PennDog,
Laughing here, both because of your story and a couple of similar ones.
One of my hunting mentors, in both wingshooting and big game, was the late Norm Strung, who was a hard-core hunter who grew up in New York City--back when you had to be 18 to get a driver's license. Consequently he hitch-hiked to the Catskills when he started deer hunting at age 16, with his Savage 99 in a soft case. Imagine trying that now.
Anyway, Norm left New York as soon as he graduated from high school, and moved to Montana to live in the country and become a hunting/fishing writer. He eventually bought 7 acres of land with a falling-down log cabin, and rebuilt the cabin while starting a side-career of being a fishing/hunting guide.
While rebuilding there were still a lot of mice in the place--but they not only put up the hunters in a tent next to the cabin, but fed them, his wife Sil doing the cooking. During meals a few mice ran around the "dining room," a small space including the wood cookstove she then cooked on. He kept Sil's Ruger Bearcat (the original, smaller model) on the dinner table, loaded with birdshot rounds. When a mouse showed up Norm would casually whack it with the Bearcat, which enhanced his reputation among clients!
When I was a little kid, used to stuff a short wad of Kleenex in my Daisy Red Ryder, then pour in a little sand, and another "wad." This proved very effective on flies out to about 10 feet.
