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Just wondering how everyone feels about porcupines? I've heard of some people that own dogs taking them out because of the danger to the dogs obviously. Just wondering what else they may do to the environment that I don't know about, and if anyone else gets rid of them.
Thanks!
Don't eat them so I leave them be. Wouldn't considered them enough of a danger to my dog warranting elimination.
I don't bother them either, they are easy to catch, so easy food if you are lost in the bush.
I have never killed one, but have seen many of them - some quite up close!!! My mentality is the same as finsfurfeathers: why kill something that is not bothering me and I am not going to eat it anyway?
I had a dog for 12 years and now I have a new one that is hopefully going to hunt with me. I have only run into ONE porco while out with a dog and nothing bad ever happened. My friend's dogs have been hit but they handled the situation and their dogs were fine after. That being said, I wouldn't want my dog to go through any pain.
Something interesting: The quill of the porcupine is scaled so it moves forward every time the victim moves. If a tip is left in the body, it can travel and enter a vital part, killing the animal weeks later.
Every farmer I have ever spoken to, has asked me to kill porcupines if I see any on their property.
They chew through barns and sheds, destroy trees and cause other problems...
As a young hunter, I once ran into some guys on crown land who were specifically hunting porcos. I found that quite strange at the time but didn't ask questions.
Here's the latest porcupine I met in the field. We didn't shake hands but he was smiling when I left. :)
http://i643.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps3a75868b.jpg
Ate one as kid in our "lets try one of everything" hunting days, really wild taste with bitter nutty taste. We cooked over fire in chunks, was very fatty. Don't have much use today for them and would leave them along. My brother in-law had a problem with them and the pressure treated outhouse at camp, apparently the salt or chemicals in the wood taste good.
I guess I am on the other side of the fence. As a farmer and hunter landowner ,I have had an ongoing, battle with porky's. Our area has a lot of big swamps this has been a constant supply of them for years. Have had cattle with their faces full of quills . I can assure that it no fun for me or the cow to remove them. Come spring when the trees are running sap they love to eat the bark from young trees.This usually kills the tree. They seem to love eat plywood, at our hunt camp they ate through the floor. not a good thing. Toilet seats are a favorite also, I guess looking for salt I usually shoot them if I see them. My opinion may not be popular but ,it is my opinion. Old243
I get rid of them too if near my house or buildings . Other than that I leave them be . I know a few native ladies that ask me to bring them any roadkill porkies . They pluck the quills out and use them in crafts which they sell .
TD
Dang usually toss them especially if they are bitter. :joker:Quote:
Originally Posted by line052
I shoot them. The damage pines by stripping bark. Dogs and quills is problem too. I've probably spent close to $1000 on porcupine related dog encounters.
I get rid of them when i have a chance for a land owner. The porks will kill healthy trees as well eat any wood it can find including your house, trailer, deer stands your name it. I don't eat them but we do turn them over for the scavengers to take care of.
Obviously many of you haven't had to remove porcupine quills from a dog .... it takes to guys to hold the dog down and one to pull quills from the dogs face, mouth and throat with a pair of pliers ....and if you don't get them out properly or miss one,the quill will work it's way into the dog and will eventually kill it . Porky's also girdle tree bark which will destroy a tree . Anyone who has a cottage in the north will also know how much damage they can do .
Shot lot's at our cottage over the year's ! Last spring they trashed 5 nice pine's around the cottage we patched them up with what I'll call the special tree tar.They seem to like the younger pine's with smooth bark as they leave the big old rough barked one's alone. Dog's , plywood shed's , I've seen them eat brake line's on car's, We shoot them on site!
I agree about offin' the buggers, for the above reason, but I too have a philosophy to eat everything I kill, unless it's going to eat me!! My kids loved porkies in the slowcooker when they were kids. I don't know where the fatty wild taste comes from. Tastes like rabbit and very lean. Lots of people think Pike tastes like s...t, that's because they don't know [or don't want ] to fillet the bones out. Most people i've fed pike to, couldn't tell it , from the walleye beside it. porkies are tasty , learn to skin and cook them .Quote:
Originally Posted by knotsobrite
I shoot them on sight...in fact if I see one when I'm out, I come all the way home get my gun, go back out and then shot them. They cost me a fortune very year in Vet bills.
