Powder and mice?

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I store my powder in the box it's shipped in on a shelf under a bench in my "loading/storage/secure" room. If I were to be asked (which I'm obviously not šŸ¤£ ) how I prevent mouse damage it's by a never ending all out war on mice in every room in the house, the garage, the shed and all outside perimeters. I always win šŸ†!! šŸ˜ˆ

A good bit of the credit goes to Mrs. Longcruise who is a formidable general.
 
I was going through my powder this morning and a mouse had chewed through the bottom of one of the cans in the back. Has anyone else had any problems with mice getting into their powder? I would have never thought that they would chew into it, it must smell good to them or something. I am just glad that I found it as soon as I did. Only lost just a little bit of it into the carpet.
They are attracted to the sulpher, just like stick matches. Hope they donā€™t start smokingā€¦
 
I once started waterfoul season with half of my decoys sunk before the light of day arrived. Strange was only mallard drakes sunk and upon inspection they were all gnawed at the ankle on the leg. Every one had both ankles gnawed through. One thing that stuck out was an orange color paint that was use in this area to make it look like the ankles were out and just above the water. I believe the brand was Carylite!!
 
That is why in the days of old, black powder was kept in wood kegs. Chewing through a half to an inch of wood was kind of hard on Mighty Mouse and his cuspids. John Wayne knew of the problem. He had General Sterling Price. If you remember, he was a drunken cat who could whip anybody with his paws tied behind him. That cat could sure irritate judges. If you get a cat, be sure and give him an honorable name. We had a cat back in Oklahoma by the HONORABLE name of JEB STUART. You guessed it, NO MICE; the creatures feared Ole JEB, and rightfully so. I'll close with the frontier slogan, KEEP YOUR POWDER SAFE!!
 
That is why in the days of old, black powder was kept in wood kegs. Chewing through a half to an inch of wood was kind of hard on Mighty Mouse and his cuspids. John Wayne knew of the problem. He had General Sterling Price. If you remember, he was a drunken cat who could whip anybody with his paws tied behind him. That cat could sure irritate judges. If you get a cat, be sure and give him an honorable name. We had a cat back in Oklahoma by the HONORABLE name of JEB STUART. You guessed it, NO MICE; the creatures feared Ole JEB, and rightfully so. I'll close with the frontier slogan, KEEP YOUR POWDER SAFE!!
I can promise you, that a mouse can chew thru a Inch of wood no problem. They thrive on chewing wood.We live in the country,and you cant keep those field mice out of anything. And the poison bait they make these days is worthless.
 
I was going through my powder this morning and a mouse had chewed through the bottom of one of the cans in the back. Has anyone else had any problems with mice getting into their powder? I would have never thought that they would chew into it, it must smell good to them or something. I am just glad that I found it as soon as I did. Only lost just a little bit of it into the carpet.
Some newer plastics are now soy based instead of being made from oil. It is widely used in newer cars for insulation on wires. My wife's car has had its wiring chewed on. A mechanic told her not only is it edible, but mice love the taste! He suggested she stop at an auto parts store and buy a jug of repellent, what she got is peppermint scented. Periodically spraying under the car & under the hood has kept the vermin at bay. It should protect your powder jugs, and you might want to use it on your cars.
 
In this one building in Iraq, our network started to deteriorate and finally became unusable. We found packet loss just from our room to the switch was basically total. Our "office" -- an old game butchering room when Saddam used it as a hunting lodge -- had the nicest wiring of any office on that base, everything in panduit (flat surface mounted conduit) and properly spaced.

We pulled off the panduit covers and suddenly mice went scurrying everywhere. Our cables were naked, in many places down to pure copper. There were little piles of CAT 5 insulation and nest debris for about 30' on 3 separate runs.

At ISAF HQ in Kabul, there was no problem with rodents. They had a catch, neuter, and release program for stray cats.

At another base in Kabul, we started to see mice everywhere. Then a mama cat moved into our logistics tent and dropped a litter of 4 kittens. Shortly, all the mice disappeared. One evening I went behind the logistics tent and mama was teaching one of the kittens to hunt. The mouse was long since dead, but the kitten would through the mouse in the air and then pounce on it as it landed.

...and the eco-whackos say we're the only species that hunts for sport. šŸ™„ Obviously, they've never seen cats.
or my stock dog ... sweet gal ... a Great Pyr ... wouldn't hurt anything, except of course if you were messing with my goats ...

or if you were a barn rat ... sometimes it just flat sucks to be a rat ... i keep telling her not to play with her food, but she pays no attention
 
[snip] And the poison bait they make these days is worthless.
The cats they make these days are just as deadly as the original predator God gave us to protect grain. I haven't heard of a mouse yet that became immune to razor sharp claws and long teeth. Now, if you end up with those massive Wharf Rats, you just need a larger caliber cat. A Maine coon will do in a pinch, but just go nuclear and get a caracal:
Caracal_vs_mouse.jpeg

At up to 42lbs and the ability to jump straight up 20' to grab a bird in mid-flight, this is the premier predator for home defense. Just don't name him "cuddles."

=========
Kudos to Old Jeb, an honorable working cat who paid his way in dead rodents.
 
I am going nuts trying to figure out what BP forum i posted my pics of the chewed BP bottles. The only place I can think of that I cannot check is the defunct 1858 Remington forum. I will have to find my pics and post them here.


Oh, and we now have 5 cats and one is a Maincoon. He is a true hunter/killer.
 
I can promise you, that a mouse can chew thru a Inch of wood no problem. They thrive on chewing wood.We live in the country,and you cant keep those field mice out of anything. And the poison bait they make these days is worthless.

Yeah, and what other options were there for storage.

L&C had their powder packaged in lead containers. Waterproof, beastproof and lead for ball.
 
Reminds me of the goat that ate dynamite ...Mayberry... :)
One day many years ago now, I was clearing out some gunk holes for firefighting water with ditching dynamite. After I set my charges, I went back to where I had stashed the rest of the dynamite and found that my dog had torn up about 3 sticks and eaten more than a little bit. When I got back to my house I called the veterinarian to see if I was going to need to make a run for his office. A somewhat taken aback vet said, "First and most importantly, DO NOT KICK THE DOG!" He also opined that the dynamite probably tasted sweet which is what induced my dog to chew it.
All's well that ends well. In the end my dog had a wicked headache and never showed anymore interest in dynamite!
 

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