Porcupine Midnight Rendezvous

[saline]

Went for a quick overnight on the Grand Mesa here in western Colorado. It sits at about 10,000ft and has over 200 lakes on it. A great escape from the heat for sure.
Around midnight I woke to what I thought was a large rodent encroaching upon my van. I could hear it scratching and gnawing. Eventually I got up after my banging and cussing from the interior had little effect. Upon exterior inspection I found a mid sized porcupine taking up residence in my house battery tray. I wasn't even sure that he wasn't stuck. Despite some verbal assault and gentle prodding with a stick it was unfazed by my actions. Given his position in relation to me kneeling on the ground in my underwear I felt that I was at a tactical disadvantage should he choose to transition to an offensive strategy. I pictured myself rolling over backwards with an angry porcupine at my jugular as he aggressively filled me with quills.
At any rate I went back to bed and woke a few more times cursing him as he scratched and gnawed at something near the drivers side frame rail. Eventually around 3:30 am he decided to leave.
Good times.

[86Scotty]

Good times for sure.

[vwteleman]

Water! They hate water.

When I worked summers up in the Yukon, they would gnaw on the plywood of our wall tents in the middle of the night. We'd take the backpack fire pumps to 'em - we called them Indian piss pumps, they could shoot a half-inch stream about 40' - and they'd scurry off pretty quickly.



I certainly wouldn't want to leave a porcupine chewing on my van.

Cheers,
Brent

[saline]

Yep, piss bags as we call them!
I looked two different times to see what he was chewing on but there were no vital organs there. I was wondering if he was gnawing road salt from the frame.

[arctictraveller]

Wow, hope he wasn't chewing on your battery wires.

[rallypanam]

Originally Posted by saline

Given his position in relation to me kneeling on the ground in my underwear I felt that I was at a tactical disadvantage should he choose to transition to an offensive strategy.

I just want to highlight this line. Excellent.

[86Scotty]

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by vwteleman

Water! They hate water.

When I worked summers up in the Yukon, they would gnaw on the plywood of our wall tents in the middle of the night. We'd take the backpack fire pumps to 'em - we called them Indian piss pumps, they could shoot a half-inch stream about 40' - and they'd scurry off pretty quickly.

I certainly wouldn't want to leave a porcupine chewing on my van.

Cheers,
Brent

I don't know if I want to be in my underwear, in the middle of the night, spraying water near my battery box.

That, and if the sight of Saline in his tighty-whities didn't scare off the poor porcupine, I'm not sure a little water would do the trick.


Herb

[Bbasso]

Interactions with nature at its finest... in the middle of the night, awesome!