Horrible people

[eyeguy 54]

for mice and chipmunks I use the 5 gallon bucket but I fill it halfway with water and then put a bunch of sunflower seeds floating on the water. They jump in for a treat and oops.

[nofishfisherman]

yeah Harv, we had this post derailed to Hall of Fame status to be used for generations to come.

Here's my set up, note the two ramps and they are made of Cherry ta boot!!! I added a spare ramp in case the mice are so thick they have multiple options. I don't forget that the real part of mouse hunting is the camaraderie and being together with family and friends. My 14 year old daughter is in camp for the first year so I'm going to sit with her tonight. She's never wanted to deer hunt because she said "I could never kill a mammal." She's okay with small mammals I guess.

Thats a real nice set up you've got there. Couple questions?

I don't have cherry, do you think oak would work for those ramps? Would stairs be better? What's the appropriate rise vs run for rodent stairs?

What kind of can did you use? Was it a can of soup? Corn? Peaches?

Glad to see you are getting your daughter in on the tradition. She'll look back years from now and remember all the good times she had at mouse camp.

[Jameson]

The socks in sandals surely leaves too much scent behind to trap the mature ones. Better switch to rubber boots and get some scent killer.

[leechlake]

eyeguy

sounds easier than the spin on the can set up. I may do both actually. Kind of like deer hunting with a rifle and with a bow at the same time. Shoot the close ones with the bow, the long rangers with the gun.

My first lab had a bad attitude at times around other dogs. He won all of his fights and since I was young and stupid I thought that it was kind of cool. He went toe to toe with a cat one time. Jake's first defeat came at the paws of a 10-15 pound cat. Scratched his face big time and he ran away howling like a wuss. Cats are tough customers.

[Getanet]

I don't forget that the real part of mouse hunting is the camaraderie and being together with family and friends. My 14 year old daughter is in camp for the first year so I'm going to sit with her tonight. She's never wanted to deer hunt because she said "I could never kill a mammal." She's okay with small mammals I guess.

This appears to be a case of blatant over harvest. You have nobody to blame but yourself when you don't have any mice to hunt on your property next year.

[leechlake]

Honestly the can is the key. Since you can't use a can opener since you're just drilling holes you have to make sure it's a liquid in the can. I believe that was beef broth. Last weekend at cabin I tried to make one using a cream of mushroom can. No go. Couldn't get the thick soup out no matter how hard I tried. The other nuance many miss is that you want those holes centered big time so the can spins without wobbling, can get hung up and won't spin if you get your holes messed up.

I did feel like a hack with the sandals and socks. Both unfashionable and not scent free. I think they are like deer that aren't afraid of farmers though. The smell my scent a lot.

Also, this thing doesn't work outside since it freezes and if you put anti freeze in it you have to worry about harming your livestock aka dogs. Hope that answers your great questions.

[leech~~]

[/quote

What's the appropriate rise vs run for rodent stairs?

I was going to say the ramps seem a little steep? I think you are counting out all the fat lazy and old ones that may need a push up them. They need to me more user friendly for all users!

[leechlake]

yep, I forgot to address that. The photo is a weird illusion they really aren't as steep as they look in the photo. It's like the guys that long arm fish in photos.

Some day I'd like to "take" one during the day although last year I did have a 3fer on opening night. Bittersweet when you see 3 in the bucket on the first sit. Happy you got three but wish you didn't have that many in the house in the first place. Ideally you'd catch one on the first night and then end the season with the balance of your tags for tag soup.

[nofishfisherman]

Great tip on that can. I'll make sure to drill dead center.

I'll let you know what other mods I come up with. I'll obviously be adding some LED rope lights.

[leechlake]

LED lights, interesting.

I do have a portable I use when I'm packing light. 2 gallon pickle pail I picked up on C list. I use a 12" ruler that fits real nice in the pail and I use a small pineapple juice can. Couple packs of ketchup I get at Micky D's as bait to make it even easier to get in and out of my pick up.

[DonBo]

So, what's the percentage of ...usable...anything you get from those mice? Just curious, because I have cats (indoor cats, so don't get your undies in a bundle) and don't have very good hunting at my house. If there were enough usable ??? something, I'd be willing to let the cats loose to fend for themselves.

[Deet]

I've been fooling around, getting my feet wet in Mousing for a couple years, and now this year I took the plunge and dedicated time for the whole season. The land I'm focusing on is a 30 x 40 [garage], mostly pine [studs], lots of cover for safe bedding and travel, but no feed.

