A good year for Voles?

[Trailhead]

I've been hiking in the High Peaks for a while and haven't seen that many voles around.

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were on the summit of Upper Wolf Jaw when one ran up to us looking for food. We watched him for a while and then moved on to Armstrong summit where another vole came out looking for food. Gothics summit, you guessed it, another hungry vole looking for a piece of our lunch. We spotted a couple more on our way down over Pyramid. Maybe I haven't been paying attention all these years but I was wondering if someone knows - is it a bad year for predators?

 

[Zimmer]

I've heard that Jackson, in the Whites, has quite a crop of them this year, too.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I saw one or two (may have been one, seen twice) on Isolation on Wednesday. Didn't venture far from the cover of the brush. Never seen one before, although there are clearly signs of mouse or vole nests around if you look in the shelters -- might be old or winter nests though.

Tim

 

[Raymond]

I caught sight of something small moving on Seward last weekend, and I too saw a little rodent on Jackson.

And a mouse came out on the summit of Katahdin when I first climbed it 12 years ago.

 

[ColdRiverRun]

Maybe it was just one vole that was hitching a ride! Everytime you stopped he decided to check out the view.
I once had a fisher follow me from before the Dial summit over to Nippletop. I think he was either plotting something OR maybe the fact that when I got to Dial summit I found a couple who said they had been feeding it trail mix and he thought my peanut butter bagel smelled good.

 

[dr_wu002]

I saw one on Big Slide last September while on Timmus' ADK46 hike. I was on the hike but and to the best of my knowledge, the Vole was just a spectator.

I also saw one on the Lincoln Woods Trail. This one climbed a tree and I was able to get up real close and look at it. I thought about taking it for myself but it must be rude to take an animal out of a wilderness area and claim it as yer "pet."

I have a soft spot in my heart for rodents. I've had pet mice, rats, hamsters and gerbils. They're kinda gross as pets. Chipmunks, in my opinion, are the greatest. I like finding all the ones on my property and I give them peanuts. I once saw a mouse running around outside of Gillette as I was walking into work one day. This mouse had the most exquisite markings, and looked like a well bred mouse. I've seen mice running around before but never one that looked like an escape show-mouse. I actually considered capturing that one, but where the hell was I going to put it at work and what kind of excuse was I to make to get it past security? I don't think a "visitor's badge" would have sufficed.

Does anyone have decent pictures of any rodents that they've seen in the wild that they'd care to post? I'd like to see those...

-Dr. Wu