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Rodents

Glenn MacGrady

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Rodents have been more annoying and destructive of my canoeing and camping equipment than bears, alligators or poisonous snakes.

I store all my equipment in my garage and in my van. In the winter, field mice or voles—I don't know what the difference is—have always gotten into my garage and into various places in my van, including the engine compartment. They have chewed on things and up things. I've tried various repellents in my van and other vehicles. Moth balls work but leave a lingering stench. More recently, I've had some success with pellets that are made with peppermint and garlic.

In the woods, some kind of rodent critters—maybe squirrels or chipmunks—have chewed on my water bottles and other gear at night, not producing any permanent damage but lots of tooth marks.

Beaver dams can be fun or annoying on a canoe trip, depending on my mood. Beavers have destroyed part of my home property.

Whistle pigs were all over a campground near the Tetons in Wyoming. They were completely unafraid of humans and skittered in and out of cabins and tents. Annoying but sort of cute.

I also worry a bit about diseases rodents can carry.
 
With regular canoe partners we frequently stay at a friends small cabin in NW Wisconsin. We are all from SE Wisconsin/NE Illinois so the cabin is about 1/2 the distance from home and a frequent NW Ontario destination. His cabin is so overrun with mice that he ripped out the built-in bunks and now hangs cots from a ceiling chain. At night you can hear them scampering about, sometimes on top of you.

To his displeasure we call the place “Mouse Haven.”
 
Most of the rodent issues I've ever experienced in the outdoors have been if using shelters along hiking trails. If I take inexperienced hikers, I'll often use a shelter to reduce pack weight for the novices (easier to hook them) but I, otherwise, avoid using shelters.
His cabin is so overrun with mice...
Are rat snakes native to the area? We find them regularly while baling hay and I've been known to relocate some to local barns that have rodent infestations. On average 2-3 snakes can permanently eradicate the infestation & you'll rarely see a snake in my experience.
 
A possible solution would be the use of dryer sheets.

I have a toy car that stays covered in the garage all winter. There are 2 intakes with 2 air filters, and one year the little buggers chewed through both and built a nest. My longtime mechanic suggested the use of dryer sheets, real nasty inexpensive ones and put them in the entry to each intake every fall and fish them out in the spring. Problem solved.

However - the inexpensive nature of the sheets results in the odor being about as strong in the spring when I take them out of the car as in the fall when I put them in. These could possibly repel, or even kill your average bear. I hate the smell, and I would air things out for a long time before I took them in the woods, but they save me the $400 repair bill every year.
 
Unpacking my bags two days after getting home from a trip I found a mouse nest with tiny babies in my Duluth Pack. Other than that they've chewed some holes in my Duluths and chewed off some of the fabric cover from my western style canteen.

Not canoe related, but one time while staying at the Captain Bartlett Inn in Fairbanks on business, I got up during the night to use the bathroom and saw a mouse run across the floor. It didn't bother me too much and I went back to bed. About 5 AM I was awoken by something "tickling" the top of my head. Remembering the mouse from earlier, I jumped up and saw the mouse jump off my pillow and run away. I didn't get back to sleep after that one.
 
My little wall tent has no floor so the little buggers sometimes visit me at night, or even daytime if I'm in one spot for any length of time. I try to keep things as neat as possible and the wooden wanigan for food storage is a big help.
 
I often work on insurance wrecked trailers and motorhomes with my SIL.
We have found multiple mouse nests comprised of dryer sheets, take that for what it’s worth.
There are products out there that truly do repel mice, and don’t necessarily offend your olfactory nerves.
Can’t remember the names at the moment, but typically small bags scented with cedar and pine oils. They work. Good for storage areas, stored equipment, stored vehicles…
Some former coworkers have had disruptive experiences with mice eating their VW and Audi wiring, those companies use some eco friendly insulation on their wiring, a veritable feast for the little buggers.
And squirrels!! Not the cute little guys that some might think. MDB and I had 27 apartments, some buildings were 100 years old. Those grey monsters are extremely destructive and led to an attic fire in one case. Connibear and Havaharts take care of them, with a Snickers or Payday as bait, almost irresistible:

With all that said, I’ve never had a problem with rodents while wilderness camping, but I generally avoid lean to sand popular sites.
 
We used to store drybags and tents in sterilite containers in the paddle shed. We learned after the demise of a Duluth pack and some shredded dry bags to hang items up whenever possible. We have more issues with mice in our house than in an unheated shed. However there are always surprises. I uncovered some pots outdoors to find mama and mouse babies.

In the house we have electronic high frequency repellers that seem to keep the mus population under control..Dryer sheets help in the paddle shed

Yes I used to use ADK lean-tos.. After having mice walk across my face in the night, no more.
 
