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Date:         Fri, 4 Oct 1996 18:45:00 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Austin <austins@ix.netcom.com>
Subject:      Re: re dagnab varmits

At 01:04 AM 10/4/96 -0500, you wrote: >> >>I left my Westfalia at a trailhead for five days and returned to find >>evidence of a full blown mouse party. They seemed to prefer the instant >>oatmeal, but sampled most of what was available in the main cabin area and >>left their little calling cards everywhere. Anyone have any experience

>They got into my EV last summer too. Found evidence the night before >getting ready to leave, set us back a few hours cleaning everything out. >We have deer mice around here, and there was another incidence of hantavirus >North of Seattle a few weeks before, so we did the full wetdown and then >wipe everything out to avoid kicking up dust. >I don't know how they got in, but they not only ate a bunch of food, they >also chewed their way through several airline liquor bottles (they're >plastic.) >As I recall, they went for the Drambuie and something else. Scotch? >Damn mice have good taste. >Since then, we've quit leaving food in the van and haven't seen them back yet.

In '92 I took the kids up to Tuolumne Meadows & hiked in ~9 miles to Young lake - put the food in a stuff sack & got it up ~20' & out on the end of a long branch; 3am Mr. Bear went all the way up, out to the end of the branch, grabbed what he was after & promptly fell, landing a coupla feet from the tent (always pick a tree some distance from your tent - having him sniff & snort all around the tent was highly unnerving). Next morning we hiked back out (yes, after finding his mess & cleaning it up), dog-tired & *very* hungry.

Get to the Vanagon - & find the passenger's side window in little crunchy pieces all over the ground & inside. Before leaving I had carefully put all the extra food in the 'trunk' (it's an AdventureWagen), but missed the baggy of M&M's the kids had forgotten about on the back seat. Mrs. Bear (can't be sexist while spreading the blame around) stood on the front tire, hooked her claws through the slightly open window, & gave it a good shake, then crawled through - over the seats, over the dash, over everything, leaving clumps of hair & bear mudprints everywhere, even the windshield. In the back I had a big piece of cardboard protecting the rug, & there were bear-butt prints & long tongue streaks where she had chased the rolly-polly M&M's into every corner before capturing the wily little critters. So now imagine she had sniffed out tasty little mice under the dash, or in the under seat boxes, or under the seats - probably would have had to drive home kneeling down . . .

(& bye the bye - bears *really* stink!)

Austin


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