What to do with shelter mice?

[The Biss]

As a section tent hiker, I haven't had a lot of opportunity to deal with shelter mice, but in reading some old threads, it sounds to me like the things act pretty tame around people. Has anyone on this board had the gumption to use shelter mice as an additional protein source?

I did a little research to find that there are several tribes in Africa that consider mice a delicacy.

The cooking of the mice is very simple. The mice are gutted, boiled in plain water for about half an hour and salted. They are then fire dried until they are nearly bone dry. Mice are never cooked any other way. In fact, there is a song among the Tumbuka, whose lyrics are in the Chewa or Nyanja language, which mocks a young modern housewife who did not know proper mouse cooking.

Stuffed Dormice / Ancient Rome
Prepare a stuffing of dormouse meat or pork, pepper, pine nuts, broth, asafoetida, and some garum (substitute anchovy paste.) Stuff the mice and sew them up. Bake them in an oven on a tile.

Roasted Field Mice (Raton de campo asado) / Mexico
Skin and eviscerate field mice. Skewer them and roast over an open fire or coals. These are probably great as hors d'oeuvres with margaritas or "salty dogs."

And here... a whole slew of information on the preparation and consuption of rats in Thailand. http://www.earthportals.com/Portal_Messenger/ratfordinner.html. It seems like a neat source of food once you get past the "Fear Factor".

[RedSean]

I would probably be willing to give mice a try. But it all depends on how much of my food they eat.

[AbeHikes]

Sure. You'd just be reclaiming what's yours.

[khaynie]

Sounds delicious. Guess have I'll have to pack some Canola oil for my next trip and maybe a dash of cayenne.

[mweinstone]

lang van tran is my best friend.he owns the building i live in on a busy street in south philadelphia. his son qua,when visiting his grandpop in vietnam each year,eats and loves rats alot. you can only buy one in a gormay resturant. they are in a tank as you walk in like lobsters and the guy pulls one out and holds it by the tail for your approval before cooking.lang was a refugee 20 years ago and now hes a two buisness two house ownin american dream come true.he never eats rat ever. but his son goes at em like the wingador eats wings.

[Brock]

I would never eat a shelter mouse, but I have wanted to kill them on numerous occasions.
I can't stand those things crawling all over around me and on me. It has forced me more than once to move upstairs or setup outside.
Nothing worse than having a hot nite where your bag is half zipped open, only to fear that you will wake up with mice cuddling up inside your bag with you.
This is one of the main reasons why I hammock or tent.

[Gray Blazer]

You big time hunters who trap the mice at shelters...and you know who you are.....do not have to leave them as trophies for the rest of us to see when we show up the next day......at least that's how I feel.

[Hikes in Rain]

I think they should be roasted whole, on little tiny spits, over little tiny fires.

[neo]

i killed one and wounded another at claredon shelter in vermont with my trekking poles neo

[Tin Man]

There are enough mice in the shelters in CT, MA, and VT (and probably the rest of the states that I have not done yet) for a nice Buffalo Mouse Wings snack. I have taken to tenting (note to Neo - please no Hammock comments. ) at bedtime after being ransacked and kept awake by their skittering and gnawing on god knows what.

[Seeker]

I think they should be roasted whole, on little tiny spits, over little tiny fires.

with tiny little currants in their tiny little mouths... then hang them from the nearest shelter foundation log as an example to the others...

[The Cheat]

Mouse eating movie:

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/nevercrywolf.html

[Nokia]

I like to feed them my extra chees. They seem to like it.

[MtnBikerGuy]

Besides your boot/rock/poles/etc, any creative homemade traps to catch those mouses? We make stoves/packs/tents and everything else. How about something cheap & easy for catching mouses? Dead or alive. Any cool designs out there?

[xXIndyXx]

When I was in the desert during Operation Enduring Freedom we would kill a hundred mice per day! They were coming from everywhere. It got a lot better in the spring when momma cat had some kittens.

Also, I had a mouse chew through my plywood footlocker, then through a hard plastic container just to get to some nuts.

We used everythng to kill em. Our feet, traps, sticky tape, deadfalls.

I guess if I had too, I would make a good meal out of the little bastards.

[xXIndyXx]

I forgot to mention what we would do with our captured mice.

Only two words neede to give you an idea.

LIQUID OXYGEN!

[EarthJourney]

Mouse eating movie:

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/nevercrywolf.html

Whoa man! How many years ago since I saw that one! Kinda like "Gump" only with mices!

Good movie though!

[Jack Tarlin]

Unless it has a resident snake, virtually every trail shelter also has resident mice. They live there. You, on the other hand, are merely passing thru.

If you overnight in a shelter, you'll probably encounter them.

If their presence bothers you, the simple remedy is to eschew shelters and stay somewhere else.

This point has been made here many times.

Either learn to deal with shelter mice, or stay elsewhere else and don't deal with them at all.

Geez, what a difficult concept.

[general]

clean a mouse just like a squirrel. incision along the underside to the neck, remove skin. remove the legs from the hip and remove the feet from the legs. that's about all the edible meat you'll get from a common mouse. there is a little backstrap, but it would be more trouble to get it than it's really worth. nab about a dozen and you've got a meal. fry em up in some oil with some salt and pepper, or make dumplin's. be sure to bury what isn't used as to not leave a nasty bloody mess for the faint of heart.

[general]

also, you