractive? Clearly an experiment is in order!
I got out my Tofurkey hickory smoked deli slices and divided a single slice into four sections, one for each of my traps. (I didn't want to waste four whole delicious slices, if the yellow jackets are not interested.)
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| Mmmmm, tofurkey |
They've been out 24 hours now; I have caught exactly one new yellow jacket--which is not a lot, but is also above average, as I don't catch even one/day right now. Will have to update if the tofurkey seems to be increasing the number I catch, as I figured I'm not the only vegetarian with a yellow jacket problem who was wondering if this would work!
Update (7/7/2016): I did catch marginally more yellow jackets since putting out the tofurkey. I am not sure, however, if this corresponded with having added tofurkey or just getting to the point in the season where there are more yellow jackets out and about.
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