Mice/floorless shelter
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: SBH
03-Mar-21
I bought a stone glacier sky air UlT and used it last fall on a few elk hunts and scouting trips. First time using a floorless shelter. Found myself worrying a couple of times during the day while I was gone that I would come back to find a mouse or squirrel chewed up my sleeping bag! I have heard some stories of mice/spiders etc running across your face and what not with these shelters but has anyone ever run into this potential problem? Or am I worrying about nothing?
From: DanaC
03-Mar-21
Might want to add a 'bivvy sack' cover to the bag. I prefer mice to spiders...
From: Hackbow
03-Mar-21
Been using tarps for years while elk hunting. Occasionally, I've had a spider or two want to share the same space. Haven't had any mice or squirrels bother anything - yet. Most nights spent at 9,200-10,000'.
Did have a very determined salamander try to crawl on my face 3 times one night. Felt bad about it, but after the third time he got launched as far as I could throw him.
From: SBH
03-Mar-21
Generally no snakes where I'm hunting. NOT a snake guy. That would be a problem for me:) I just don't want my WM bag ripped up while I'm gone!
From: Hoot
03-Mar-21
I’ve had a spider bite once, that’s it in 9 years of floorless shelter in the Colorado high country...
From: Jaquomo
03-Mar-21
Mice running across me, yes. No equipment damage besides a knife sheath chewed up. But spiders love me. Have had a couple nasty bites from "sleeping bag spiders". I went floorless for many years but now prefer a tent I can zip up tight.
From: Predeter
03-Mar-21
Been floorless for the last 5 or 6 years. A few creepy crawlies but no issues with gear damage.
From: TRnCO
03-Mar-21
this past season I went rifle hunting with my brothers, for a change, and we had the big canvas tents, floorless. Have always done it this way. BUT this past elk season, the mice were relentless. Have never seen so many mice in and around camp. No place in camp was safe for food, them little suckers were climbing the walls even. Food was their goal, although in just 9 days there, when we broke down camp we found that they had already started to make nests in a couple of spots. They didn't do any damage to anything that we found, although they did chew a couple of holes through game bags and literally chewed on some elk meat that was in the back of my truck.
From: Cheesehead Mike
03-Mar-21
I've had mice crawling all over me to the point it just about drove me crazy and I could not sleep. They chewed holes in some Smartwool socks. I've also had a nasty spider bite. I still use a floorless shelter occasionally but prefer a tent I can zip closed.
From: Grunt-N-Gobble
03-Mar-21
Hearing some of these stories at times makes me reconsider using my Kifaru MegaTarp. No issues yet with spiders or mice but I don't want them either.
From: GF
03-Mar-21
Yeah, that Kifaru sounds like a really bad idea… Better send it to me for proper disposal. (I’ll even reimburse you for shipping!)
From: MathewsMan
03-Mar-21
Only damage I’ve had was inside a Cabelas floored tent a mouse chewed up a sleeve on a shirt.
From: WYelkhunter
03-Mar-21
Have gone floor less for many years now. Keep the tent clean after eating and you won't have problems with little or large furry critters
From: bowhunt
03-Mar-21
Check out a Borah Gear Bug Bivy. Works great to solve all the above issues described and only weighs around 8 oz.
From: Old School
03-Mar-21
All 3 of my tents have floors - for all the reasons stated above. I’ve got no time for reptiles or rodents or arachnids on an elk hunt - or anytime for that matter.
From: Ken Taylor
03-Mar-21
I used to sleep anywhere on the ground in the open air or under just a piece of tarp when rain was probable (I seem to do it less these days, I hope that's not a sign that I'm getting old, lol!).
Anyhow, once on a solo hunt deep in the northern bush I woke up in the middle of the night with a loud rumbling noise in my ear... a tiny spider!
After a few failed attempts using the usual shake and poke techniques, I ended up having to boil water, empty the medication out of a small squeeze bottle (that I luckily had in my small first aid kit), and used it to flush the spider out. The water was a bit too hot and I don't think that my hearing on that side has ever been the same, lol.
My Cree father in law told me later that the same thing happened to him once and he got it out with oil.
Ear plugs would solve that problem, but I like being able to hear the moose, bears, and wolves, or other that roam around me occasionally after dark.
From: Pop-r
03-Mar-21
If you spend enough time in the mountains the mice will find you. Especially at public campgrounds. We carry traps with us and very regularly catch mice in the mountains in very remote places.
