Hi everyone! My son and just got back from our trip. This was our second year. We love it as a fun thing to do together. However, this year, unlike last year, we had issues with mice in our camp. We were on Parent Lake and came in via Hog Creek. Is this a common problem? Any information or advice would be helpful. Thanks!

Yes they are a problem. I have more trouble with them getting into our food pack than all other animals. One of them snacked away inside our food pack up in the tree. I think we closed it in and he went to town on our food. Mini bears are a problem.

Thanks for the reply. I thought it was strange to have so many issues this year and not have a single problem our first year.

I had one chew a hole into my thwart bag two weeks ago. I had accidentally left a Clif bar in the bag. The hole isn't too big. I don't think the mouse liked Clif bars.

Mice are omnipresent, but often overlooked as a potential pest. They will make a mess of a pack.

Mike

MNSummer63: "Thanks for the reply. I thought it was strange to have so many issues this year and not have a single problem our first year. "

Not so strange when you think of the way rodent populations ( Including squirrels and chipmunks) vacillate. When there is a good natural food year they breed over and over and over producing too many! The next year not so much natural food and too many rodents they will come looking for your food.

Same as home : we live in the woods. There is a lot of natural food this year and next year we expect to see squirrels swimming ISO food from anywhere.

I only spotted one this year so far, but have commonly had them around. One time I was resting in the tent, felt a tug on my hair, and rolled over only to come face to face with beady little mouse eyes. Not sure why or how he had ventured in, we never have food around tents.

I've had them chew holes in packs and straps, they are pests for sure.

I once camped at a BWCAW site where a group of mice would climb my tent guy lines and then slide down the rain fly of my tent over and over and over again. I have no doubt that they were just playing and having fun. Fairly common to see mice at campsites. I've never felt they were a nuisance.

Like the cartoon character Jinx the cat always said “I hate meeses to pieces”.

I used to like to bring my big labrador-mix along on trips, just to watch her slow clumsy attempts to try and catch the mice. Cheap entertainment...

Yes, the mice are pretty much everywhere. Started using vittle vaults back in the late 90s and haven't had an issue with mice getting in to the food since.

Oddly enough, in about 18 trips I've never had a problem and rarely seen one.

Hang your food pack, that helps. Better for the mice and rodents than bears most days.

the shale site on Gogebic , the mice with run over your feet at sundown and drag anything away they can find. i'm sure they have a freeway underneath all that shale.

About 25 paddling trips and I’ve not had any mouse troubles other than one night on Lac La Croix when they kept running over the netting on my tent. No food issues and no chewing.

vittle vaults? What is that? I’ll try anything. I don’t mind bugs, chipmunks, squirrels, or most any creature, but I don’t like mice at all. Thanks!

"I once camped at a BWCAW site where a group of mice would climb my tent guy lines and then slide down the rain fly of my tent over and over and over again.” Yes! This happened to us as well. I found it unsettling and didn’t sleep that well that night.

MNSummer63: "vittle vaults? What is that? I’ll try anything. I don’t mind bugs, chipmunks, squirrels, or most any creature, but I don’t like mice at all. Thanks!"

Vittles vaults is a brand name for pet food storage containers. They come in a bunch of different sizes and have an airtight seal with an o-ring and gamma lid. I don't think they are bear-proof like the "bear vaults" containers. Could probably be smashed open by a determined bear.

Vittles vault

I use the 4350, but i some people like the smaller sizes to fit them into other packs. I made a janky homemade harness out of webbing, minicel foam, and duct tape:) for mine and carry like a backpack. Not the most comfortable carry for my torso, but my wife says it fits her fine.

Search on this site and I'm sure you'll find some threads about them.

Just back from Lake Three...had plenty of mice at night there. Made for an early bed time. I hate mice as much as Larry from the Alone show does.

10 years ago, coincidentally also on Lake Three, had an incredible amount of mice every night. We would have a lantern going and the mice would hang in the shadow. As we ate dinner after sun down, a mouse ran up my buddies back, so as to stay in the dark shadow he created. I was able to dispatch said mouse, still on his back, with a spatula. Larry would have been proud. My friend did not finish his dinner and has yet to return to the Bdubs.

