- (301) 829-0060
- Mt. Airy, MD
- info@pestshieldinc.com
Pest Shield, Inc. (MDA #30263) has served Frederick County homeowners since 2011, with Troy Yowell — a certified pesticide applicator (MD Cert #19058) with approximately 35 years in pest management — personally handling the majority of stinging insect calls. The company carries 338+ five-star reviews across Google and HomeAdvisor, including dozens from customers who needed a hornet nest removed the same day they called. Pest Shield‘s team brings over 75 years of combined pest management experience, including on-staff entomologist Jeffrey Allwine for species-level identification when the situation calls for it.
How it works
Four steps. No surprises. Same answer whether it's your first call or your tenth.
You reach Troy or someone on his team directly. No call center, no dispatcher, no routing.
Same-day or next-day for most calls. Emergency stinging-insect situations and real-estate WDI deadlines get priority.
We identify the species, locate entry points, and find the source — not just the symptom.
Written recommendation, straightforward pricing, no obligation. If you don't need treatment, we'll tell you.
Most homeowners notice a hornet nest when they’re already too close to it — trimming a hedge, walking under an overhang, or reaching for something stored near the eaves. In Emmitsburg and the surrounding northern Frederick County terrain, two species account for nearly all residential hornet activity: the bald-faced hornet and the European hornet. Knowing which one you’re dealing with changes where you look and how urgently you need to act.
Late summer is when hornet encounters become genuinely dangerous. Colonies that began in April with a single queen reach their maximum population — and maximum defensiveness — between July and October. A colony that tolerated foot traffic nearby in June will respond aggressively to the same activity in August. Hornets defend a wide perimeter around the nest; you don’t need to touch it to trigger a response. Emmitsburg’s wooded lots, older farmhouse structures, and properties bordering Catoctin Mountain terrain provide ideal nesting habitat for both species — mature trees for bald-faced hornets, and older wood-frame structures with accessible voids for European hornets.
60+ years of combined experience. Tell us what you’re seeing — we’ll come look, no obligation.
Prompt, excellent, professional service to remove a large Hornet’s Nest.
James Sears · August 2013 Read on HomeAdvisor →
After waiting for my normal pest service to complete the job for 2 months (biggest company in town), I contacted Pest Shield to assist with removing two huge hornets nests from the outside of my house. Troy immediately contacted me, was at my house to inspect the next day and had the hornets nests removed 3 days later. I cancelled all my contracts with the big company and will only use Pest Shield from here on out. Excellent service, responsiveness, expertise and results! You can’t go wrong with Pest Shield!
Matthew Carter · August 2021 Read on Google →
Rob came to our house to take care of a European Hornet nest in our chimney. He explained what he was going to do, and took care of the problem quickly. We will surely use Pest Shield the next time we have a problem.
David Boteler · September 2023 Read on Google →
General pest & rodent control
Same-day response is the standard for active hornet situations, not a premium add-on. When you call (301) 829-0060, you’re talking directly to the people who will do the work — Troy Yowell or a member of his team, not a dispatcher routing a ticket. Troy has handled hundreds of stinging insect calls across Frederick County and is documented arriving within hours of a call, including on Sundays and after normal business hours. For situations involving a family member with a bee sting allergy or a nest in a high-traffic area, that response time matters.
The treatment process is straightforward. The technician locates the nest — including in positions that require working at height, inside wall voids, in chimney areas, or in tree canopies — treats the nest and the surrounding area directly, and stays on-site briefly to address foragers returning to the colony after treatment. Returning foragers are a normal part of the process; they’ll contact the treated area and the colony will go inactive. Troy has documented experience treating nests in difficult positions: high soffits on three-story structures, nests inside exhaust fan vents, nests in gas fireplace bump-outs, and colonies that had established inside bedroom walls. If the nest is accessible and the colony is active, one visit resolves it.
After the visit, Troy or the technician follows up by phone or text the next day to confirm the nest is inactive and no new activity has appeared. That follow-up is standard practice for stinging insect work — not something you have to ask for.
| What to expect | Details |
|---|---|
| Response time | Same-day for active infestations; next-day for non-emergency scheduling. Sunday and after-hours service documented. |
| Visits required | Single visit resolves the nest in the large majority of cases |
| Seasonal warranty | If hornet activity returns at the treated location, Pest Shield comes back at no charge |
| Follow-up | Next-day call or text to confirm the nest is inactive |
| Licensing | MDA #30263 (business), MD Cert #19058 (Troy Yowell, certified pesticide applicator) |
Treatment involves EPA-approved products applied by MDA-licensed technicians. After the visit, keep children and pets away from the treated area for a few hours while the product dries — your technician will tell you the specific window based on where the nest was located and what was applied. The products used are targeted to the nest site; this isn’t a broad perimeter spray of your yard. Once the area is clear, normal activity can resume.