From: DonVathome
03-Mar-21
On occasion I have issues with mice - other then laving camp for 2-3 days it was only 1 time in NM. Other years minor to nothing.
From: DanaC
03-Mar-21
Pack in a baggie full of mothballs and scatter them around your tent.
From: muliemad
03-Mar-21
Buy a box of fresh cab set a bag in your tent and your golden no more mice!
From: SBH
03-Mar-21
Wont be any food in this shelter:) can’t barely even sit up in it! For Under 1lb....it does the job if the weather isn’t too bad. Never been thru a bad storm with it. I don’t think it would be an enjoyable time in bad weather but for overnight bivy on the light side it’s awesome. Sounds like my sleeping bag is safe! Thanks fellas
From: Bowboy
03-Mar-21
I've never went floor less. I just like keeping the bugs out.
From: Muleysareking
03-Mar-21
One more thing to think of in the spring is ticks. They seem to love a a warm tent, floor or not. Have had them to around 7,000 ft.
From: Tonybear61
04-Mar-21
No mice but some big, big , aggressive spiders in Eastern MT. I thought I was going to need a flying car...
From: Deek
04-Mar-21
depends where you hunt. If your hunting worldwide I would make sure you get the Plague I and II series shots. They aint fun but sleeping in dirt all over world it may help ya. In dry areas with plenty mice Hanta is always a concern too.
Its the small stuff that gets ya.
Deek
From: MTNRCHR
04-Mar-21
I had my good merino base layer shirt completely destroyed one night this elk season by mice. Had it drying on my pack in my vestibule. SOB's
From: goyt
04-Mar-21
We have been sleeping in a wall tent on cots. Being off of the floor we have not had a problem with mice or spiders in our beds but the mice are ever present in the tent. We set out traps and keep our food in totes. They always seem to chew on something here and there.
From: Z Barebow
04-Mar-21
A floored shelter isn't a cure all, (I had a squirrel chew a door on my Kodiak. I had a mouse chew through the floor of a nylon tent to reach food. And in 2019 I had a bear in my tent) but I that is the only tent I use now.
In my tarp days, I went postal on mice one night in NM. They were crawling over my bag and running across my sil ground cloth. I finally clicked on the headlamp, grabbed a boot and went to town. (The death toll was high!)
Same trip I slept under stars one night. Woke up and felt something crawling on my bag. I freaked and kicked. Whatever it was went airborne and ran off. (It was rabbit sized near as I could tell!) Took a little time for adrenaline to wear off from that one.
From: bad karma
04-Mar-21
I take a small bag of chips and leave the pieces on the ground about ten yards away from the tipi. After I started doing that, the packrats that wanted to race atop my sleeping bag were happy being elsewhere.
From: Shuteye
04-Mar-21
I don't sleep in my ground blind but going in when it is still dark can be exciting. I keep snacks in a ammo box with tight lid. Birds like to roost in there and in the evening they light in the open window sill and want me to get out.
From: Deek
04-Mar-21
Sw mice have Hanta. If you hunting dirt on other continents in dry arid lands get Plague I & II vaccine. Its the little stuff that gets ya.
Deek
From: Scar Finga
04-Mar-21
When I go to sleep, I want to sleep. I use a full zippered high quality waterproof tent!
I don't want rodents running around in my tent, nor spiders, nor snakes! Nor rain or whatever! A few ounces is worth it!!
From: Jims
05-Mar-21
I've been using the fly off my 4 season Hilliberg Nallo for years. The bottom of the fly pretty much meets the ground. I've never had a problem with mice in spiders and I've been hunting Wyo, Colo, and Alaska for years. It may be smart to hang your food in a tree to keep your tent from getting ripped to threads by a bear and mice less reason to visit your tent.
I pack my sleeping bag in my dry bag during the day as a precaution against getting wet or having critters screw around with it. I would advise keeping your tent area as clean of food and other gear as possible.
From: elkocd
05-Mar-21
For those of you not worried about spiders I have a story for you... Ever herd of necrosis? ;)
From: Scar Finga
05-Mar-21
^^^^ And that is why I use a tent!!!
From: standswittaknife
06-Mar-21
Used floorless for years and will probably never go back. Elkocd's picture is obviously doctored up because that stuff doesn't happen to elk hunters...
