[Ford Prefect]

A good way not to kill hornets was demonstrated to me by an old farmer when I was kid. He had a hive under the eaves of a shed on his farm. He was a little flighty about hornets, so he didn't want to get too close to them, but he wanted to get rid of them as the shed they were on was his pumphouse. He figured a 12 gauge shotgun was the right tool for the job ... lots of mayhem delivered from a safe distance.

So he let blast with his 12 gauge from about 20 feet away, only to find out it wasn't the best idea he ever had. The blast of lead might have killed some of the hornets (maybe half), and it certainly took care of the hive, along with about half of the shingles on his shed.. The surviving half of the hornets were some pi$$ed with the guy though, and it turned out that 20 feet wasn't a safe distance. He got stung several times.