Shelter Mice

[Mother Natures Son]

Which state has the greatest shelter mice problem and why?

[Hikes in Rain]

All of them, because we keep feeding them.

[Hooch]

There's nothing great about shelter mice. :rolleyes:

[Tinker]

All of them, because we keep feeding them.

Well said.
If you don't like mice, stay away from shelters. Carry a tarp or tent or hammock. Use shelters for cooking only and you'll be fine.:)

[Migrating Bird]

It's not only the shelters that have mice, pick any used campsite and when the lights go out (if not before), the party begins!

[Uncas10]

I was going to start bringing mouse traps to the shelters and leaving them behind, but one of the people I was hiking with almost broke down in tears at the thought of killing mice like that. Oh well...

[LoneRidgeRunner]

Well said.
If you don't like mice, stay away from shelters. Carry a tarp or tent or hammock. Use shelters for cooking only and you'll be fine.:)

Cooking inside the shelters and leaving food odors is one of the causes of the problems with mice, coons, rats, skunks, possums and bears.....Also, unless you wanta walk off the trail a few to several miles each day in the GSMNP to back country campsites or are willing to risk paying fines for unauthorized camping you're pretty much gonna have to stay at shelters (if you're hiking the AT there)

[royalusa]

One of the guys we met on our thru-hike, killed 28 mice (with mousetraps) in his first 800 miles of the trail! He didn't even put them out each night.

[d.o.c]

without the mice it would be a rather dirty shelter ha

[swjohnsey]

I think I'll bring a trap with me to spice up my Mac and Cheese.

[LoneRidgeRunner]

I was going to start bringing mouse traps to the shelters and leaving them behind, but one of the people I was hiking with almost broke down in tears at the thought of killing mice like that. Oh well...

Then that hiker needs to have a hole chewed in his pack by a rat ....then maybe he or she won't be so soft hearted toward them Right now I have a LARGE rat trap set in my utility building at home for a rat that's big enough to whoop a full grown Bobcat...LOL..I won't lose a wink of sleep when it gets it's neck broke in that trap...It's been crappin all over everything out there...and chewing on things...

[LoneRidgeRunner]

I think I'll bring a trap with me to spice up my Mac and Cheese.

hmmm... never tried mac and cheese with rat meat sounds tasty..lol..

[swjohnsey]

If everyone brought just one trap we could end the mouse problem. Peanut butter works for bait. Leave 'em behind, let the next bunch reset 'em. When you get to a shelter and find a trap set it.

[OliveOil]

hike with a cat or kitten and the mice will never bother you

[Tinker]

Cooking inside the shelters and leaving food odors is one of the causes of the problems with mice, coons, rats, skunks, possums and bears.....Also, unless you wanta walk off the trail a few to several miles each day in the GSMNP to back country campsites or are willing to risk paying fines for unauthorized camping you're pretty much gonna have to stay at shelters (if you're hiking the AT there)

I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, though I recognize your information as being accurate.:)
I'm not looking forward to the GSMNP only for the shelter rules.

[Panzer1]

what do you think.. Does a shelter mouse count as wildlife or a pest?

Panzer

[OliveOil]

wildlife

if people(not excluding myself) were better about their shelter habits they wouldn't bother them.

[d.o.c]

hike with a cat or kitten and the mice will never bother you
ha get sgt meowstein to hitch on the pack durin the day ha i bet its been done.

[gunner76]

The ultra light hikers can save weight by not carrying food and eating the mice. Solves two problems.

[d.o.c]

wildlife

if people(not excluding myself) were better about their shelter habits they wouldn't bother them.
but since we leave food in the shelters least the mice r there to clean it up ha

[OliveOil]

ha get sgt meowstein to hitch on the pack durin the day ha i bet its been done.

my friends hiked with a kitten that they found. They named her Yogi

[d.o.c]

after i said tht i rememberd a guy i hiked with near mnt rogers was givn a very young kitten and dude carried it for a while he left trail not long after tho

[Dances with Mice]

Shelter mice are bear larvae.

