Creative Problem Solving
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March 6, 2017, Creative Problem Solving
What do you do with several hundred live mice if you are a teenage boy? Living on a ranch that raise genetically engineered deer for sale to Big Game ranches is a true scientific adventure. When a full grown male will sell for $15K-25K, and the rancher’s herd has 30+ deer, everything those deer need to thrive is provided. Not all solutions to problems are high tech. When it came to dealing with the White Footed Deer Mouse problem, low tech worked best. Take a 55 gal drum, fill it with 1/3 water, hang corn bait over the middle of the barrel and use boards as ramps so the mice can get up to the bait. When they go for the bait, they miss and fall into the tank. When you are dealing with literally thousands of field mice and the reality that chemicals around the deer is a big NO – low tech is the way to go. If you leave the water out, you can basically capture hundreds of mice alive in a couple of days. To a teenage boy it seemed like a good idea to see how many he could catch. The problem of what to do with several hundred live mice did not come up until after he had them. His solution ranks right up there with the time they released three greased baby pigs in the halls of the rival high school 10 miles up the road. Step one, arrive early as your high school halls are being opened. Step two, empty the barrel of mice into the hall. Step three, with a look of innocence’s on your face stand back and watch the chaos. This memorable solution resulted in several long days of community service. Moral: Not all good ideas are really good ideas. |