We had a chipmunk climb up our food barrel and begin licking the tap to our box of wine. It was funny at first but after a few shoo aways he didn't get the message so we moved it where he couldn't get it.
We had a few mice running around but they kept to themselves. I think they search the firepit areas looking for tidbits. They found none and disappeared soon after.

gopher2307: " I hate mice as much as Larry from the Alone show does.
"

Nobody hates mice as much as Larry!

There is a reason people call them Mini Bears

They get a few warnings from me before things get fatal.

Hex

MikeinMpls: "I had one chew a hole into my thwart bag two weeks ago. I had accidentally left a Clif bar in the bag. The hole isn't too big. I don't think the mouse liked Clif bars.


Mice are omnipresent, but often overlooked as a potential pest. They will make a mess of a pack.


Mike"

Lol! Was it one of the new coffee flavored ones? Because I’d have to agree with the mouse, those are nasty! I always go with the Sierra Trail Mix, Oatmeal Raisin and Blueberry Crisp.

Tony

I have never had a problem with them, I have only seen a few while camping. I seem to have more in my backyard than I have ever seen in the woods.

It really varies. Had one year where for an hour it seemed like 30 of them were trying to get into our tent at night. Probably only 5...but seemed like 30...Eventually they left, but it was weird. Most trips I don’t see them.

T

We were also on Lake 3 recently but didn't have any mice. Could have been due to the family of snakes that resided at the site. I'll take snakes over mice any day.

HangLoose: "I once camped at a BWCAW site where a group of mice would climb my tent guy lines and then slide down the rain fly of my tent over and over and over again. I have no doubt that they were just playing and having fun. Fairly common to see mice at campsites. I've never felt they were a nuisance. "

I'm glad to hear this has happened to at least one other person...because the same thing happened to me on one of my first solo trips and it bothered me a lot. Just an unsettling sight/sound, especially with a bad case of first-time solo heebie jeebies.

The mice turned my roll of TP into a pompom on one trip. NOT GOOD!!!

Inmyelement: "I'll take snakes over mice any day."

+1

snakecharmer: "The mice turned my roll of TP into a pompom on one trip. NOT GOOD!!!"

Very not good! I usually keep mine in a plastic bag next to the tent (under vestibule at night), so far no problems, but I may have to reconsider.

snakecharmer: "The mice turned my roll of TP into a pompom on one trip. NOT GOOD!!!"

Haha I remember that trip. It was a Oct trip on Disappointment Lake many years ago.

Mice ...be sure to dump your water buckets or cook pots before bed.
I've found. drowned mice in them.

Had a mouse eat a whole in the top of my friends brand new tent. It dropped into the tent and the two tent mates were scrabbling around at 2 in the morning trying to get it out. They never did find it but it probably left when they tooK everything out of the tent. We were on an island site that was overrun with mice.

Same lake three site last week...did see three large garter snakes. Sunning themselves during the day, and I saw them coming out at night too, I assume to get some mice.

Agreed, I was much more comfortable with the snakes!

I hate those fricken mice, man!

I was on Perent Lake the end of May, left my hat outside my tent all night. Woke up in the morning to see mice had chewed on it. Had that hat close to 10 years and that was the first time I ever had Mice chewing on it.

We stayed in a cabin at Rockwood for a week and they said that the mice have been crazy for everyone on the Gunflint Trail this year. Grand Marais ran out of mouse traps. I also saw that the Trail Center had posted on facebook about how bad the mice are this year.

mooseplums: "Mice ...be sure to dump your water buckets or cook pots before bed.
I've found. drowned mice in them."

This has happened to us, too.

Has anyone every encountered "kangaroo mice"? They are incredibly cute, big ears, hop like a kangaroo. Our son discovered some of them on the only trip we took with our kids, which would have been 1988. I had retired for the night, but I opened the flap enough to see them hopping around. Never had seen them before and never saw them again. Just that one night on Back Bay.