I thought everyone knew that.

[WalkingUSA]

When I first started hiking so many years ago, I too disliked mice and other vermin when camping. I disliked spiders, gnats, snakes, etc.. I had the mindset to kill them at any opportunity.

In other words, I was young, dumb, and inexperienced. :p

I now find it vile to have a person go out in the woods to be close to nature, yet on the same voyage kill some of nature's creatures. The mice belong there and live there - it is their home. :)

WE are just the visitors, and we have no right to kill them unless we are in imminent physical danger of death. :mad:

I go out of my way to avoid hurting or killing anything in nature, even if it means inconvenience for myself. This is getting harder for me to do as I age, but I still do it.

For people to admit they actually waste space and weight in their packs just to carry mouse traps and poison is a tad deranged in my opinion.

If you dislike the mice, do not use a shelter. Find another place to sleep. Find another means, any means of a place to sleep.

You must change YOUR ways in nature - do not expect nature to change her ways for YOU.

[LoneRidgeRunner]

wildlife

if people(not excluding myself) were better about their shelter habits they wouldn't bother them.

Exactly...If people would stop cooking in them, and leaving food and odors in them the mice wouldn't be so much of a problem...

[LoneRidgeRunner]

Exactly...If people would stop cooking in them, and leaving food and odors in them the mice wouldn't be so much of a problem...

But then there are people who cook inside their own tents so I guess we can't expect those to not cook in the shelters. After all, when they leave that shelter they have the attitude that the mice are the next person's problem...
If they want to cook in their own tents and get their own gear chewed up by rats, coons, bears or whatever when they leave to go get water that's fine, but they should show some consideration for their fellow hikers by not adding to the problems through their own laziness.

[OliveOil]

Which state has the greatest shelter mice problem and why?

They were the worst in national parks, and shelters that were close to roads. When the snakes come the mice disappear.

[d.o.c]

They were the worst in national parks, and shelters that were close to roads. When the snakes come the mice disappear.
ill agree with that id say i noticed more in TN thn anywhere tho

[StormBird]

100-mile wilderness in Maine had the worst mice.

[Torch09]

my friends hiked with a kitten that they found. They named her Yogi

My friend hiked with a mouse he found. Did we tell you about Jeramiah's mouse?

[OliveOil]

My friend hiked with a mouse he found. Did we tell you about Jeramiah's mouse?

yep, I heard about his mouse even before I met you. :D the guys at goose pond cabin told me.

[Torch09]

Mice chewed through my food sack and nibbled on a snicker bar. I bought a trap and used that snicker bar as bait.

Karma.

[d.o.c]

How did he carry the mouse? did he hold it in his hand ha

[Torch09]

How did he carry the mouse? did he hold it in his hand ha

He used an empty hummus container padded with wool and other soft stuff. It was getting cold (october in mass.) so he usually carried the little guy in his jacket.

[OliveOil]

Mice chewed through my food sack and nibbled on a snicker bar. I bought a trap and used that snicker bar as bait.

Karma.

wasn't that your reasoning for buying the smaller sized candies so if they eat one it's only as if one third of your candy was ruined?

[Graywolf]

ha get sgt meowstein to hitch on the pack durin the day ha i bet its been done.

Readin a book about the Appalachian Trail many years ago. I believe it was published by Backpacker magazine. A guy who Kayaked the Mississippi, then Hiked the Trail found a Kitten that went all the way to Maine with him. Everytime he would stop, the cat would swap him on the head, "Hey stop yaking, We have to go."..

Anyway, yeah, its been done..

[Graywolf]

Have you ever seen themovie, Never Cry Wolf? The guy was up in the Northern Territories studing Artic Wolves. He ate mice to stay alive.

I guess if you look at it that way, a hiker that is really low on money could always eat mice all the way to Maine..Hmmm.. ketchup any one?

