This is a discussion on Wasp spray for SD within the Defensive Knives & Other Weapons forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; Originally Posted by Bad Bob But did you get the spider? Statistically, more people are scared of being burned alive in a fire than spiders. ...
I didn't read the whole thread, but saw enough to know the efficacy of Wasp Spray as a self defense weapon has already been debunked.
Allow me to tell a story I don't repeat often:
I was living in New Braunfels, TX. It was a windy spring day, and I noticed a large wasp nest hanging from the 2nd story eaves of our house.
Around dusk, I tried to use a ladder to get close, but the tallest ladder I had wasn't close enough because the wind would blow the stream away from the hive.
Next, I climb partly out the only window on that side of the house, which was a small shower window. I manage to get my head and right shoulder out the window, no chance that I would fall out, and I'm maybe 6 feet from the nest. It's still windy, but I figured that stream that would normally shoot 25 feet would have no problem fighting the wind for 6 feet. I carefully line up my shot, press the plunger, and the spray goes forward about two feet before turning 180 degrees and spraying directly into my face and eyes.
The poison control people said to flush my eyes with water for 15 minutes and I'd be fine. The flushing was worse than the wasp spray.
It does work great on spiders though. We had a year when we lived in Arkansas where we had an infestation of these big spiders that would build webs across all the walkways around the house. I took to spraying them with wasp spray and gradually eradicated them. We lived there two more years and they never came back.
My mother in law keeps a can of wasp spray on her back deck, one by her sofa, and one by her bed. Convincing her that is ineffective will be about as easy as herding greased pigs. She doesn’t believe me when I tell her the little lever on her bath tub that switches water to the shower head and back has nothing to do with the drain.....
NRA Life Member
I can't say much about wasp spray but I have pepper sprayed several people and it does not always stop them in their tracks.
That's why I think the earlier point about training is important. When I took training on it, the main thing I took away is to assume it will not stop the attacker, but it may temporarily blind him. So you should always spray for the eyes and immediate move laterally or run in a direction that is not straight in front of him. There is no perfect tactic, but it beats just spraying and standing there.
Attack Squadron 65 "Tigers", USS Eisenhower '80 - '83, peackeeping w/Iran, Libya, Lebanon and E. Europe