Well, after much contemplation, I just knocked it down, and boy, is she pissed! Hopefully all will be calm in the area tomorrow morning. I'm going to try and avoid the area for as long as possible. The nest is on the ground. I'm hoping she decides to rebuild higher up, because if she builds back in the same spot, I'll have to kill her, which I really don't want to do :( Every webpage I looked at said to spray the nest. I just can't bring myself to do that.

I know this message is older, but wow........what a fantastic nest! I found one this summer and it looked like yours. But it always had a larger hole in it. I'm assuming it was their main entrance. But after they were gone this fall, I went up to it and saw some fur in there. I'm thinking some mice were in there. haha Its looking quite ragged now, so I don't think they still live in there......but it was out in the open. I read up on the bare-faced hornet and it sounds like they all die off in late Fall, except for the queen, who hibernates under leaves or a fallen tree trunk, etc. I think at that time she already has fertilized eggs in her. So I don't think you'll have any left-over hornets......but you never know. I had a relative who brought one in the house in late Fall and a few hornets flew out of it. But from what I understand, they don't reuse their old nest, so if you don't mind, you could just leave it up as a birdhouse! Those hornets' nests are a real work of art.

You guys got off easy ! These are THE most vicious of all bees I have encountered in my years. I ran over a nest once with a bush hog and got 26 stings all over every exposed area until finally outrunning them. They are super aggressive. I do not know their official name but I call them ground bees or yellow jackets. They typically occupy abandoned mole tunnels. Usually they get stirred up and many of them find you before you realize they are even around. Not only vicious they sting many times and keep on stinging. My solution has worked every time: pour about 1/4 pint of gasoline in the hole from a narrow neck bottle or some handy spouted container. Then toss a match onto it. The result is not what you might expect. There is a flame 6" or so high that just burns for quite a while. The vicious $%^& try to fly back in the hole and most are burned in the attempt. The ones inside never make it out. A day later none will be found. I agree with others that bug spray is useless except for 1 or 2 caught alone.

If you don't bother them, they won't bother you. I LOVE having a BFH nest in my trees; in my experience, they either pick off or keep the yellowjacket population down. I have seen plenty while gardening, and they have never bothered me. They use their nest for one season, then it's abandoned. We had a nest about 20' above our hot tub years ago; we waited until it frosted to remove it, not knowing much about them at the time. Finally after researching, and seeing other nests over the years, I just coexist with them, unless the nest is in a highly traveled path or is to low to the ground. One year a new nest was started at the top of a 1st floor window; much too close for comfort. It was small, but increasing in size daily. I waited until night time, went outside, knocked it down, then ran like a lunatic. I only saw one BFH, but it moved on and away from where it had started, thankfully.