[Buffalo Skipper]

I recall reading a journal recently about a NOBO who started early and didn't see a mouse until PA. Do mice hibernate? Do they become less active active in the winter? When most of the hikers leave, do the mice leave the shelter to forage in the wild until the warmer weather bring the hikers back?

Just trying to educate myself about it.

[harryfred]

my friends hiked with a kitten that they found. They named her Yogi
I remember Yogi. Do you know, did she make Katahdin? Met her and her sherpas at the Billville Hiker Feed.

[harryfred]

what do you think.. Does a shelter mouse count as wildlife or a pest?

Panzer
Thats what my wife ask about me.

[d.o.c]

right on i figured he used some sort of container

[WalkingUSA]

Have you ever seen themovie, Never Cry Wolf? The guy was up in the Northern Territories studing Artic Wolves. He ate mice to stay alive.

I guess if you look at it that way, a hiker that is really low on money could always eat mice all the way to Maine..Hmmm.. ketchup any one?

As someone who has eaten mouse while on much more difficult trails than the A.T. such as the CDT, when you are very hungry they do not taste bad at all.

From what I have read, your brain as the body gets hungrier and hungrier makes things that you would never eat seem more and more appealing. Its part of the survival aspect of a human.

[Hikes in Rain]

I recall reading a journal recently about a NOBO who started early and didn't see a mouse until PA. Do mice hibernate? Do they become less active active in the winter? When most of the hikers leave, do the mice leave the shelter to forage in the wild until the warmer weather bring the hikers back?

Just trying to educate myself about it.

Not sure of any of this, but I don't think they hibernate. They would certainly become less active, I'd think, to conserve energy and body fat. They're pretty territorial, as well, so my guess is that they stay there in the shelter, although they may range a little farther for good. "Farther" is a relative term, of course, for a critter only a couple of inches long!

[sheepdog]

mice live under the snow. they do not hybernate.

[TIDE-HSV]

I've got a bunch of shelter mice stories. Once, I positioned a granola bar I'd failed to put in the food bag where it was touching my nose. I woke up to staring at a mouse from point blank range, as he chewed on the other side. One of the more brazen wasn't at shelter but at back country campsite in the GSMNP. I'd set up my tent, and, at the time, also a small tarp over the front door for cooking shelter. For safe keeping, I stuck my gorp bag down on top of one of the vestibule poles. I'd turned to do some chore and heard a rustle behind me. There was a mouse, running off with an M&M. He'd climbed the pole, chewed a hole, and made his escape all in a matter of seconds. And, not only mice like snickers. Once in the Wind Rivers, I had a bear attack on my food bag. I managed to run him off, but he'd gone in the top of the bag first and bit into my lemon (for fish). He didn't like that, so he restarted from the bottom, where he hit the Snickers. About a week later, I pulled out a Snickers and it had one bear tooth-print in the middle. I shrugged and ate it...

[Doc Mike]

Just wondering assuming you decided to eat the mice. How would be the best way to cook them, Boil and add to pasta, blackened, slow roasted over an open fire?

[Hikes in Rain]

Rotisserie. On tiny little spits, over teeny fires.

[Sickmont]

I'd do 'em up like charbroiled nuggets on a stick over a roaring fire. Just think marshmellows with fur.

[Bronk]

All of them, because we keep feeding them.


Use shelters for cooking only and you'll be fine.:)

hmmmm.....

[royalusa]

At the Velvet Rocks Shelter on our 2008 thru-hike, we met section-hiker Sliver, who shared with us a poem he wrote about hiking. It was so good that we asked him to record it for us on our voice recorder. A very creative man obviously! He told us of how he crafted the poem over a year or so while doing his postal route.

