I have tried to coexist with this species, but have been multiply stung three times in the last year and a half. The very similar looking Vespula pensylvanica, on the other hand have never stung me.

The surprise to me was that the attack occurred in the middle of the night. Normally you never see them at night! It is a mystery!

Just as you point out, yellowjackets of the vulgaris-group are not normally active at night. On the other hand, you clearly mention that several of them did appear suddenly, like out of thin air.
Therefore, actually there must have been a nest around there, although maybe several yards away rather than immediately nearby.
Just before you saw the wasps, the colony had been disturbed, or even destroyed, by some night predator (here in Europe, the badger is often the culprit).
The angry workers flew around, and some of them were soon attracted by the light of your porch. And the most aroused of them mistook you for the attacker of her colony, stinging in "revenge".

I am beginning to wonder if we are not all victims of misinformation! you see, as I was looking for information on this species I came across some photos where the shooter had state that they had been attracted to lights!

Lately I have been taking a lot of moth photos at night. I have a patio light that stays on all night, and two pairs of floodlights that are controlled by motion detectors. one group of moths, and other insects tend to find their way into the patio to the night light. A second group will be outside looking in. When i walk around the outside, i trigger the motion detector lights which i like to think draws more insects to the area.

Over time, the patio has become a center of insect activity at night. Here is my question: Might these wasp have been attracted by prey that come to the lights? Early in the evening last night I went to look for moths. I found a yellow jacket buzzing around the patio light. i decided to turn the light off, and went inside. I think that I may have to keep all the lights off for the early part of the evening. Until the wasps retire. Otherwise maybe they are encouraged to stay up all night!

lsst night i saw one at 1:30am. I just photographed this one at 10:15pm. There have been others as well, but i don't know the times.



Possibly there is some animal that goes after them at night. I have yet to locate their nest, so I don't know.

Richard, you may have been right. It seems that a raccoon has been invading the patio for the last couple of nights. This coincides with fervent night-time yellow jacket activity.

I still haven't located their nest, but it may be that the raccoon has!