I started scouting at the end of September, but the only sign found was left over from last winter. Since they weren't quite in rut and there's no feed around, I couldn't find current trails or buck sign. So I set a bucket set in last year's bedding area and then set four normal Victor spring traps in funnel locations that I expected were likely travel routes.

On opening night, I nailed two bucks on a scrape line in one corner of the property in a series of funnels. The highlight was my 3-year-old daughter's face when we checked the first successful Victor trap. She was blown away by the size and the thick coat. His neck was all swollen. After trap #2 was found successful, we thought it couldn't get any better. And we were right - none of the other sets had been even investigated. I figured it was just a matter of time before the does and pups fell for the bucket set in the bedding area.

BUT now it's been two weeks since my opener... and NOTHING. I figure those two bucks were maybe post-rut on opening night, desperately needing to restock on calories, and thus fell for the peanut butter on the Victors. The two other Victors have yet to get a sniff, and the bucket set has also been neglected.

With the rut long over, what should my strategy be? I mean, I can't even find much fresh sign. But they have to be around, right? They had it all torn up last year. But maybe that winter was just too much for them? Maybe the predators on my property got out of hand?

I can totally relate to the earlier "bittersweet" sentiment about catching mice. But now, I'm leaning more toward the "sweet" feeling if I were to get another. If for nothing else, my daughter has really taken to it. But it's getting a little tough to keep tending and checking the sets when the sign's not even there.

Help a newbie out?

[leechlake]

Donbo,

great question. A friend of mine represents Anthony Zimmer the fella that goes around the world eating unusual food. Usually when he's eating monkey brain or something he will say "it has a nutty sweetness to it." Mouse isn't too far off from that.

You've heard of company crappies? Really fried rock bass. With the lack of ducks around my area I make company duck which is just bacon wrapped mouse. Beauty of it is they are the perfect size to be wrapped in half a piece of bacon, no need to cut into chunks like duck. I've also found that if you poke them with a pin the hide basically falls right off too.

With the bucket you've got fresh ones. DO NOT try this if you use D-con or other baits to kill your mice!!!

DEET- welcome to FM, great to hear your successes and also bringing along another new hunter. I also like your old school Victor success. I don't use traps because I have dogs, they can get caught in them pretty easily.

Do you have heat in the garage? Really helps to lure them in from the cold. A Big Buddy heater works well unless you can't get it lit because of a bad thermocoupler.

What kind of sonar unit do you run? I know we don't want to turn this into a Marcum vs Vexilar argument again but the wide cone transducer works better.

Finally do you use an extension yet and make sure that water doesn't freeze in the bucket. You may be getting them in the bucket but you don't close the deal because they hit the ice and then just crawl back out.

Photos? No photos the mouse kills never happened.

[DonBo]

I've also found that if you poke them with a pin the hide basically falls right off too.

OMG, I just spit coffee all over my monitor.

[Duffman]

What a great thread!

Yep, I'm stopping by the store on the way home to pick up some traps.

"Gonna get me some cold cuts!"

"Whoo!!"

[monstermoose78]

Well first of I never said I had a pile of traps. I have 7 110's from when I was in college in Ely and we trapped pine martin. Second they are at my dads so I would need to go get them. My little dog was just chased in from these cats. I also was getting my ice fishing propane tank out of the garage and spent 25 minutes chasing them cats out. So I called the police and asked for the one who lives down the street seeing I saw him cruising town when came back from volunteering in St Cloud today. Well as I was typing this up the officer came to talk to me. He understands my feelings and he does not want the cats in his garage either. He is going to talk to the new neighbors and seeing they left their garage door cracked open and their lots of cat tracks going in and out. He told me to give it until the end of the weekend and if they are still there he will trap them issue the owners a ticket when they go to pick them up. Not the best way to get to know the new neighbors, but I know darn well if my dog was barking at their door it would the same kind of thing.

I agree the animals pay the price for their owners and that was why I tittle this horrible people. It is not the cats fault for being a cat, but in town the cat must be kept indoors. I makes me sick that people can treat their animals with such disrespect and then call them their pets. Please take care of your animals better that is all I am asking.

[monstermoose78]

You guys all enjoy eating your mice and voles. I want to see pictures of this skinning process it might work for squirrels too. We can then add the recipes for bacon wrapped mouse in the cooking forum.

[leech~~]

Donbo, great question. A friend of mine represents Anthony Zimmer the fella that goes around the world eating unusual food. Usually when he's eating monkey brain or something he will say "it has a nutty sweetness to it." Mouse isn't too far off from that.

This!

[DonBo]

Maybe I'll just keep my cats.

[NoWiser]

My little dog was just chased in from these cats.

