View Full Version : Mice / Rats Chewing on Gear???
Jeepxman
04-01-2010, 13:02
I had a thru-hiker tell me that mice / rats are bad around shelters and will chew holes in your pack or gear... anyone have input on this?
I had a thru-hiker tell me that mice / rats are bad around shelters and will chew holes in your pack or gear... anyone have input on this?
http://williamthecoroner.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/istock_can-of-worms.jpg
yeah. Mice are at shelters. Thats what those cords with Tin Cans around them are for. And if they can still get to your gear, they deserve it. You're feeding natures acrobats.
flemdawg1
04-01-2010, 13:36
Its true. many/most shelters have mice and/or rats. Bear bag your food, and leave your pack open. I mostly hang my whole pack if bear cables are available.
Those guys are just pulling an April Fools' prank on you. There are no mice/rats on the trail, they can't survive the winters. Everyone knows rodents only live in cities.
Nice try, guys!
Slo-go'en
04-01-2010, 14:02
Don't forget you have a candy wrapper in the mesh side pocket of your pack -
Don't forget you have a stash of snacks in the top pocket of the pack - or the pocket of a jacket.
Brush the cumbs out of your beard, mustash before going to bed. Mice like to clean those up for you if you don't.
Leave a sacrifical cookie on a rock near the fire pit to keep them busy.
Kerosene
04-01-2010, 14:43
Check any pockets of your pack before you close them up in the morning. I apparently zipped a mouse into a side pocket of my old external frame pack, which forced him to chew his way out a few miles down the trail!
Kerosene
04-01-2010, 14:44
Leave a sacrifical cookie on a rock near the fire pit to keep them busy.Sacrificial peanut butter keeps them occupied a lot longer. :D
WILLIAM HAYES
04-01-2010, 19:11
leave the pockets of your pack open at night and dont forget to brush the cracker crumbs out of your beard before you go to sleep
Here's how you take care of the problem if you insist on sleeping at a shelter.
http://imgur.com/NNN6U.jpg
Put a yum on the end of a ruler, place its center on the fulcrum of a water filled bucket, with the outside end sitting on a rock. Let Dr. Mouseberg investigate said scrumpet, then (for those of you who believe in gravity) he will drop into the bucket and die instantaneously, pain and suffering free.
Many Walks
04-01-2010, 20:37
On the bright side, if you pull into a shelter and see a big old black snake curled up in the rafters you're probably in for a good night sleep with no mice. Cleanest shelters we saw usually had a snake hanging around.
Also, if you try to avoid shelters and choose an established campsite you might have ground squirrels chew through your tent if they detect a free meal inside.
Wise Old Owl
04-01-2010, 20:39
no comment, uhh leave the mice alone... its a late night dinner for owls.
kayak karl
04-01-2010, 20:51
at Hawk Mt Shelter 1/2/09 (first night on trail)the mice chewed threw my long johns and the crotch of my never worn rain pants. i hung my pack in shelter and hung hammock next to Rock 50 ft away. they had a good laugh in morning. right Marta:D never hung pack in shelter again. and the duct tape X on my crotch drew attention for 2 more months.:)
Lone Wolf
04-01-2010, 21:00
I had a thru-hiker tell me that mice / rats are bad around shelters and will chew holes in your pack or gear... anyone have input on this?
i ain't never had any kind of critter chew my stuff while in a tent
i ain't never had any kind of critter chew my stuff while in a tent
that may be true for you, but ask Chaco about his experience keeping food in the tent
SGT Rock
04-01-2010, 22:00
Mouse chewed through my windscreen once at a camp in the Smokies. Must have spilled soup on it.
Lone Wolf
04-01-2010, 22:02
that may be true for you, but ask Chaco about his experience keeping food in the tent
yeah well folks have been murdered and raped on the trail
SunnyWalker
04-01-2010, 22:29
Mice are real entertaining. Keep a flashlight handy and see them doing their acrobatics and etc.
Whiskyjo
04-01-2010, 23:28
Once at Spence Field a mouse took gorp from the left backpack hanging on the string with the can and stored it into the backpack on the far right, there was six packs hanging. Oh yea the coconut was piled up under the left backpack I guess mice don't like it.
TIDE-HSV
04-01-2010, 23:41
I have a hole to repair now in the bottom of my new-last-year Osprey. I hung it at Walnut Bottoms, with a mouse guard on top. An excessively neat packer (engineer) came along later and clipped the cable back to the tree which I'd left to dangle, snugging it against the bottom of my pack. Presto! Mouse highway to my pack. No food - just the promise that there might be, if they gained access...
Balsam fir needle oil is the active ingredient in several commercial mouse repellants (e.g., Freshcab). You can buy it inexpensively and, if you want, make your own spray for use to help keep the mice at bay.
Trailweaver
04-02-2010, 01:59
Mice got into my pack which I bear bagged at Blue Mountain shelter. They nibbled up all the gorp I had, and left everything else alone (thankfully). I'd never known them to get into a bear bagged pack before.
Jeepxman
04-02-2010, 12:41
The guy that first mentioned this to me said he had his pack hung at shelter when they did their damage. thanks for the input.
buff_jeff
04-02-2010, 12:43
I've only ever had one problem: they chewed a hole in my hat one night in a shelter. No biggie. I think the mice problem is greatly hyperbolized.
