Check with the locals as far as AHB being in your area. It's possible that they were yellowjackets whose nest you disturbed, but in either case it would probably have involved more bees. If there were stingers left behind in your skin I'd say they were honey bees. It could be perfume or deodorant you were wearing. I was out laying on the ground one day in shorts and tee shirt taking pictures of bees coming in on the landing board of one of my hives and they paid no attention to me. My son stopped over and was standing about 15 yards away and a bee promptly stung him in the side of the head and another one buzzed him. At first I thought they were bees from a friend's hive that was hit by a bear and we moved to my yard, but they weren't bothering me. My son had some fairly strong deodorant or after shave on and I think that's what did it, because on another occasion when we were working the hives he had the same problem and was wearing the same smelly stuff.

Thanks. I know they weren't yellowjackets, but no stingers were left behind either. I probably just got too close to a hive since I was in an unfamiliar area. It was just so bizarre and frightening to be chased for such a long distance by such persistant little buzzers. Maybe the backyard bees don't sting me since I'm always filling the feeders. For awhile I was even giving them 1:1 syrup.

no stingers left behind mean they weren't honeybees - European or Africanized.

I must have brushed the stingers off then, because these looked just like honey bees. They were definetly not yellowjackets or wasps. Is there a bee that looks like a honey bee but isn't one?

yes, ahb are in your area.
http://ceris.purdue.edu/napis/pests/ahb/imap/ahball.html.
it's doubtful that you brushed any stingers off. the stinger of a honey bee is barbed and usually requires scraping to get it off but a small sliver will almost alway be left behind. i'm not too up on other types of bees, but there are some other stinging insects that resemble a honeybee.

You seem to be asking two questions, which have different possible answers.

1- Why would these bees sting and not the ones in your yard. The bees in your yard are foraging and with no hive to defend are typically much less aggressive. Even AHB. On this property you may have inadvertantly gotten too near a hive.

2- Why you and not hubby or puppy. The perfume answer seems as likely as anything.

Long pants and long sleeves should offer some protection if you do go back.

Sorry everyone for not getting back to this post before now.
Russh - that sounds reasonable. After asking the question, the thought did occur to me that the difference would be that the backyard bees were no where near their hive.
I guess I'm just going to have to be more cautious because there are some transplants on this property that I want to get this fall.

In answer to your first question, most of east Texas now has some AHB population. Hunt County has not been certified, but all surrounding counties have, so we have them too. Here is the map from 2004. The counties in white haven't been certified, but that really means nothing. They just haven't had a sample submitted.
http://honeybee.tamu.edu/local_images/maps/TXNOV%2004%20AHB.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:433830}}

don't think they're honey bees

but when returning to site - wear different clothing and no perfumes, chemical deodorants, hair scents... think natural, leave the chemicals behind, something you had on probably had an alarm scent

No sure how good your sense of smell but when honey bees sting it smells like a banana smell (Stung in bottom of foot recently). The smell informs other hb's to be on guard & to attack if necessary & locates the subject. HB's partly communicate by using scents or pheremones & our perfumes & man made scents can set em off. Lemon scents can signal queen/home or smell of beehive, thats why some keepers use lemongrass oil to attract/lure bees to traphives.

AHB's these don't sound like as they attack in numbers greater & can chase for quite some distance so I've been told. Google images has picture library to look through to help identify the possible bee or wasp or hornet's that these could be.

Good previous advise on use of no laundry scents & nonuse of fragrant personal hygiene products or perfumes & eating bananas is good to leave for another day, after tree hunting. Also color of clothing & vigorous motion might of been issue if you were solely wearing darker colors that bees mistake for bears or wild animals trying to rob hive. Lighter colors & calmer movements seem to not agravate so much.

Cheers, David

Well, whenever i put on a certain gel, the bees seem to buzz around me. I haven't been stung they just like to buzz around and stuff. Hope this helps.

If you are so unfortunate to get stung from bees or wasps you should use the new patch for this kind of treatment. It works on both adults and children.