Oh boy. Not to make fun of your situation, but there are some things I just wouldn't post on the internet, and the above comment would be one of them

My personal experience with bucket traps is that you need a MINIMUM of 3-4" of water in the bucket unless you plan on catch and release. My buddy and I made one in Canada and watched our victim fall in. As we were toasting our bottle of Labatts the mouse jumped straight up and out of the bucket, shook off like a dog, and ran away. Once they are educated they are impossible to catch.

[nofishfisherman]

Deet, I'd suggest getting some trail cams set up in and around your hunting spot. Maybe they moved on or maybe they just use your property as a travel route to better food or bedding areas.

It could also be that your zone was intensive harvest for too long and the herd size is down. I read somewhere that they were expecting the lowest harvest in 20 years. If you are interested the DNR is starting up focus groups to talk about how to better manage the mouse herd. Whether you are in it for a trophy or meat for the freezer its important that your voice is herd. Personally I'd like to see WPR (whisker point restrictions) put into effect with a minimum of 3 per side.

As for recipes, I usually just put them on skewers and toss them in the smoker. You haven't lived until you've tried smoked mouse meat.

[Deet]

Photos? No photos the mouse kills never happened.

I was going to post the photos with their lengths and girths, but it occurred to me that then everyone would argue the claimed size and I'd lose credibility. Plus, there was a bit of blood, and I know the moderators simply would not stand for that.

Your Marcum vs. Vexilar comment made me realize my issue... DUH! I'm using Jif [peanut butter]! next to my Jiffy auger, that's just too much J-I-F for those crafty buggers. I thought about switching to Skippy for the sets closer to my ice fishing gear, but made the more frugal decision and just upgraded the auger to a Strikemaster. The Jiffy was great, but I've got mice to catch!

I think the next step is to get my Buddy Heater fired up with a fan blowing some scent to the adjacent property to draw them in. Should I be using doe-mouse estrus? Or extract some urine from one of the buckmice I caught? (I'm saving the carcasses for wolf trapping).

For the heater - I'm not worried about getting it lit. I light it with a flint rock, and it's 100% reliable. Better yet, it saves on harmful CO2 emissions from normal strike-anywhere matches that deplete the ozone and cause global warming.

[Deet]

My personal experience with bucket traps is that you need a MINIMUM of 3-4" of water in the bucket unless you plan on catch and release. My buddy and I made one in Canada and watched our victim fall in. As we were toasting our bottle of Labatts the mouse jumped straight up and out of the bucket, shook off like a dog, and ran away. Once they are educated they are impossible to catch.

Darn, I'm guilty of that. I have so much to learn. Thank God for this thread.

[monstermoose78]

Oh boy. Not to make fun of your situation, but there are some things I just wouldn't post on the internet, and the above comment would be one of them

Well my wife had the dog before we got together. I ain't worried about people giving me a hard time about having a little dog. I can take it. I just do not want to be paying vet bills, because someone leaves their cats out.

I need to get the RED RIDER BB GUN dialed in so I can get hunting these furious mice . I am going up the local hardware store to get a box of 5000 bb's. I better get a new SD card for the camera I think I could get a few trophies.

[Deet]

...

t could also be that your zone was intensive harvest for too long and the herd size is down...

It's pretty ignorant of you to come on here with advice on mousing and botch the terminology...

...It's "horde" of mice. Not "herd".

But thanks anyway.

[monstermoose78]

Make sure to clean the mouse up no bloody photo guys and no big piles of mice.Please Smile when posing with mouse. Use the wife's cooking scale to prove the weight of the mouse.

[Deet]

Whether you are in it for a trophy or meat for the freezer its important that your voice is herd.

Personally, I'm just in it to get out in the [garage] woods - smell the smells, enjoy the sunrises, get a little exercise...

Harvesting an animal is just a bonus.

Okay I think I've exhausted this whole allegory. Good luck hunting and/or fishing this weekend everyone!

and monstermoose, good luck with those stinkin' cats!

[DrJuice1980]

Moose-Tell your wife to stop feeding the cats and they will have nothing to come back for. Otherwise some good old rat poison will take care of the problem.

[Blackhawkxp]

Deet, Your critters have become nocturnal. I am pretty sure your trail cams are going to show the large ones moving late at night after shooting hours. You may want to consult the DNR hunting and trapping guide to see if there are any shining laws. Make sure you register your mice.

[nofishfisherman]

I think the next step is to get my Buddy Heater fired up with a fan blowing some scent to the adjacent property to draw them in.

If you need a fan I think I might know where you can get a free one. It has a Kansas City Royals sticker on it but the price is right.