Scarface Malone
by Sliver

Twas 2 weeks after Easter
And all through the woods
All the shelters and campsites were full like they should
The food bags were hung from the branches with care
Though no one had seen hide nor hair of a bear
My legs they were sore, my feet numb from the cold
My boots they were soaked, my socks covered with mold
But my belly was full and some rest was in store
I hoped those hikers did not keep me up with their snores
So me and my sleeping bag rolled out on my pad
For the miles I’d hiked, I wasn’t feeling too bad
The moon, it was full shining – just enough light
And the wind through the trees and the sounds of the night
And as I started to dose, my mind was at ease
When I heard this faint hiccup and then a hurricane sneeze
And the loudest most deafening clip cloppity sound
I feared for my life as I fell to the ground
I jumped up and grabbed then turned on my flashlight
To the most awfullest, grossest, most ugly sight
It’s teeth were huge and the nose and that head
And a scar across his face, I just knew I was dead
It had a wooden peg leg and a patch on one eye
And this big ol' fat belly, but stood only 3 inches high
All around it leered, “You haven’t got a dog?”
When I shook my head no, he plopped down on a log
“I’m Scarface Malone,
That’s the name of this mouse
These here is my woods and you're in my house
You're welcome to stay, but I got to charge you a fee
cause nothing in life, not even the woods, is free
You got any beer and some chips, the ruffle kind is best with some French Onion dip”
He threw down my food bag, he ripped out of the tree
And rifled all thru it on this big eating spree
“What? No peanuts. No granola. No berry poptarts.
You can have all this bean stuff, it stinks up me farts.”
Then he found my three Snickers and ripped open the wraps
As chocolate and peanuts went all over his lap
He talked as he ate and then he clip clopped away
But came back in a moment and said, “Yeah, you can stay
But let me tell you about the cat.
I wandered out too far.
It nearly cost me my life.
All I got was the scar”
He told me his tales - the ups and downs of his life.
About his 10 little rug rats and an overbearing wife
He shoved food in his cheeks and the rest in his shirt
But he got every crumb even the ones in the dirt
And as he scurried away, he stopped to pause and think
then he flipped up that patch and gives me this wink
“Now let me set you straight
What I really want is chips and beer”
In that thick Irish drawl said
“You come back now, you hear”

[wolf]

the mice are good eating,over a open fire pit

[Blissful]

It's not only the shelters that have mice, pick any used campsite and when the lights go out (if not before), the party begins!


Actually more at established campsites. We had mice ratting people's garbage left in a firepit for quite a while up in Maine.

[d.o.c]

Actually more at established campsites. We had mice ratting people's garbage left in a firepit for quite a while up in Maine.
i saw some just north of fullhardt knob goin thru some trash in a pretty used cmp spot fire ring just the other day..

[Jim Adams]

what do you think.. Does a shelter mouse count as wildlife or a pest?

Panzer

Definitiely pest. If the shelter was not used by people and was just a structure in the woods, the mice wouldn't stay! It is a human caused problem.:-?

geek

[Jim Adams]

1990, I hiked with my cat Ziggy. He rode on my pack and did the entire trail except GSMNP and Baxter...he wasn't a legal "hiker" in those areas. He ate lots of mice but beware if you decide to try....he gained 12 pounds in those miles.

geek

[Old Hiker]

My friend hiked with a mouse he found. Did we tell you about Jeramiah's mouse?

I thought Jeremiah had a bullfrog.

Sorry - couldn't help it - I'm old enough to remember the song and to know the lyrics by heart. Lord help me!

Summer camp counselor in training: nothing like a mouse sitting up on your cinder block lamp base eating the last of your peanuts as you shine the light to see what the "munch, munch, munch" noises are!

[Newb]

Blue mountain has the sexy mice.

[v5planet]

100-mile wilderness in Maine had the worst mice.

Cerveza, I'm with you. Some of us discussed though, wondering if maybe it had more to do with the time of the year and scarcity of other food than Maine's last week or two.

Still, I remember camping in random places off the side of the trail in the 100-mile wilderness, and as soon as dusk approached the mice would suddenly appear from every nook and cranny. They'd run along the edge of my tent by my head -- always scary when they pounced next to my ear on my Tyvek groundsheet waking me up. The last two weeks in Maine I was really concerned about my foodbag being raided, and I went to extreme lengths to hang it from trees in such a way that it was at least a couple feet from any nearby branch.

