Heated floorless shelters/rodent issues

[Kevin Dill]

Bad mouse story: On an extended fly-in trip my partner and I brought several loaves of bread for making sandwiches. To protect it from rodents we kept it inside our tipi and in a duffel. About 2/3 of the way through a loaf we encountered a mouse tunnel coming from the other end. In fact, most of our loaves had been butt-holed and were contaminated with whatever mice can carry or excrete. A family of mice can cause just as much havoc as a bear.

If I recall correctly: My 2 hunting friends trapped about 20 mice in camp using a tip-bucket (drowning) trap on last year's moose hunt. Little suckers were running wild and getting into everything.

 

[mfllood3800]

I have carried Dcon. It takes about 2 or 3 days usually and the gang of hairy disease carriers is typically eliminated.
That being said, it takes about 3 or 4 little boxes of the stuff.
I may have to try the chlorine tablets. I can carry both in w/o a weight penalty and see how effective it is.

I left my diaphram call out one time, and don't know if they made their way to it or not. Didn't want to find out.

 

[Reload]

The one experience I had with mice was in a wall tent. Food wasn't taken care of properly and as time went by, the numbers increased. Crawling up the walls, running about when we entered, it was frustrating. It eventually became apparent that one person in our group was terrified of mice. We made it worse for him as he kept saying at least we were on cots. A flyrod scurrying over the surface of a sleeping bag put him over the top! He jumped up holding his sleeping bag screaming at the top of his lungs, it was a sight!

 

[MAVinWA]

on occasion I will spike out from my base wall tent camp for a day or two. First, all food stored securely in base camp.
Then a spin the bottle bucket trap is set.
essentially a 5 gal plastic bucket, cord stretched across and secured on each end. Plastic water bottle or soda/beer can centered on string through holes on each end and smeared with peanut butter with 1/3 bucket filled with water.
Placed outside tent and next to small tree/sapling or create a ramp from cut wood. Little buggers crawl across string to bottle-bait, it spins from mousies weight and in the water it falls.
One time, after 2 nights spiked out, returned to base camp only to find 14 mice, drowned in the bucket.

sometimes in base camp, middle night I hear a plop and paddling noises. Thus move bucket outside further from tent, out of sleep hearing range.

Oneday, at the elk hunter's gate to heaven, I'll have to answer to this sin.

 

[huntsman22]

What do you do when it freezes? Buy 'em little ice skates?

 

[Skeeter]

Haven’t had the problem yet, but it crosses my mind. For those using food to set traps, is it possible you may be drawing in mice you would otherwise never see? I would think they could smell peanut butter 100 yards away.

 

[jmden]

Tipis with integral inner wall/waterproof floors that make them bug proof...maybe?

Home - WildSide Systems

 

[huntsman22]

If they want in, ain't no thang for 'em to gnaw their way in.....

 

[jmden]

Spent months over the years in these Tipis and never had one come through. Not to say they can't. Still have to be smart about staying clean and dealing with food odors. Just nice to not have insects, mice and snakes trot right in...

 

[Kevin Dill]

It's not just mice either. Packrats, chipmunks, ground squirrels, pikas, voles and so on can all do damage. There's no 100% way to exclude them, but keeping things scrupulously clean (in terms of food attraction) helps a great deal. Mice are all friends and love to tailgate....

 

[Where's Bruce?]

The clean camp discipline is essential. Cook and eat 100 yards away, store ALL food and unburnt trash up high and don't even spit toothpaste outside your tent. A clean camp and crushed chlorine tab or two doesn't add weight. Rat poison in the backcountry is a horrible idea. You are baiting in rodentia and likely poisoning a variety of species, anything that eats what you poisoned. An ounce of prevention. Attract nothing to your camp.

 

[realunlucky]

The clean camp discipline is essential. Cook and eat 100 yards away, store ALL food and trash up high and don't even spit toothpaste outside your tent. A clean camp and crushed chlorine tab or two doesn't add weight. Rat poison in the backcountry is a horrible idea. You are baiting in rodentia and likely poisoning a variety of species, anything that eats what you poisoned. An ounce of prevention. Attract nothing to your camp.

You do realize that chlorine is a poison also right?

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[Where's Bruce?]

You do realize that chlorine is a poison also right?

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Big difference between a poisonous attractant (like D-Con) and a repellant. Pick your poison.

 

[Kevin Dill]

Please don't use D-Con or other poisons which can kill indiscriminately. Those toxins don't kill instantly and other wildlife (think rodent eaters like raptors, martens, etc) can be inadvertently sickened or killed if they consume a poisoned rodent. It's only good ethics and stewardship to not add poisons into the food chain or environment where you or I love to hunt.

 

[Ten Bears]

I use peppermint oil or ghost pepper powder in my Jeep wiring. I had a gang of rodents eat through my wiring harness. Really was a bad deal.

The ghost pepper is a trick I came up with when I lived in rat infested cities. It's one thing to have a field mouse get into your stuff but I have had raccoon sized rats hop out of my garbage and run over my arm. Nasty stuff. The ghost pepper powder in my sewers and cans shut them down. The peppermint oil works in my current home. Easy to carry. Just don't spill it on you.

For bucket traps use some antifreeze or winter windshield fluid in the bucket. I leave a few bucket traps in my cabin after I close it up for the winter. I coat the can with peanut butter or honey. It's amazing how many it will catch.

 

[Sverimerica]

I live in the woods, so what we do is put oats in a bucket with a stick forming a ramp up over the middle of the opening. They walk right over the edge. Then using a stick, you can pin the trapped mouse and break its neck.

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[dtrkyman]

I’ve used peppermint oil on totes I had to store in a barn...works great...it will make anything near it smell like peppermint so use it wisely. Some of my gear I had in a tote smelled like it for years


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[Bighorns247]

They are not solely a problem to floorless. Iv had those buggers chew right threw a tent to get in.

I'm curious to know how long it took. Were you on a week long trip or can they get in over night?

 

[Beendare]

I've had mice chew through a bivy.....then with snow melt water soaked in and soaked my bag and froze about 1/4 of my pad. I think I dripped some Mtn house on it or sweat.

Those mice can be a huge problem with your gear....and worse running across you while you are sleeping. I've got friends that needed to rewire their rig due to mice/rats chewing their wiring- one was $5,700.[he lives next to a remote park- left a expensive car parked for an extended period]

I get the live and let live thing....but with me it stops with rodentii.

Heres a good link for the live folks on Hantavirus;
Orthohantavirus - Wikipedia

 

[mcseal2]

I take a few of the plastic snap traps that weigh very little if I'll be camping in an area for a while and know they will be a problem from past trips. I'll put them around the camp if mice show up.

When I worked at the farm equipment dealership we sold the Fresh Cab brand mouse repellant packets. Lots of guys bought them for their combines and believed in them. I often hang one off the center post of the tipi or stick in the Megatarp when we set it up camping and haven't had any issues yet.

Unless I think it will be a problem I usually don't worry about it if I'm carrying camp on my back. If I'm not the Fresh Cab packets go along and the traps for outside, rather have them and not need them than the other way around. Gear is to expensive to have mice eat it. Working at the dealership I saw rats and mice cause a $30,000 repair bill and endless headaches when they wrecked the wiring and fried electronics on a new high tech combine.