One practical note before the technician arrives: leave the nest alone. Don’t spray it with a consumer product, don’t block the entry point, and don’t attempt to knock it down. Disturbing the colony before treatment makes the job harder and the hornets more dangerous. Note the nest location, keep people and pets away from the area, and let Pest Shield’s Emmitsburg pest control team handle it.
Owner
Founded Pest Shield in 2011 after years as a pest management contractor on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Around 35 years in pest management. Personally handles or leads the majority of service calls.
Pest Management Specialist
Field technician handling residential and commercial service calls across Frederick, Carroll, and Montgomery counties.
Pest Management Specialist
Field technician handling residential and commercial service calls across the service area.
Our Entomologist
Consulting entomologist on species identification, conducive conditions, and treatment strategy for difficult cases.
Emmitsburg sits at the northern tip of Frederick County, where US-15 runs north toward the Pennsylvania line and the Catoctin Mountain foothills rise to the west. The town is surrounded by agricultural land and mature woodlands, with Cunningham Falls State Park and Catoctin Mountain Park within a few miles. Pest Shield serves all of Frederick County from its Mt. Airy base, and Emmitsburg is well within the same-day service area available to communities closer to Frederick city.
That geography shapes the hornet pressure here directly. Bald-faced hornets favor the wooded edges and mature tree canopies common on Emmitsburg properties — nests in tree limbs, under roof overhangs, and on soffits of older farmhouses are typical finds from July through October. European hornets are drawn to the older wood-frame structures prevalent in this part of Frederick County, where hollow trees, deteriorating siding, and accessible attic voids give colonies the enclosed cavities they prefer. Properties with significant tree cover or that border agricultural fields or wooded terrain should expect active hornet seasons from late spring through the first hard frost — and may also encounter yellow jackets during the same season.
The clearest distinction is the nest structure itself. Hornet nests — both bald-faced and European — are fully enclosed in a layered gray paper envelope, typically football-shaped or teardrop-shaped with a single opening at the bottom. Paper wasp nests are open-comb: exposed hexagonal cells with no outer covering, usually smaller and shaped like an inverted umbrella. If you’re looking at a fully enclosed paper structure, it’s almost certainly hornets. If you’re seeing exposed comb, it’s likely paper wasps. European hornets sometimes nest inside wall voids or hollow trees where the nest itself isn’t visible — in those cases, the insects themselves are the identifier: large (up to an inch), brown and yellow, and often active after dark.
One treatment resolves the active colony in the large majority of cases. The product is applied directly to the nest and the surrounding area; foragers returning after treatment contact it and the colony goes inactive. Hornet colonies don’t rebuild a treated nest — once the colony is eliminated, the structure is abandoned. Pest Shield’s seasonal warranty covers the treated location: if hornet activity returns at the same site, they come back at no charge. Troy documents this commitment across multiple stinging insect reviews — “if this doesn’t get it I will be back no charge” is the standard, not a special offer.
Same-day service is the standard for active hornet situations. Emmitsburg is within Pest Shield’s Frederick County service area, and the same response time available to communities closer to Mt. Airy applies here. Troy and the team are documented arriving within hours of a call, including on Sundays and after normal business hours — Sunday service at no extra charge is confirmed across multiple reviews. Call (301) 829-0060 directly; you’ll reach the people doing the work, not a dispatch center.
Yes, with a short window of caution after treatment. Pest Shield uses EPA-approved products applied by MDA-licensed technicians, and the application is targeted to the nest site — not a broad yard spray. After the visit, keep children and pets away from the treated area for a few hours while the product dries; your technician will give you the specific timeframe based on where the nest was located. Once that window passes, normal activity in the area can resume. Troy is documented proactively flagging safety considerations for homes with children and pets — it’s part of how the job gets explained, not something you have to ask about.
No — leave the nest undisturbed until the technician arrives. Spraying a consumer product on an active hornet nest, blocking the entry point, or attempting to knock the structure down will agitate the colony and make the defensive response significantly more intense. It can also complicate the professional treatment. The most useful thing you can do before Pest Shield arrives is note the nest location, keep people and pets away from the area, and avoid any activity that brings you within the hornets’ defensive perimeter — which can extend 10 feet or more from the nest itself.