I remember camping with SlowGo and he let his food bag touch the branch he hung it from and his food was raided. And not just the mice either, those ******* red squirrels in Maine are completely incorrigible and acrobatic and persistent. And they're active in the day. Had my fig newtons stolen by one, little bastards...

[harbohiker]

Two quick things, neither really relevant to the actually topic of where are mice the worst, but both fairly entertaining.
1. I hiked in 09' for a good portion with someone who found an abandoned cat along the trail she hiked the rest of it with the cat she named katahdin, Kat for short.

2. Also ran into an old timer hiker named TunnelRat who walked til lunch with an annoying lump in his boot thought it was his balled up sock, nope... Dead mouse.


My opinion on the mice in shelters, if theyre that bad dont sleep there. they were there first. I'm pretty sure that the appalachian mountains have enough nice to keep the traps busy and pointless. I feel that setting a mouse trap with something like peanut butter for 8 hours can attract many many more creatures than it has the ability to kill unless you feel like waking up every 15 minuts to check and clean it.
(i hope you mouse trap people take your kill far far from campsite and any water sources tho!!!!)

[harbohiker]

Oh yea one last thing, my favorite shelters are the ones with the backpack lines hanging with cans to keep the mice off. I love hearing mice fall 6 feet thump! it always wakes me up smiling!!!!

[Trail Bug]

One of the guys we met on our thru-hike, killed 28 mice (with mousetraps) in his first 800 miles of the trail! He didn't even put them out each night.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like Bloodhound.

[Old Ed Theisen]

I've given up trying to kill the buggers. I determined we are way out numbered. I've visited the AT 6 or 7 times in the past 25 yrs. The mice have always been a problem. On a walk in 2008 I came across a fella with a mouse proof food bag and he swore by it. I had my son get me one on line. It's called a Grubpack. I used it last fall and it really did the job. The mice and chipmunks climb on it but can bite through it. It's made of a metal screen material. It's a light and easy way to protect your food from the rodents.

[Wise Old Owl]

The ultra light hikers can save weight by not carrying food and eating the mice. Solves two problems.

"Tonights Specials at the Road Kill Shelter Cafe include a light Appatizer of lightly Panko Breaded & Fried Popcorn Mouse wrapped delicately in Apple Wood Smoked Bacon.........":eek:

Sir, there are only six per plate this evening.... Woo

Owl's Surprise....

[Wise Old Owl]

Rotisserie. On tiny little spits, over teeny fires.


The Alcohol stove does burn the hair off and toasts quickly, no hair ball to cough back up- very appealing.

[Northern Lights]

I've debated taking my bear vault with me this year due to the extra weight, but after reading this thread I think I will suck it up and carry the extra couple of pounds and keep my food in the vault. :(

[Blackbird]

I've debated taking my bear vault with me this year due to the extra weight, but after reading this thread I think I will suck it up and carry the extra couple of pounds and keep my food in the vault. :(

Very unnecessary.
Hang your pack and food from a mouse hanger.
No need to overreact!

[blitz1]

I've debated taking my bear vault with me this year due to the extra weight, but after reading this thread I think I will suck it up and carry the extra couple of pounds and keep my food in the vault. :(

no need for that on the AT, unless you want to bonk them on the head with it to discourage them. They chewed holes in my pack twice even when there was no food in it (guess it had plenty of food odor) and one time when I got up in the AM and started packing up a mouse ran out from my pack - he had chewed up one of my only clean dry socks and made a nest from it :mad:
do they make a bear vault big enough for your whole pack?

[FarmRookie DGH]

Have you ever seen themovie, Never Cry Wolf? The guy was up in the Northern Territories studing Artic Wolves. He ate mice to stay alive.

I guess if you look at it that way, a hiker that is really low on money could always eat mice all the way to Maine..Hmmm.. ketchup any one?

