Spurdoodle - [Fearsome Critter]

Spurdoodle - [Fearsome Critter]

• About this critter: An incredibly pointy little thing that runs around the woods eating acorns, pinecones, seeds & nuts. It’s Dang near impossible to spot one because of its natural camo, hiding among sticks and leaves. -  it gives off a faint musk with a catnip-like quality to it, attracting felines: when the cat bites down on it, its hard, pointy & unappetizing. Never the less they persist at trying to devour the little guy until their mouths are raw and sore, said to be “what made the wildcat wild!”

• History: a critter originating from "Yarns of the Big Wods" 1922-1925 by Art Child's a former game warden in Northern Wisconsin. – he describes the critter as follows:

 "The spurdoodle is what made the wildcat wild! Here’s the story:   “The spurdoodle is a queer little animal that lives among the dead leaves and twigs in the woods and is so very like them that he is hard to find. He feeds on acorns, pine cones and other seeds of the woods.”
    “One day the old cat was out in search of his dinner when he came upon a spurdoodle, and, thinking him a tender morsel, picked him up in his mouth. He dropped him so quickly it nearly made his head spin!
    “Being very hungry, the big cat tried again to eat the troublesome spurdoodle, but the little creature put up such a fight that the cat went off in a wild rage, and he’s been called the wildcat to this day.” "

[Image Source newspapers.com: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65257198/1925-04-11-yarns-of-the-big-woods-the/ ]

Not much more to say about it, other than it’s likely meant to resemble like a dried holly leaf, painful to step on, A regualr pest for any forestry worker, Ouch! 

Sticker Art by @Samkalensky (yo, thats me!) - Part of my Fearsome critters and Cryptids collection, weather resistant 4" sticker. Check my shop & follow @samkalensky for many more!