Jumping Mice or Zapus Hudsonious are very cute and quite common. More difficult to trap, but I still get quite a few in my hippie built open-mouse house. Primarily nocturnal, rarely seen in daylight unless its quite cloudy. As Spartan2 noted "incredibly cute".

It does seem to be a banner year for mice. I dread the body count when the fall influx comes; its already bad enough in the height of summer.

Spartan2: "Has anyone every encountered "kangaroo mice"? They are incredibly cute, big ears, hop like a kangaroo. Our son discovered some of them on the only trip we took with our kids, which would have been 1988. I had retired for the night, but I opened the flap enough to see them hopping around. Never had seen them before and never saw them again. Just that one night on Back Bay."

They were probably Woodland Jumping mice.

Video.

What most people call kangaroo mice are native to the desert southwest.

Almost always see Mice at camp sites. Many don't notice them because often I see them not come out until sunset. They are pretty small too so you just need to stop and look at the ground and notice the movements. They are so used to humans that you can simply step on them to kill them (a friend told me this...).

Paddled the Flambeau river last fall and had mice all over my campsite once the sun set, including running up my tent between the tent and fly (was happy I didn't use my lean 2 as a shelter in that instance). Been catching mice in the basement in the last week, so it's on!

Mouse damage on nature center canoe.

Our group stayed one night on the Shell Lake campsite closest to the Little Shell portage this past week and it is OVERRUN by the varmints! Some fool also carved what looked to be initials on a red pine in camp...sad and stupid...SMH.

They are a problem, especially this year with SO. Many. People. Messy campsites lead to mice proliferation, usually for the next group who tries to use that campsite.

To make a long story short, mice are why we will never bring our tarptent (An A frame backpacking shelter with no floor or solid walls) to the BWCA again. We tried to cook and eat out of the rain and mice were running over our legs. Disgusting. Somehow I still slept that night and thankfully they didn't damage anything, like chewing a hole in my quilt or something. There were so many I could step on them and kill them.

rodents, not bears are the reason we switched to bear barrels rather than hanging food pack. Mice can scale down the rope to the pack, and seem to know exactly where to chew through to get the good stuff (gorp). And, after all the damage to large tree limbs I saw on recent trip, I am more convinced that barrels are the way to go!

chessie: "rodents, not bears are the reason we switched to bear barrels rather than hanging food pack. Mice can scale down the rope to the pack, and seem to know exactly where to chew through to get the good stuff (gorp). And, after all the damage to large tree limbs I saw on recent trip, I am more convinced that barrels are the way to go!"

What is a bear barrel? The blue ones with the snap on rim and metal band are hardly bear proof. Very good for rodents however. With a cotter pin through the band latch hole also raccoon proof.

The stash and hide method does seem to work. I have used barrels for 25 years and never had a bear problem but I don't have any illusions of bear not being able to get into it.

A true bear canister is so expensive heavy and limiting in volume it does not suit my tripping style. Others do use them successfully.

The mice ought to have had too much fun reproducing this year that when next year comes and not so many trip they may have a big die off.

Yeah, I'm in your camp.
Once I hear the noise, that is all I will hear the rest of the night. Gonna have to be ear buds or something...b/c that would drive me nuts!

The Ursack is a bear proof "canvas" bag. I imagine that mice cannot chew into it if a bear can't. I've never used one, but barrels bug me as they are heavy, large, hard to pack and by the end of the trip you're carrying around a barrel of air.

brp: "...by the end of the trip you're carrying around a barrel of air. "

Ha! Isn't that the truth?!

brp: "The Ursack is a bear proof "canvas" bag. I imagine that mice cannot chew into it if a bear can't. I've never used one, but barrels bug me as they are heavy, large, hard to pack and by the end of the trip you're carrying around a barrel of air. "

Standard Ursacks are not rodent-resistant. That is why they have the Ursack Minor and Allmitey.