Would one eat them with a white or a red?

[swjohnsey]

Red. You can prepare them like the little French songbird, the ortolan, roast 'em whole and eat them bones guts and all.

[vamelungeon]

I thought Jeremiah had a bullfrog.



No, no, no...
Jeremiah WAS a bullfrog. He HAD wine. Mighty fine wine, as a matter of fact.

[brian039]

I didn't sleep in many shelters on my thru, so I may not be the expert, but I'm going to cast my vote for Maine. All shelters have their mice, but Maine Shelter-Mice are a special breed. Mouse hangers aren't effective against them. They simply superman-dive off rafters onto your pack then chew holes in it and eat your candy. I made it all the way to Maine without a mouse problem then all of the sudden all hell broke loose.

[skooch]

When I first started hiking so many years ago, I too disliked mice and other vermin when camping. I disliked spiders, gnats, snakes, etc.. I had the mindset to kill them at any opportunity.

In other words, I was young, dumb, and inexperienced. :p

I now find it vile to have a person go out in the woods to be close to nature, yet on the same voyage kill some of nature's creatures. The mice belong there and live there - it is their home. :)

WE are just the visitors, and we have no right to kill them unless we are in imminent physical danger of death. :mad:

I go out of my way to avoid hurting or killing anything in nature, even if it means inconvenience for myself. This is getting harder for me to do as I age, but I still do it.

For people to admit they actually waste space and weight in their packs just to carry mouse traps and poison is a tad deranged in my opinion.

If you dislike the mice, do not use a shelter. Find another place to sleep. Find another means, any means of a place to sleep.

You must change YOUR ways in nature - do not expect nature to change her ways for YOU.

Many months ago I googled "homemade natural mice repellent" and found that they do not like peppermint oil. easy to carry and you can put it on cotton balls. I want to try it this year around my pack at night in the vestibule of my tent and at the top of my bags that I hang. This is also an exceptable fragrance for soaps and may distract us from our own repelling odor so why not?

[phobos]

I haven't been thru much of the AT, but I saw some of the biggest mice EVER at Blood Mtn Shelter. There was even one hanging upside down in the fireplace looking me lol.

[Croft]

Many months ago I googled "homemade natural mice repellent" and found that they do not like peppermint oil. easy to carry and you can put it on cotton balls. I want to try it this year around my pack at night in the vestibule of my tent and at the top of my bags that I hang. This is also an exceptable fragrance for soaps and may distract us from our own repelling odor so why not?

Bears LOVE peppermint.

The kamikaze Maine mice were definitely the most aggressive.

Fortunately, I'm one of those people that falls asleep almost instantly once I climb into my bag so was totally unaware of mice in the shelters until I hit Maine when they kept on falling on me when they'd try to leap to the hanging food/packs.

[swjohnsey]

Could be Darwin's theory on natural selection at work, a new species of flying mice.

[Papa D]

I stopped mid afternoon at the Stewart Hollow Lean To in CT on Thursday afternoon to use the privy (this shelter and the one south of that -10 Mile) need some work - anyway, there was a duff can (leaves, mulch. etc.) in the privy - it hadn't been used in so long, a mouse had gnawed a hole in the side and made a great little nest in there - when I opened up the top and dumped some duff in the privy - out came the mouse - scared the SH#T out of him (or into him or on him) literally

[Wise Old Owl]

I have personally seen Peppermint oil temporarly keep an ant infestation at bay, we still had to come in and use a killing bait product. But I seriously believe the oil and those ultrasonic devices do not work.

[rickb]

Here is a good photo from Magnet in the WB gallery:

[Tenderheart]

Which state has the greatest shelter mice problem and why?

For me, it was Georgia. As the weather warms and snakes come out, the mice population seems to subside. And if you'll leave all of your zippered compartments open at night, then the little critters can go in and investigate without chewing a hole. But really, mice aren't that big of a problem. Trust me.

litefoot 2000