I was out scouting for deer last weekend and skirting the edges of a swampy area about a mile in from the road when I heard a buzzing sound. I had found a very active beehive and didn't want to get much closer so I snapped a pic from about thirty feet away. That hive is almost three feet tall and close to two feet in diameter. Organic honey is selling for upwards of 50 bucks a quart and all I could think of was; How much honey could I get out of that and how many times would I get stung ? Not enough and too many. Found some interesting bracket fungi in my wanderings too. The large dark one is about 10 inches across, I'd never seen any orange mushroom / fungi before so I brought those back as well. What do I do with them ? They ain't for eatin', I dry and varnish them and sell them to the city folks who are too lazy to go for a walk in the woods. You'd be surprised what city folks will buy. I'll be picking up big pine cones by the bushel over the next few weeks. I used to make wreaths out of them but after I ran out of old wire hangers last year so I set out a basket of pinecones and sold every one.
If you are going to harvest it just make sure you do not do what the duck dynasty group did. It was a funny episode
That looks like a hornet's nest, not a bee hive. Ran across one of these built in the middle of a honeysuckle bush as a kid while growing up on the east coast. Found out the hard way to leave white-faced hornets alone. They're aggressive and don't f--k around when disturbed. They simply take care of business. The pain from the stings last for many many hours.
In the interest of long term survival, it might be a good thing if you harvested that "honey" before your life depended on it. A very valuable lesson is that your knowledge may have a few false perceptions and reality can really sting.
My take on it as well. They work quite well throwing the hive in the local police station at night..... Only if you wish too make a statement...!