Story: I left a pop up in the bush after Bow season for use during the ML season. Went out to get set-up Sunday before the opener, opened the zipper and stuck me head in and there 3" from my face was a porc siting in my chair as happy as could be..Pulled myself back out fairly quickly then spent 15 minutes trying to get it off the chair and kicked outside. Found where he chewed thru the tent to get in, lots of damage.
Porcupines ate my little plywood boat when I was a kid. Every dog I've owned has been hurt by porcupines. Porcupines have damaged or killed some of our maples. They ate part of the floor of my parents' cottage. I've seen acres of young pines killed by porkies ... I could go on and on. I shoot the horrible things!
Porcupines are like strippers-fun to watch but DON'T TOUCH. LOL
I had one trash the outhouse at deer camp. What a crappy thing to do!
I have no love for them.
Jim , you say you liked them in the slow cooker. How do you go about skinning them. and preparing them. I thought they might be fat. Never tried one , Not sure my wife would cook it. I have difficulty getting her to cook venison. I am a not too bad cook , but she doesn't let me cook , claims I am too messy. Old243
They have no quills on the belly, so you have to skin them out like rolling him out of a carpet.[leather roper gloves are still a good ]idea]. They are not fat, but very lean. Lots of good meat, but same consistency as rabbit. Cook it the same as rabbit, maybe ad some pork fat to the slowcooker[ or dutch oven]. Can't help with the wife. Next time get one with her own boat and filleting knife!:D
Jim, she says she has ate her share of it in earlier years, Old 243 not going to now. As far as finding one with a boat , I don't think I am up to training another one.:)
No love lost here either. Like most guys with working dogs I've run into a few over the years. One of my hounds had a very, very hate relationship with porkies. The last time she got into one I had to take her into the vet and she was sedated for 3 hrs while they pulled quills. Was still finding some 2 -3 weeks later. If you can get some Atavan from your vet it will help calm the dog down while you pull the quills out. It's a job I dislike doing believe me...
They like brake lines on vehicles and chipboard, plywood and maple bark, I don't go out of my way to kill them but if I see one when I have a gun he's dead, have also pulled lots of quills from dogs painful for both of us. Went to Alaska 2 years ago and saw porkies dead on the road in every province and state, even in North Dakota on the prairie in the middle of nowhere not a tree in sight there was a dead porkie on the road. I have had a hate on for them ever since one ate the hard rubber tires off my trike when I was 3 or 4 years old!
Have also seen what they can do to stored equipment tires, have also helped remove from hounds at the camp when they met up with porcs. Not a porcupine advocate.Quote:
Originally Posted by old243
Just an interesting thing. I had a border collie that just hated pork's . He had taken a few quills when he was a pup. Never took any afterwards. He would go out of his way to locate them, whether up a tree or in a den. Shot quite a few for him. One day he was barking at the bottom of a tree, There was a baby porky on the ground , still had the fresh umbilical cord attached. Don't know how it got there thought the mother would nurse it a den. The quills seemed quite soft and tiny so I picked it up with plastic coated gloves on. The gloves were soon full of quills, just like needles. Lesson learned don't pick up a live porcupine.Old243
The key to a good life. LolQuote:
Originally Posted by trimmer21
Can anyone else back me up on this? In the mid-1980's while hunting in the southern part of the Limerick Forest (near Roebuck) my wife and I came across a house that had been completely eaten by porcupines. It looked as though hundreds of porkys had been living, eating and pooping in the house.
