10 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 
all three of the dogs rush at something in the bushes and then 
immediately back away about as fast as they had gone forward. 
Hodges said, ‘‘ Well, Judge, it looks like the dogs have got a bear 
down there.’’ I said, ‘‘What had we better do.’’ He said, ‘‘I am 
satisfied it is a bear the way the dogs are acting, but it might be 
a porcupine.’’ He had not more than said this when my bird dog 
left the rest of the dogs and came running towards us yelping like 
a good fellow. Before he got to us, I noticed that his nose was full 
of porcupine quills. I became very courageous all of a sudden and 
went down and shot the porcupine. It was now getting dusk and we 
returned to camp and spent most of the evening extracting the porcu- 
pine quills from the mouths and noses of the three dogs. It was a 
very painful operation for the dogs, as we had to chain them to one 
of the wheels of the hack and use forceps to pull out the quills. 
A great many people have an erroneous idea about the way the 
porcupine defends itself with these little weapons that nature has 
provided it with. A good many think that the porcupine shoots or 
throws the quills, and I remember when a boy of reading in the 
geography about how the porcupine, which inhabit the Pacifie Coast, 
by the contraction of its skin could throw its quills in order to defend 
itself. I know from observation that such is not the case. A dog, 
or other animal, in order to be pierced by the quills of a poreupine, 
must come in contact with the porcupine. These quills are very 
poisonous and, unless removed, will work further into the body, and 
I have known of them going clear through a dog’s jaw. 
After hunting grouse for a few days with very little success, we 
started for home. We stopped one night at the mouth of Beaver 
Creek and made our beds on the ground with only the canopy of the 
heavens for a tent. I got up about daylight and went fishing for 
trout. By the time the sun had got high enough to dry the ground 
from the heavy dew that had fallen during the night, so that it was 
comfortable for my wife and children to get up, I returned with 
a nice mess of trout for breakfast. After partaking of a breakfast 
of fried trout, toasted bread and coffee, whitened with milk from 
our cow, namely, a can of Carnation cream, we loaded our hack and 
drove to La Grande, having spent a very enjoyable and health-pro- 
ducing vacation. 
WONDERFUL LAKES OF BAKER COUNTY 
By J. K. FisHer, Haines, Oregon 
A good many lakes in Baker County, and, who knows not Baker’s 
lakes have still much to see to complete the circle of knowledge, in 
early days were without trout; but nearly all of them are now well 
stocked as the result of either individual effort or by procuring small 
fry from the Government or the State hatcheries. 
My first experience in stocking a lake occurred in September, 
1885, and for that purpose Van Patten Lake was selected. It was a 
fine pody of water, possessing all the requirements for an ideal fishing 
ground, and I assigned to myself the task of making it complete in 
what it then lacked. 
I tried to interest others in the scheme, but met with no success 
as it was not considered feasible. Without stating my purpose, I 
succeeded in inducing a friend to go with me, and when it was im- 
possible for him to turn back, I conveyed the purpose of our visit. 
