So I get my customer work done about 11am and decide to find all my stuff for Sunday's pike outing on GBay. Told we're using suckers, so knowing I have a couple quick strike rigs somewhere (and can't find them) I think maybe they're in the glove box of the boat. Open the door and see movement.. not good. Now here's a real good reason not to carry any original documents. Glad my vessel licence/insurance/etc are all copies. Them and the zip lock bag they were in are part of this mess.. as is my roll of TP.. roll of shop towel.. part of my Nippising paper charts.
I got two of the babies.. but damn sure momma ran off with one or two in her mouth. Glad I caught them when I did.. pre eye open and hope she bails out of the boat or gets caught in the traps I set.
Now for a bit of history, I noticed 2 pieces of mouse crap back in the fall at the rear of the boat but suspected it was just dropped in from above from a mouse crossing a roof truss above. Haven't had an issue any previous year. I purposely remove the trailering straps so that they have nothing to climb up etc. How or why they take the time to jump up to a trailer frame.. onto a bunk board.. up the transducer wires is all I can figure.. all the way thru the gunnel storage compartments and up into the glove box is beyond me... all while carrying ACORNS in their mouths. I can't even find a spot the size of an acorn that they can get thru to get in there. Another interesting thing.. they seem to do most of their eating over in the right storage locker and they only like the nice plush carpet under their little friggin feet. Not a speck of acorn beyond the carpeted area and I had to pull every rod locker end plate out to get at the full interior of the gunnel/storage compartments. They don't eat in their nest area at all, so if you see signs of eating you'd better start tearing EVERYTHING apart until you find their nest. So 4 hours of going through the boat, accessing everything short of pulling up the floor boards and I think I got everything. Still a mouse running around in there I'm sure.
That's a lot of trips in and out of the boat, and out to the oak tree and back ! I got lucky.. right in front of this pile of chips was the food stash... full acorns pushed up inside my rear curtain that was rolled up in this compartment. Not a scratch or bit of mouse piss on it... was like the mouse sat each acorn down and shoved them in with it's nose!
If you haven't pulled your own boat out yet, it might be worth a good look soon. Been a bad year for mice. I've never had them in the airplanes in the 17 years my hangar has been standing and figured it was all the junk to the sides and a pile of Roxul bundles left over from the house keeping them happy. The mice are so determined this year I've had 3 out of 6 airplanes so far that they've jumped up to the floats (on blocks).. climbed the mounting struts... somehow gone thru closes doors and made nests in various places inside the airplanes.
Oh and by the way.. this puts to death the myth that bounce sheets keep mice out of things!