We built a permanent stand one weekend from 2x4 and plywood, gave it a quick coat of green and brown outdoor stain. Went back the following weekend to set up the cam and a porcupine had eaten 80% of the paint off the stand. Yes I know it was him because when I went to climb up in it to survey the damage he was waiting for me at the top. The days you wish you had the .22 (and a fresh pair of pants)
The dogs get into them once in a while and they love to eat and ruin my nice pine trees so yes Ill kill every one I see as well
If they're on the property near the red pine plantations they usually meet an end. On crown land I watch them and let them do their thing. I can remember when I was a kid the MNR asked trappers to kill them on sight.
Not trying to upset everyone but its not the porkys fault the dogs take after them. How many coyote are seen with quills in em. Not too many is my guess. They've got it figured out. I have personally been nailed by a porq a few years back crawling under a shed. I can attest to the pain the quills cause driven into your shoulder. It takes a good woman and at least a 26er of forty creek to get them out.
I have shot a few at the old cabin doing damage,was leaving them alone at the new place,but the dog got into one last year.He only got about 50 quills in his leg just probably saying hello to the porky.But he has a pretty good memory and will either stay away the next time or an all out attack.I cant afford the risk,so this spring when they are up top of the popular trees time for a cull.
I've heard they will eat fibreglass and polyethylene boat hulls. I wouldn't want to eat one of those.
One of the funniest things I've ever seen was a newbie with his 270 at deer camp one year. I gave him one of my 90 gr loads and suggested he shoot the porkie out of the tree over his head. I moved out of the fallout zone before he fired.....
I've seen their destructive behavior first hand while working up in Haliburton about 25 years ago at a summer camp. Came upon one trying to chew through a plywood, cabin door while kids were sleeping inside. Let's just say that a fire extinguisher (spraying, not thrown) is a quiet, effective way to change their menu plans! :) As for seeing them while hunting~came across one while groundhog hunting a few years ago with the son of a landowner of one particular farm. He was carrying an old .222 as we crept up on a young bean field that day. Sitting in the middle of it was a big, fat porcupine munching away. I'd been hunting groundhogs a fair bit and hadn't seen that before...and haven't seen it since. Anyhow, we got in position and this young lad dropped a bomb on this thing from about 175 yards away sending quills at least 15' in the air. Upon inspection, it certainly was robbing the bean field, and I was told it wasn't the first one he'd shot, and likely won't be the last.
Lastly, I have tasted porcupine ribs...grilled. One word~YUCK! Either the guy couldn't cook, or it's plain...nasty stuff. Tasted like dirt to me.
My Grandfather reminded me as he gave me my first gun not to shoot porcupines. I have no clue why but he said their only defense is their quills and they can't move very fast. If I came across one in the woods I would leave It be, on the other hand if it was eating a hole on my boat, I wouldn't hesitate to put a slug through one!
Lost count of how many boats I've seen with porky damage, not to mention tires, oars, outhouses, dogs, etc.
Never found one that I could have killed without a gun if I had been starving in the bush....
First one I saw killed didn't involve a gun. Won't elaborate, but I will say that they are a formidable opponent. They mostly avoid people, but this one's behavior was very irregular and it was moving towards some kids. Wouldn't want to have to deal with one like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat32rf
had one eating my tree stand last year..loved the plywood walls.. was pooping all over the roof.. caught him sleeping in the tree above the stand.. 3 in,# 4 shell took care of the problem...
I have no issues with them. I have never had a dog get into one, nor had any chewing any of my property. I let them live and give them some space when we cross paths. That being said, if I had one damaging my property, it would be marked for execution.
I was fixing up my Bunkie a couple of years ago and the following spring the porcupines decided to have a feast and did some damage. I bought some 1/4" galvanized wire mesh stapled in over the lower part of the plywood siding with stainless steel staples and that ended it.
My buddy had to re-wire his mother's cottage 20 years ago with BX because the porkies got underneath and were eating the plastic off of the wire.
My father told me they love the smell of the glue in the plywood. My grand father told be they love anything with salt in it, hence toilet seats in outhouses. He was always on us when we were kids to make sure the door was locked shut when we were done.
Roe+