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My last bee sting was hunting pheasant on an unusually warm sunny day in November, that must have woke them up.

I was walking along and all of the sudden I had bees all over me, in my shirt, and in my pants! I think they were jellowjackets that came out of the ground.

(I am a female) and was hunting with my boyfriend. I started running and shouting "BEES!", but my boyfriend couldn't tell what I said. All he saw was me run and throw down my shotgun and begin taking off my clothes in the middle of the field. He thought I had gone quite mad!

I was stung many (6-8? don't remember) times in the armpits, legs and neck. I could tell my throat was closing up, and I said we needed to get back to the truck and get some Benedryl in me right away. Luckily I had some in the glove box and couldn't really even remember why, just that it was there. He ran up ahead and brought it back. I still felt pretty drunk by the time we got back to the truck, quite light-headed. The stings swelled up into big welts, but I didn't go to the doctor. I do fear the exposure though, because it is my understanding that allergic reactions can be brought on by an exposure like that and are cumulative. I fear what the reaction might be next time. I have a friend who is allergic enough that he carries a sting kit with him always or he could die. I am not likely that allergic, but I wouldn't want to be. I spend too much time in the outdoors, far from home when riding... I don't want to be taken out by a bug!

Sounds like yellowjackets to me! Which is a form of wasp, not all that closely related to honey bees.

We have some little yellow jackets living in the woods in back of our house, and they really do look like honey bees from a distance.

We also have regular sized yellow jackets, and some kind of wasp that is as big as my thumb but solitary, and two or three different sizes of bumblebees, and dirt dauber wasps, and even plain old paper wasps, none of which are honey bees.

But unless you are interested in insects, they all are buzzy insects that sting, which is a perfectly normal reaction.

My husband is afraid of centipedes. Personally, I worry about Al Qaeda.;^)

That would be yellow jackets. Couple of reasons. 1. Nesting in the ground. 2. Late fall (prime yellow jacket time - bees are settling down for the winter at that point) 3. You were mobbed without warning - not typical bee behavior.

Word to the wise: go to the doctor NOW and get an auto-injector of ephinephrine (or whatever your doc prescribes) and carry it with you at ALL times. Multiple stings like that WILL sensitize you, especially if you felt your throat closing up, and the next time may be fatal - and Benadryl probably will not be enough. Although neither of us has ever been stung multiple times or had a bad reaction, we have epinephrine auto-injectors in our bee suit pockets and in the tool kit.

My doctor's wife was stung by yellow jackets and did not have her kit with her - by the time he found her she was already in a coma. She lingered for almost five years in a vegetative state until she finally died from pneumonia. He was devastated. You DON'T want to go there.