# Mice on Westwater



## 2tomcat2 (May 27, 2012)

Good reminder...curious, as it has been a relatively neutral (neither El Nino or La Nina) weather pattern the last 12 months.


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## John the welder (May 2, 2009)

Better mouse trap? They are called snakes.


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## k2andcannoli (Feb 28, 2012)

They ruined the tequila donuts!!! BASTARDS


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## DanCan (Jul 22, 2011)

Upper Little D has a couple of rather fat, brave, even militant squirrels in the trees/brush there too. Leave the lid off your ammo can and they will rifle (ha, ha) through it and see what is in there to get to.

My son learned this the hard way and ended up with a bunch of work. He brought a bag of sunflower seeds on one of our trips and had them in the ammo can. I warned him about seeds, if the shells get on the ground, he gets to pick them up. He left the ammo can open for not even 5 minutes unattended and the squirrel had the bag out, chewed open and about 1/2 of the seeds shelled and spread all over. Took my son 30 minutes to clean it all up...

Only consolation is that we figured the squirrel would be looking for a some cool water, the seeds were the hot and spicey ones. 

DanCan


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## cataraftgirl (Jun 5, 2009)

Militant vermin on Westwater.....killer yellow jackets on the Main Salmon.....what is this world coming to?????
Seriously though. Fires in Idaho and poor camp cleanliness everywhere seem to be culprits.


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## gwsdemo (May 5, 2009)

This past weekend, Little Hole had a couple of mice, squirrels, but a TON of ants...


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## boatmusher (Jun 18, 2008)

One word..... Dogs
When there is a dog around camp:
Dogs eat the fallen food scraps.
Dogs chase out the vermin so the vermin never get accustomed to human food.

Skunks on Ladore/Yampa
Ringtails, Ravens, Mice on the GC
Mice on WW
Bears on Deso
Etc....
Only thing that is a nuisance on the (Dog friendly) MFS and Main are the yellow jackets. (Not sure dogs can chase them off. At least my dogs.) 
Just a theory I've come up with as I see how camps on so may rivers are deteriorating from too much "love".....


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## DanOrion (Jun 8, 2004)

I bet you could fill the bucket by morning.


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## Gremlin (Jun 24, 2010)

Two less mice at Upper Little D after they decided to swim in my wash bucket this weekend.


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## DoStep (Jun 26, 2012)

DanOrion said:


> I bet you could fill the bucket by morning.


Hope your aren't filling a bucket in the kitchen!


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## asleep.at.the.oars (May 6, 2006)

Do you put bait on the bottle? Do you set up a ramp to the lip? Anything other than water in the bucket?


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## mjpowhound (May 5, 2006)

Why not leave the critters whose space you're invading alone? Secure your stuff so they can't get to it and live and let live. What good does it do to kill them?


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## wildh2onriver (Jul 21, 2009)

Always empty the dish buckets at night. Cover the hand washing station buckets and stow the kitchen gear. Otherwise you run the risk of hantavirus. And kill mice unnessasarily.


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## CBrown (Oct 28, 2004)

k2andcannoli said:


> They ruined the tequila donuts!!! BASTARDS


I worked so hard on those.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

CBrown said:


> I worked so hard on those.


Campbell, what do you think motivated me to make the original post? A tragic loss....


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## Swank (Jun 20, 2009)

So when our group gets there 11 days from now we will be careful of our goodies.


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## BCJ (Mar 3, 2008)

Just came back. There were MANY mice at Upper D camp. One got into a sleeping bag, several drowned in the dishwater overnight, some were in drink cups in the morning, one got on a boat and transported down to Cisco with us. Something is going on . . . .


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## Jensjustduckie (Jun 29, 2007)

BCJ said:


> Just came back. There were MANY mice at Upper D camp. One got into a sleeping bag, several drowned in the dishwater overnight, some were in drink cups in the morning, one got on a boat and transported down to Cisco with us. Something is going on . . . .


Like a real-life version of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West or something...


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## goldcamp (Aug 9, 2006)

mjpowhound said:


> Why not leave the critters whose space you're invading alone? Secure your stuff so they can't get to it and live and let live. What good does it do to kill them?


Well they spread disease so I don't really have a problem with killing them, but I try not unneccesarily kill things. If I were going back I'd try to round them up in a trap and bring them down river and release. Its an unnatural population due to them getting food brought to them. If you cut off their food supply by securing your stuff better many of them would probably starve to death anyway. Plus- They ruined the tequila donuts and therefore deserve to die.


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## pinemnky13 (Jun 4, 2007)

We had none @ big horn 2 weeks ago, run the rapids first and then stay up later


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## Swank (Jun 20, 2009)

I'd love to not have them get me sick or decide to share a sleeping bag with me.


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## Stiff N' Wett (Feb 18, 2010)

I didn't see any at Bald Eagle last week. We did see a ton at Jones Jole last year and one made its way into my buddies dry box. We caught it in a Pringles can and let it go and ran straight for the river and looked like it was trying to cross. Seemed like a long swim for a mouse.


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## Daryl (Apr 16, 2013)

*rat/mouse trap*

Smear a thin ring of peanut butter on the bottle (a band around the label) and let it float in the bucket filled about 3/4. Place a board from the floor to the edge of the bucket so they can see that which they smell and when they jump down they might do a log roll for a second before losing to the water.

I've heard farmers back in the midwest are able to bag 20-30 a night in their livestock barns using this method.


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## DoStep (Jun 26, 2012)

Anyone have an extra feral alley cat or two they could drop off for a week or so?


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## Swank (Jun 20, 2009)

We ran Westwater this weekend (Sat Night) and stayed at the Cottonwood site. No mice there. The site was clean when we arrived and left.


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