Mountain Wildman
04-02-2010, 13:10
Rather than start another thread I have a question,
How far from a shelter should I pitch my tent to insure that it or my pack will not be infiltrated by mice, rats, squirrels etc...?
Thanks!!!
flemdawg1
04-02-2010, 18:30
I have a hole to repair now in the bottom of my new-last-year Osprey. I hung it at Walnut Bottoms, with a mouse guard on top. An excessively neat packer (engineer) came along later and clipped the cable back to the tree which I'd left to dangle, snugging it against the bottom of my pack. Presto! Mouse highway to my pack. No food - just the promise that there might be, if they gained access...
Ha! I got ym food bag nibbled into at Walnut Bottoms also. Only lost some gorp. The rascal went in thru the top, no other packs on the Bear line. It was Feb of last year.
rather than start another thread i have a question,
how far from a shelter should i pitch my tent to insure that it or my pack will not be infiltrated by mice, rats, squirrels etc...?
Thanks!!!
ymmv, ymmv, ymmv
I had a thru-hiker tell me that mice / rats are bad around shelters and will chew holes in your pack or gear... anyone have input on this?
Yes, they will (of course, that's what everyone else is saying, because it's the truth). You don't even need to have food in your pack, just food smells. Leave your pockets open at night, and hang your food separately (or, even better, use a hammock or tent a good distance from the shelter).
Rather than start another thread I have a question,
How far from a shelter should I pitch my tent to insure that it or my pack will not be infiltrated by mice, rats, squirrels etc...?
Thanks!!!
It depends on how fit the mice are.:D
My only experience of having mice try to get into my tent is when I was about 30 feet from the shelter.
In 2008, in Maine, we were camped about 20 yards from the shelter and I had to chase mice away while I was cooking dinner (it was slightly after dark, and yes, I did hang my food (over a group clothesline) that night. No bears, no mice.
I meant "shortly" after dark. I must be tired.
Hikingsasquatch
04-03-2010, 00:45
My old Gregory has a well-chewed mesh side pocket, wherein I once left an empty Snickers wrapper during a night in a shelter in the Smokies.
During one of the few nights that I camped out in the open during my thru in '96, I awakened to find a mouse inspecting my goatee! I think I preferred the mouse to the cicada.
Graywolf
04-03-2010, 01:18
Mice are very stealthy..they not only go after your food but also your TP as well. I had all precautions taken..Food was "bear hung", My pack was secure and I went to sleep with my TP next to me. Didn't even hear the little runt...Woke up the next morning with shredded TP all over the shelter floor....
So secure your TP too..
TIDE-HSV
04-03-2010, 01:24
Yep, I got a food bag chewed at Walnut Bottoms also. And, Graywolf, last August at the laurel gap shelter, I had my TP right by my nose. In the morning, it was shredded to pieces. I never heard or felt anything...
Graywolf
04-03-2010, 01:37
Yep, I got a food bag chewed at Walnut Bottoms also. And, Graywolf, last August at the laurel gap shelter, I had my TP right by my nose. In the morning, it was shredded to pieces. I never heard or felt anything...
I tells ya, those little runts are stealthy..Watch your TP if you dont want to use leaves..
Graywolf
maxpatch67
04-03-2010, 03:20
I like to leave my backpack pockets open overnight so that if a rodent thinks he wants to get in, then he can with little effort. I've seen holes chewed in pockets and its easily avoided. If all your food is hung up, then just let the critters roam free in there! :)
maxpatch67
04-03-2010, 03:23
One night on the Jacks River, we were by the campfire when we observed our bag of hotdog buns moving across the campsite! That little river rat was stealing our buns!!!
Ha! I got ym food bag nibbled into at Walnut Bottoms also. Only lost some gorp. The rascal went in thru the top, no other packs on the Bear line. It was Feb of last year.
The times I've seen packs attacked while they were on bear cables, there has always been a branch hanging closely enough that an athletic squirrel can make the leap. When you're choosing, make sure there aren't any branches dangling 6-8' away from that cable.
TIDE-HSV
04-03-2010, 09:38
The times I've seen packs attacked while they were on bear cables, there has always been a branch hanging closely enough that an athletic squirrel can make the leap. When you're choosing, make sure there aren't any branches dangling 6-8' away from that cable.
I certainly keep that in mind. My first mouse incident at Walnut Bottoms, that was exactly what happened. The clever little devil bit through the drawstring on the food bag so he could rummage around inside.
The other two incidents - a food bag at Anthony Creek and my pack at Walnut Bottoms again happened because of what someone did after I'd stowed my vittles on the cable. The mice can easily run up or out the cable, so I have an aluminum mouse guard, which is crimped so that it makes a funnel. As I posted above, at WB #2, a well-meaning friend was offended by the dangling unused cable and hooked it to the tree, snugging it up against the bottom of my pack. A mouse ran up the cable and chewed through the bottom of my pack. At Anthony Creek, late arrivals hung their bag in the dark and above my mouse guard, mashing it over to the side. (They seemed to be angry that there were other people in the GSMNP and the better tent sites were taken.) The mice then ran down the vertical cable and had their pick of all the food bags. From now on, I'm checking the setup last thing before I go to sleep...