Not sure under gear is the best place for this but I never thought of the mouse problem before and now that I’m reading this site I see that is is well camping.

So I’m curious what you guys do to prevent the mice from getting in everything

We use Ursacks and have not had any problems with mice getting into our stored food. For food that is out, just putting a plate on top of it will keep them out. You just need to be vigilant because some of them are very persistent and if you leave something uncovered they will be on it immediately.

I would say that we don't see them at most campsites but sometimes they are around. Once I was doing the dishes and went to clean a cup that had been used as a bowl for stew and had to shoo out the mouse that had jumped in and was eating the scraps. On the other hand, he was helping clean up.

Lots of ideas here on mice protection.
One thought a friend had was pretty simple. Put whatever you are afraid the mice will get inside of into an upright canoe. Clearly not the best way for all of your food but might be good for the odds and ends. And be double sure your canoe is tied up so it won't blow away if it is upright.

Lots of fun mice stories, the little bears of the north woods.
Primary rule, food and hygiene products taste good to critters and the smell is too tempting for them. Mice will chew and bigger bears will tear. No food nor hygiene products in packs at night and when in packs always inside a sealed container. Those items are in ursack or other bear resistant containers at night. A hungry mouse will climb down a rope for a snack.

Home Depot, five gallon pail, $3.25 with Fleet Farm Gamma seal screw on lid, $7.95
BearVault, $79.95
Ursack $79.95-119.95
They all do the very same job, slow a determined bear down.

Hmmm let me think...I’m thinking the $11.00 pail and lid.

So no fool proof ways other then essentially a hard plastic container.

Any reason you can’t just use a big cheese balls container to keep the mice out and hang it in a tree?

Oddly enough I never had much trouble with mice or squirrels and have had more issues with bears. Weird right?

I had the fattest little mouse at a campsite in Mt Rainier National park take a seat right next to me one morning while I was having coffee. I couldn't help but smile and left him some oatmeal flakes before leaving.

I did have a flock of crows get into some freeze dried packages of Mountain House granola with blueberries. It was sort of funny.......it was a beautiful fall day in Algonquin park and we were fishing when I noticed the crows on this island making a ruckus. I strained to see an owl but soon realized "hey, that's our campsite!". They had pulled the packages out of a bag and pecked them open. Smart critters!

Gamma seal lids here as well..... Although I had a very determined red squirrel get into peanuts here at home.. I was amazed He must have had a sore jaw.

dr bob

Mice are bad, chipmunks are pure evil
Once had a chipmunks hid our in a the food pack for a couple of days while traveling.

I've just never had any sort of trouble up there with mice getting any of my food. They never tried getting into my bag when I hung, and now I have a barrel and just don't have issues. I'm very careful about not leaving stuff sitting out and not dropping anything. Only mice issue I recall ever was when they would run across the top of my tent at night - annoying, but they never chewed through or got into anything.

I haven't had any mice issues since I started using tupperware containers to keep stuff like trail mix, jerky, drink mix, peanut butter, fish batter mix, ect..... Then I place these containers into a CCS food pack which has a zipper top. No mice can get into the food pack and if for some reason they did, say you left the pack open for a brief period of time, the tupperware will keep any little critters out.

Pail/Gamma Seal lid
Ursack
These have worked fine for the past many years for us.

I use a bear vault (BV500) to store my food. Keeps the critters out.

Bring a terrier. Overkill I suppose.

dew042: "Bring a terrier. Overkill I suppose."

Will Rat Terriers actually deter mice? Do they even breed Mice Terriers? Inquiring minds want to know.

Some of the shelters on Isle Royale used to have mouse problems........big fat buggars who would loudly clamber over everything including your sleeping bag in a frenzied attempt to find your food. A headlamp and the house broom would usually solve the matter if you were quick enough. My recent venture to the island included a mouse trap in with my gear. Surprisingly enough I never had to use it.

mastertangler: "

dew042: "Bring a terrier. Overkill I suppose."

Will Rat Terriers actually deter mice? Do they even breed Mice Terriers? Inquiring minds want to know.


Some of the shelters on Isle Royale used to have mouse problems........big fat buggars who would loudly clamber over everything including your sleeping bag in a frenzied attempt to find your food. A headlamp and the house broom would usually solve the matter if you were quick enough. My recent venture to the island included a mouse trap in with my gear. Surprisingly enough I never had to use it. "

Most terriers have the vermin killing instincts, some better than others. And their pee all over the campsite has to have some effect.

I have a Border Terrier, Crosby, he'd happily hunt mice all night. A shelter like you mention on Isle Royale that would be ideal to hunt in. My previous Fox Terrier Mick was just a blood thirsty berserker with no patience. Crosby on the other hand sees its as a game and is happy to wait out any hiding animal and can easily scent them with his nose.

A peek into a bygone era is the now defunct sport of rat-baiting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat-baiting

A black and tan Bull Terrier named "Jacko" reportedly killed 1000 rats in under 100 minutes, roughly one every six seconds. And 60 in under 3 minutes, averaging 2.7 seconds per kill.

mastertangler: "

dew042: "Bring a terrier. Overkill I suppose."

Will Rat Terriers actually deter mice? Do they even breed Mice Terriers? Inquiring minds want to know.


Some of the shelters on Isle Royale used to have mouse problems........big fat buggars who would loudly clamber over everything including your sleeping bag in a frenzied attempt to find your food. A headlamp and the house broom would usually solve the matter if you were quick enough. My recent venture to the island included a mouse trap in with my gear. Surprisingly enough I never had to use it. "

The shelters on the Appalachian trail also have big mice problems at times.

dr bob

Just a hard sided container while camping.

They are a horrid problem at home They want to nest in everything.. They gnaw through sterilite containers and pee all over the contents.. They gnaw on metal trash cans. Today a red squirrel worked on one for three hours to get to birdseed.

At home we hang as much as we can as mice seem not to covet hanging gear. We visit our gear in the paddle shed frequently. We forgot last year and the mice nested and chewed through three PFDs in the bins.

They have chewed canoe seat webbing..

Camping pests are minor.. They have not got the time to do much damage..
All I can say is at your campsite never leave food outside its hard sided storage container for more than three seconds.

I had a red squirrel determined to eat my food and he jumped IN the barrel.. Scolded he ran away went on a branch and jumped on ME for a second attempt.. Followed by some 20 more varied attempts.

dew042: "Bring a terrier. Overkill I suppose."

when these two ladies are not keeping the couch warm, they are very efficient at rodent reduction.

decker rat terriers

I was at a sand beach site where the striped rats were fearless. They had been fed by others and they wanted my food. I was having trouble getting my food hanging system up because they were all over my pack trying to chew their way in even when it was right beside me. I found if I carried it out on the sand they would not go out there. The sand slows them down and gives the eagle a good view.

One fall on Winchell in the BWCA the mice were running all over as soon as it got dark.We had several buckets and turned one into a mousetrap. Several methods were tried but the simplest and most effective was an access ramp to the pail rim. Peanut butter was smeared around the inside of the bucket about 4 inches from the top. The mice rear feet would lose their grip causing them to fall into the water in the bottom. Each morning there were a lot of floating corpses to take out to the eagle feeding rock. I think we caught about 70.