Got back from a trip yesterday evening and was walking to the pool because it needed cleaning a little. Of course I was barefoot and had my hands full with a couple of beers and my cell phone. When I stepped on him I felt his stinger pierce my skin, hit the bone on my toe, and ride the bone back into my foot. I wouldnt wish that kind of pain on my worst enemy. I was hollering and cursing so much my neighbor called and asked if I needed help. Worst part of it all was I spilled my beer. My foot swelled up pretty bad and I was in agony for about 4 hours afterward but it was fine this morning. I found out today that if ya put oragel on a sting it will become numb just like your gums when you use it so I'll have to try that next time. I've seen some nasty injury pics on the internet from them bastages but that didn't happen to me. Any of y'all ever been stung by one?

I call them cow ants too, but did you know they're technically a "wingless wasp"?

nope , i know they have a hell of a stinger on them .

you can't kill one in a plowed field .

Jeebus! I made the mistake of googling "cow ant sting"....guess I won't be needing dinner tonight since I just lost my appetite.

I'll be dang if we didn't have the ant/ wasp conversation at work today. I seen they are called velvet ants/ solitary wasps and did see they are actually a wasp. I like many have always called them cow ants

Killed one the other day. Had to stomp on it twice to kill.

I can remember being a kid and visiting my grandparents in Alabama when my dad was in the Navy one summer and seeing a cow ant and thinking it was cool looking. I then spent the next several days trying to find another one to catch. Before I could find one I heard my uncle refer to them as a cow killer. That ended my quest as I recall, glad to have never found another one.

Frankie you can't kill one by hitting it repeatedly with an empty beer bottle in my yard either! I read where they look for ground nests of yellow jackets and the like. Then once they find one they lay their eggs inside of it and when they hatch, they eat the other insects. Basically they are parasites.

They are tough as lips on a woodpecker. Remember trying to kill them without mutilating them for high school biology bug collection.

I just cut them in half with a pocket knife.

Here you go. "It's not too bad....."

Don't think I've ever seen one, but from what I just looked up, that looks terrible.

My son was stung one time and I thought he was overreacting. I never saw one so I didn't know what it was until I googled it... I apologized and bought him ice cream.

They are really pretty creatures and don't look evil at all, but don't be fooled. Just knowing the name "velvet ant" is all you need to know to recognize one when you see it.

My bloodhound was stung by one between the pads one time.He was rolling in the yard and bellaring like he had been shot with rock salt.I went over there to see what was wrong and found the dang thing still wedged between his pads.Poor fellar acted like he was dying.We also called them cow killers when I was growing up.

Didn't TChunter on here do a video sting test with one and post it up?

Yep

Them things are terrible. I've been stung one time and vowed to NEVER let that happen again.

Picked one up when I was a kid, bad move. My hand was swollen for several days and felt like my hand was on fire.