In the Pacific Northwest (and elsewhere), it's now hunting season. But instead of gun-racks in the pick-ups, our most fearless, intrepid hunters drive around with old doors or ratty-looking sheets of plywood strapped to the hoods of their cars, or hanging out the tailgates of their pick-up trucks. These hunters are after one of the most vicious of quarry, one capable of both long slashing wounds and deep punctures. It can only be approached by cautiously creeping towards it on a broad protective plank - like a door - and even then one of its hundreds of arms is sure to inflict some painful scratches.

We're talking blackberry picking. Is there any more well-protected fruit than this one? The long, supporting vines can have diameters of well over an inch. They are studded with huge, curved th…