Not in my canoes. In my 26' wooden yawl, a raccoon got in while the boat was in a yard, and died there. A duck built a nest under the cockpit while on the mooring. In my canoe carrying Dodge Magnum wagon, I had a persistent rattle in the overhead. The prior owner had it parked for two years and some critter stored pistachio shells there. Eventually all the shells worked their way out, but not without jamming the shifter and making me clean up shells every week.
 
I use Havoc place packs in my garage and keep all doors closed to keep the critters out, but if one gets in they are well feed;)
 
While camping on Lows Lake in the Adirondacks in the middle of the night we were woken up by a child like scream followed by Pete in his heavy Scottish accent saying "go back to sleep Ken". Roughly 10 minutes later I'm in my tent playing whack a mole with either a chipmunk or red squirrel trying to get into my tent. I know we've all placed our food in hanging bags or bear barrels at least 100 feet away so the rodent must have been trained by prior campers that food was in the tents since this was a popular campsite.
As a side note the reason I'm so sure about the food storage is the event that occurred while hanging the bags. As I'm placing my bear barrel Dennis proceeds to tie a heavy object to the end of a rope to throw over a branch. As he throws the object over the branch it swings down on the rope and strikes him roughly 6 or 8 inches directly below his belly button knocking him to the ground in pain. Being the compassionate person that I am and recognizing his pain I sit down next to a tree laughing so hard tears run down my cheeks.
 
I use Havoc place packs in my garage and keep all doors closed to keep the critters out, but if one gets in they are well feed;)
Havoc uses a anticoagulant which I am sure is effective but my issue with these poisons is that the snakes, owls, hawks, cats , foxes, coyotes etc all love to ear mice and are also effected by the anticoagulant.

My mouse prevention method is to own 10 cats. I have never found a single mouse in my house and very few living in the barn or garage. We also have horses, lots of hay and hay fields which is prime habitat for mice. I see a mice outside every day. With all that said I recently had a mouse move into a vehicle and apparently it pissed everywhere because the smell is horrible even though I have thoroughly cleaned the car a multiple of times. I am almost ready to claim insurance due to the stench. My feline friends are mostly geriatric which might be how the mice found an opportunity to move into said vehicle. Years ago I came to an agreement with my wife that 10 cats was more reasonable then the 16 we had. I know 10 is not reasonable but it is more reasonable then 16 and growing. Sometimes marriage needs compromise. It has taken years to get to 10 but she keeps asking for more kittens! Don't tell my wife but if those darn mice mess with my camping, paddling gear or canoes I might have to get some kittens.
 
City moose don't get too excited around people. They are used to us and will hold their ground. They don't run like a whitetail typically will, although I had seen deer mingling with tourists in Old Forge NY.
 
Havoc uses a anticoagulant which I am sure is effective but my issue with these poisons is that the snakes, owls, hawks, cats , foxes, coyotes etc all love to ear mice and are also effected by the anticoagulant.

My mouse prevention method is to own 10 cats. I have never found a single mouse in my house and very few living in the barn or garage. We also have horses, lots of hay and hay fields which is prime habitat for mice. I see a mice outside every day. With all that said I recently had a mouse move into a vehicle and apparently it pissed everywhere because the smell is horrible even though I have thoroughly cleaned the car a multiple of times. I am almost ready to claim insurance due to the stench. My feline friends are mostly geriatric which might be how the mice found an opportunity to move into said vehicle. Years ago I came to an agreement with my wife that 10 cats was more reasonable then the 16 we had. I know 10 is not reasonable but it is more reasonable then 16 and growing. Sometimes marriage needs compromise. It has taken years to get to 10 but she keeps asking for more kittens! Don't tell my wife but if those darn mice mess with my camping, paddling gear or canoes I might have to get some kittens.
Unfortunately cats aren’t an option for us. We don’t have a mouse/rat problem, once in a great while one will stray into the garage and they usually die there also. I wouldn’t want a neighbor domestic pet to come in contact with a poisoned critter.
 
I was driving to town one day and this little guy came out of the center console and sat on my thigh. I didn’t panic fortunately and he went back under the dash. Got this pic of it when I got to town and evicted him later that day. When the truck went in for the next service the mechanic said the changed the cabin air filter and he said it looked like a mouse nest in there. When I told him it sat on my thigh while driving to town he said he would have screamed like a little girl and gone into the ditch.
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Jim
 
I store my canoes in the crawl space, and mice are always a problem there. I took the cover off my solo canoe earlier this week and saw there been mice inside of it.

I think some peppermint oil is in order.

I worry more about the kayaks though, since there are so many lovely places for little crawly and slithery things to hide.
 
Unfortunately cats aren’t an option for us. We don’t have a mouse/rat problem, once in a great while one will stray into the garage and they usually die there also. I wouldn’t want a neighbor domestic pet to come in contact with a poisoned critter.
there are far friendlier options out there now, I use one that's based on cornstarch- it swells and stops the stomach from absorbing nutrients, but is totally non-toxic. these are only available in Canada but there must be a US equivalent.
 
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