I thought I had the only cats that did that!
Mice don't bother me, but when they brought in the squirrel...
In theory, mice can return from a mile away. But mice survive by memorizing their trails and bolt holes. In practice, when I release them near my shed 50 feet from the house, I never see them again. The shed houses a pair of muscovies and there is 50 feet of very, very short chicken mowed grass between them. And I have 6 cats.
Pretty much the only mice I have to catch are those "caught and released" and I know that this is a death sentence. I just feel that this gives the little thing a fighting chance. They can always choose to run into the tall grass on the other side of the shed away from the house if they want to live.