From: elkocd
06-Mar-21
I also use a floorless and no the pic is not doctored. I spent 2 days in and out of the ER getting IV antibiotics for the thick red line running running up my arm through my armpit towards my heart. All the black tissue died and I had to see an orthopedist about damage to the joint 2 months later.
To be clear the bite did not happen while sleeping in a floorless tent. It happened from reaching into a hunting bag that had been on the ground, but my son and I routinely find spiders under our sleeping pads. The seem to like the warmth or moisture or something.
From: bowhunt
06-Mar-21
My sleeping pad, bag, and pillow are inside the Borah Gear Bug Bivy on left side of tent. Weighs next to nothing, and keeps the critters/bugs out.
From: elkster
11-Mar-21
Not until this past season in public campground in unit 49 co. Relentless mice. I would pile up ramen etc 40 yards away so I could at least get sleep the first half of the night. Previous 6-7 years, no problems.
From: badbull
11-Mar-21
Sometimes even a floor doesn't keep the mice out. I once had a camper stored at my elk hunting site that I returned to in the middle of the night. As my son and I attempted to go to sleep l saw little gray shadows criss crossing over my son's sleeping bag. I grabbed my boot and started wacking away on my son in his bag waking him. He thought that I had gone nuts. I found some traps and over the next 12 hours had a pile of 16 dead mice. I have had mice in my camper shell just after a day's hunt so sometimes it's hard to keep those little buggers out. Good luck....... Badbull
From: TEmbry
11-Mar-21
Love floorless for backpack hunts. Took this on my only successful trip for dall sheep but got burned pretty hard in the high country without a vestibule from high winds and terrible guy out options. I will continue to always pack this as spare shelter on all base camp hunts and for elk or mule deer type hunts though. More room and way less weight that floored double wall tents
From: Highway Star
12-Mar-21
This is a fun thread, never had a tent with a floor, I used to store Bow and shoes under my cot. I had a mouse chew through a shoe lace that was laying right next to my bow. Since then I hang my bow off of the ground. But mice can walk up the walls on a canvas tent, not much damage but will keep you awake at night. Not sure if there is an answer for mice. Scott
From: JamesCampbell
12-Mar-21
I saw your pass and immediately wanted to go hiking!
From: Kevin Dill
12-Mar-21
I have only gone floorless on many Alaska hunts. There are plenty of mice and voles around, but they seldom cause me an issue. In warmer climates I'm just sure what I'd do, but it would be tough to give up the tipi.
One of the creatures which would concern me (in certain regions) would be scorpions. I got stung on the face by a brown scorpion several years ago. It happened in the dark and I was pretty shocked by it. Scorpions are mostly night prowlers and they seem inclined to be aggressive when moving around.
From: Whocares
12-Mar-21
Last year was insane for mice in Colorado. Never saw anything like it. I've always used a backpacking tent with a floor. Used one in the AZ desert several years. Little critters and crawlers nastier than mice there. I 'd always check my sleeping bag out before crawling in down there even with a floor. Remember some years back my daughters asked what if a lion comes and tears into your tent. Told them its nylon and lions and bears don't like the sound of scratching nylon with their claws so no problem. They just looked at me and said, oh. I don't think they ever believed much I told them in their growing up years either.
From: WYelkhunter
26-Mar-21
Have gone floor less for many years now. Keep the tent clean after eating and you won't have problems with little or large furry critters
From: Heat
26-Mar-21
Been using a floorless wall tent for a while and haven't had to deal with many intruders. A few beetles and spiders here and there but no rodents yet. We keep the food out of the tent which helps I think.
From: Owl
26-Mar-21
My dad was bitten by a brown recluse in the middle of his forehead. Rotted a dime-sized depression almost to the skull that required a plastic surgeon to repair. Depending on what's in your neck of the woods, I'd opt for a sealed shelter.
From: butcherboy
27-Mar-21
Yep. Too many nasty critters that can get you in the night. Even in the day when they crawl in during the night. No thanks. I keep everything zipped up tight and no food in the tent.
From: YZF-88
28-Mar-21
Enclosed tent for me! I freaking hate mice! In 2012 I had a Utah tag. Was sleeping in my Jeep and the bastards still got in. Kept running over my sleeping bag. Kicked one hard enough to hit the roof. Had a buddy coming up to help the next day...so I had him bring mouse traps. They worked...and I killed my first bull the next day.
