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  1. #41

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    Quote Originally Posted by SCRUB HIKER View Post
    ...Hang your food on the mouse trapezes (they look like this and are in almost every shelter) and don't have your head in the very back corner of the shelter...
    Some good advice. I agree with Ben's(smiley face), I mean Scrub Hiker's advice this far. Once you wake up in the morning with mouse feces and urine on your sleeping bag and in your hair or have to contend with mouse eaten holes in your expensive down sleeping bag, backpack, rain jacket, EVent and cuben fiber food sacks and your food is spoiled with mouse feces when the next resupply point is three days away it can change your mind in regard to mice AND rats. The rest of the rodents I don't mind so much because I've been able to successfully foil their advances rather easily. Make sure the mouse trapeeze *has a baffle* or you are not likely to deter a hungry mouse. They can climb walls, trees, strings, cords, wires, do a high wire trapeeze act, and even jump over things or from one tree/branch to another tree/branch. They can easily climb down a cord without a baffle where you've hung a pack or food. I've also seen them squeeze their bodies so flat that they can squeeze their way into astonishingly small crevices and spaces. They are hungry determined amazing circus performers! Watching mice perform their gymastics is as entertaining as watching squirrels finding a way to get at a defended bird feeder.

    Quote Originally Posted by MuddyWaters View Post
    It just varies.
    May not see a mouse, or it might be a circus....
    Absolutely. Some AT shelters are more mouse infested than others. I would venture some shelters have a serious mouse issue while at some shelters, IMHO, no issue exists. I guess it's part of ALWAYS wanting to sleep at AT shelters and quite possibly some well used/trodden camping areas on the AT. One reason why I tend to avoid camping at areas where humans congregate is because human behavior can adversely affect typical wildlife behavior. It's also one reason why we should practice Leave No Trace principles.

    Quote Originally Posted by Del Q View Post
    ....Cooper Lodge... ate what I had left of a sandwich as the critters began stirring, gutsy little rodents, no windows, skeevy shelter, decided to pitch my tent and deal with the rain, good decision, 3rd hiker during that Vermont hike who had their gear chewed on during the night, this time a nice big hole in her down sleeping bag.
    Sadly, Cooper Lodge, because of the amount of use, AND ABUSE, it experiences from not only hikers but also from those wandering over to it from the nearby ski resorts is dirty, scarred both inside and outside from burns/fires, is rodent infested and isn't the most pristene ecological environment adjacent to the shelter. The surrounding area has been environmentally abused. Not a place I would normally spend the night. I would also definitely treat my water IF I took drinking water from the area and I treat my water about 10% of the time.

    Quote Originally Posted by Half Note View Post
    ...That would be my biggest issue is the ruining of gear. I'm hoping they won't be too big of a problem as they are made out to be.
    Obviously, it does happen as so many posters have acknowledged.

    Quote Originally Posted by Two Speed View Post
    All it takes is one mouse doing a burn out on your face to change your opinion on shelters.

    That, or observing how much gear gets chewed up by mice might do the trick. Or maybe thinking about the amount of time spent "mouse proofing" your food and gear, and how often the mice manage to defeat all those counter measures, and tear the crap out of gear or screw someone's food up anyway
    LOL. Not always so funny when it happens to you though.

    Quote Originally Posted by daddytwosticks View Post
    When you get to the shelter, just read the register. If there is an active mouse problem, it will usually be mentioned in the register. If no mention of the problem, stay in the shelter. If there is, just tent nearby and still enjoy the amenities there.
    Sounds like some helpful advice to me! Thanks. I forgot about that. Sniff. Sniff. Mice will travel though!

    Quote Originally Posted by Praha4 View Post
    ...I started using an Ursack food bag, mice can't chew into that bag it is worth the money. That all said, if you are starting in January the mice may not be as bad as later in the spring when temps warm up. good luck
    Probably right. I like the Ursack idea. You could also hang on a trapeeze, with a baffle, a odor proof WP Opsak with ALL food and scented items including cookware. I sometimes use one in bear country.

    Quote Originally Posted by ChinMusic View Post
    Just bring a bottle of bobcat urine and sprinkle it around your bag and on your pack.
    Thanks. Good advice. I do something similiar. I spray bug juice in a wide continuous band all around where I sleep. I sleep inside the band(atoll) on the "island". Usually, it's the same bug juice I would apply to my body or clothing. This can work for scorpions, venemous spiders, venemous snakes, cockroaches(the ground can literally come alive in the woods at night with 100's of cockroaches and venemous centipedes in the Hawaiian woods!, it's like an episode of FearFactor), fire ants, mice, etc

    Quote Originally Posted by Lyle View Post
    Occasionally you will get some damage from rodents. Most of the time you won't. Hang your food/packs. Sleep with your head to the door, away from the walls....I agree, critter worries are overblown. Are problems possible, yeah. Frequent? nope.
    Thanks. Good advice!

    I do what ChinMusic, Lyle, and others suggest: I hang all my scented and food items, including my cookware, on a trapeeze with a baffle in a Opsak and I hang my opened pack, to let mice rumage around in it without feeling the need to chew holes in it or other gear, on a bear cable or on a hook inside or outside the shelter with my rain cover over it if hung outside. I keep myself clean from food and food odors. I wash my mouth, face, hair, clothing, and anything that might have been contaminated with food and foof scents. I keep a clean camp. I don't drop food. I cook away from where I sleep. I don't normally camp where others tend to congrgeate.

    Quote Originally Posted by kayak karl View Post
    ... shelter mice got in my pack and chewed holes in my...rain pants. the rain pants had a hole in the crotch. i patched it with an X made of duct-tape.
    So you are the one! I remember seeing you hike with the duct taped X over the crotch. Funny shart KK!

  2. #42

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    I bring my tent and use it whenever possible. Only exceptions for things like GSMNP (shelter required) and when pouring down rain.

  3. #43
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    Thanks for making this thread and all the good responses...I was wondering the same thing!
    If a tree falls in the woods, be there to hear it.

  4. #44
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    Here's a photo of a shelter mouse, the rats are much larger.

    2011_06220006.jpg

  5. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by Drybones View Post
    Here's a photo of a shelter mouse, the rats are much larger.

    2011_06220006.jpg
    HAHA! That's an awesome picture.
    If a tree falls in the woods, be there to hear it.

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