Cow Killer or Cow Ant we always called em. They are a wingless wasp.

Have a friend that is a big ole country boy. Toughest buddy I had growing up. We were partying at a creek many years ago and he got hit in his foot by one. Brought him to his knees.

I was going when I got stung by a cow ant. Around 11 or so. I stomped it and picked it up to take to my grandpa to ask what it was. I found out quick it wasn't dead when it stung me in the palm of my hand I cant remember how long it hurt just remember it hurting forever it seemed like and it burned from my hand to my shoulder. I haven't picked another one up since then. Similar story is how I found out the difference between a carpenter bee and a bumblebee when I caught the wrong one with my hand when I was around the same age.

I've been stung angry swarms of honeybees and yellow jackets on multiple occasions, many red and Guinea wasps, and a few hornets....hornets are by far the worst. When I was a dumb teenager I was messing around with a cow ant, we called them red velvet ants, and it was by far 100 times worse than the worst hornet sting I ever had. Serious pain. I'd volunteer for a hornet sting before I'd ever mess with one of those cow ants again.

Killed one today.

They'll squeal like Hell if you hold 'em down on the ground with a stick. I can remember when we'd see them every day when we were growing up in the sticks.

When I was 5 years old I tried to imitate my uncle when he stomped one, only I was barefoot. Worst sting of my life, by far. Much worse than a scorpion. The sting was on my big toe, but the pain was all the way up my leg and was most intense in my gluteus maximus (that's Latin for butt cheek ). And none of this "gone in 30 minutes" stuff. That sucker hurt for hours--throb with your heartbeat kind of hurt. Orange and black is nature's way of saying "Don't tread on me."

I was about 15 or 16 and someone came by the house to visit with my parents. We were outside and I was barefooted. We called them “piss ants”, anyway one come crawling by my foot and I held him down with my big toe. He stung the $hit out of me and I couldn’t even carry on because I didn’t want to embarrass myself. I never touched another one.

Do the cow killer ants fight and kill each other? That could be cool to watch if you could figure out how to capture two or more to put into a container.