Mighty hunters and the Rodent invasion

Hands down one of my favorite skills Greg is so good at is killing rodents. He encourages his children to also be hair-trigger hunters. So far they are about half as good. I asked Greg to set a trap in my truck as I was pretty sure a mouse was alive in there. Thankfully I never saw it just lots of mouse reminders. YUCK! But harvest had to happen and I was fully covered from close-toed shoes to long pants it wasn't a problem I dwelt on. (After hearing Gregs cousin share the sad tale of a young woman who wrecked her car and died over a spider scaring her we have to be real about fear. Rodents or spiders are not things that should be causing loss of control when driving to the point of death. The woman's mother was riding with her and survived the wreck. How tragic!)

He obliged in setting the trap late one night. The next morning I opened the door to take a load in and there was a dead mouse. 

Now objectively it was a very pretty mouse. Light tan and white underbelly, blue eyes, and wee whiskers. It had a very delicate face. This was a mouse to have its picture drawn. I DID NOT! But I was impressed with its features. It must have been a country mouse? Bruce came and emptied the trap for me. I told him I was so thankful that he would protect me from mice!

I was very startled to find this first thing in the morning. That was after finding one in a bucket outside my door a few minutes before. Bruce also killed that one. So he made $2.00 dealing with mice for me.

I've heard stories from 3 other people about trapping mice in their houses. The two women had to empty the traps themselves. YUCK!! I'm so thankful to be so pampered to not have to touch rodents alive or dead!!!

And the grey kitty aka Pack Rat was also caught this weekend. Greg and my nephew set the trap one more time this time using a smaller nickel and wham that rat was caught a few hours later. They are so gross and big. And messy. Their distinctive piles are intriguing and gross. It was also stealing eggs as shown in the picture. We are so brave to get jars from this place.

I'm thankful to have a few less mice. 

We also have several owls back at our place. Mark was out riding the pivot as it moved watching and waiting for problems and heard the air moving above him. This great horned owl landed about 6 feet above on the top of the tower support. It started hooting, A few seconds later another joined on the opposite tower. They sat for a while then took off. Truly people pay for the experiences with nature and animals we get. 

 

While at beet harvest I watched the seagulls gang hunt the abundant mice. Two would corner the mouse then another would join and finally one would snatch the mouse. A bald eagle was also hunting. It is strong and able but the other birds gang up on them too pecking and pestering and sometimes getting their mice. There are so many mice this year we truly do need a hard freeze.

This morning Bruce found live mice in a bucket outside our door. He dumped them out and only stomped one. They are learning. So far we have no mice in our house that I am aware of. And we are thankful for all the extra predators.