June 2008
Porcupines Beware
While hiking with my family in the Adirondack Mountains last fall, our German shorthaired pointer "Jazz" found a new friend. I think this friend was the one our mom's warned us about because this friend turned out to be a 25 lb porcupine! Her yelps led us to find her with close to 150 quills sticking out of her face in every direction. Without hesitation, like we were pro's at this sort of thing (which we aren't) I grabbed the dog, pinned her to the ground and tried to pull the quills with my bare hands. To my surprise, this method is next to impossible! Calmly, my father produced the Leatherman we got him for fathers day when we were kids. About ten quills per pull, they surely came out faster than any other method imaginable, not to mention we were 5 miles from any sort of civilization. All the quills eventually came out, and Jazz walked away to hike another day.
Just the thought of wrangling a quill faced dog 5 miles back to the truck convinced me to go buy my own Leatherman Charge on the way home. It hasn’t left my pocket since. Now I'm just worried about skunks.....
Jon M.
Batavia, NY
OK, you voyeur, you. Enough of reading other people's stories. It's time you told your own tale of gripping heroism or even just neat DIY'ism. We know there's a Shakespeare in you somewhere. Don't make us use the Steens to find it.