The influx of porcupines in our area. When I was a kid there was always the very rare occassional one that happened thru the area. Usually in the western end of this county. But they are everywhere here now. Have three that are regular visitors to one of my feeders about 1:30 of a morning. Cousin over the hill, his old deaf and almost blind blue lacey got tangled up with one in the yard about 3 weeks ago. They are a shoot upon site animal here. All I need is for one to get in the yard with these damn "special needs" dogs we have 🤣🤣🤣🤣

We always saw them out west in the Pecos country and naturally up at the Colorado ranch.

Was headed to the old place other day east of Austin and there were four dead ones on the hwy almost in the city limits of the great whore. Maybe within 10 miles of roadway. They seem to be taking the place of dead armadillos on the road. Neither of which really bothers me.

Just my rambling this morning.

Good eating

This.

Not dog friendly.

Not sure about the "good eating" claim. I have read that porkys are among the most parasite-infested critters out there. One source says they should be considered as desperate survival foods only. I have no evidence either way, those are just things I've read.

Great woods-carry fodder for the 629 up in these parts. Nightmare for an upland bird dog. I particularly enjoy blasting them out of trees. Remind me of tree sloths, but covered in quills.

One of the scariest critters I have ever encountered, they will curl up quickly if you come near.
While walking out of grizzly infested bush in the dark I have had them curl up and scare the shyte out of me, twice lol, within 10ft...gets the heart pounding.

They are also starting to chew on the smaller cypress trees down on the creek. That is really pissing me off.

I remember when possums started to show up in Minnesota. It didn't seem possible but now they're thick.

That was in the 80s. Schit changes.

They seem to be fairly curious creatures as I've had them try and crawl into the treestand with me numerous times. I assume to see what I am.

Time was used to be folks actually went outside. And came upon these and pumped em with lead pills

Nowadays, alla them heroes are on a Bryer’s Rocky Road iv drip and have their eyes glued to Gunsmoke reruns.

Scratch the rocky road

Clarence and Eustice have dat durn diverticulitis

I know some ranchers in Colorado who burn all the porkys they kill to keep the quills from being consumed with grass by the cattle.

I generally don’t do a bunch of activity down on the creek as I have some critters that bed and birth there. I do have some fence to repair in there soon. Up in a hollow. But I think I’ll make a few excursions down along creek and see if I can catch some cactus rats asleep on the tree limbs. Blast em out.

Alger was right. Freaking global warming.

Got one biiiiiiiig cypress down there that has a big bee hive up in a hollow in it. 😁

Thermal.

I have one on a .22. Makes for excellent spotting of critters in trees.

And put them in the burn barrel.

Not at all

Remember 1st encounter , had left a lake in upper NW New Mexico a bit late and was heading toward Farmington.
Came around a turn and there was these two critters in the road , looked weird as hell . Then after easing up to them realized the wavy motion was quills moving back and forth as they walked .laughed and realized we had seen our first porcupines .
With added height of quills the looked pretty big , but later saw a road kill and realized the quills gave that illusion .
Pretty strange animals when you never seen one before .
Kenneth

You can set a dead porky out on a plank or flat rock; come back about a week later and grab the big quills and sell 'em. Maggots will eat the rest.

They look like beavers if they get burned up in a fire.

We see one every few years at the lease in Comfort,the old ranchers around there hate them for killing trees.

We tried to make a pet out of one when we were kids. Cute and would follow us around the yard. But it would want to cuddle. Use your imagination on how that worked out. It would walk across the floor and leave a trail of quills. Made the rug impassable when walked on barefoot. We finally repatriated it to nature.
Porcupines are the enemy in eastern Montana. They will girdle the few trees that grow along creek bottoms and kill them. Mostly open season on quill pigs.

Don't bring Anne Heche into this.

Only ever dealt with one dog v. porcupine encounter, that was enough. Kill on sight, same as coyotes.

One of the few creatures for which I can't think of a single good thing other than elimination. They always girdle the best trees, eat hoses, destroy sheds, and are terror for our dogs. Tough buggers - I've put a 20 gauge load up one 10' up a tree and it still held on. Another was shot through the ears and was still moving his legs 20 minutes later.

Same here.


Jerry

For the porcupine curious…….



These seem like nice folks. Came to Alaska to carve out a home, and seem to be doing it right, not living in a bus anyway. Hard workers for certain.

An apt analogy. Kind of makes you not want to look back at it when leaving.

That has been my experience as well

Never seen one since they don't live around these parts. Never seen an armadillo either, but supposedly they have made their way here now.

Damn, never hunted or ate a pine before. How do they taste.

Choot 'em Bob !!

Great gift for Pelosi what.

Just the reverse here.

Used to be a regular thing here in the PNW with a bounty offered as a protection mechanism for young timber plantations. A 50-year ago note in our local paper mentions a kid claiming $150 at 50¢ apiece in a single year. Down on one of our refuges one could see 4 or 5 passing the day up in the forks of one of our large but rare cottonwoods. Roadkill was common as were livestock and dog run ins. Many brained everyone they saw on sight. Trout fishing late into an evening, I once vacated the trail out and waded the river, as I nearly stumbled into 2 or 3 walking out in the tall weedy vegetation. Seems odd they've not made it down into the southeastern forest. Could be oak is a bit tough on the teeth.

They were equally common in the mostly conifer timber and out in our sagebrush deserts. I've only seen two in the last decade. One roadkill and one making a successful crossing. An amorous pair emit a huge repertoire of sounds often baffling to those unfamiliar with their character.

They also seem to be salt starved, and one finds sheet metal boxes near remote cow camps and such as a protective shelter for sweat infused horse tack and salt blocks. They're often quite fond of some of the glues used in plywood too, so they'll gnaw off surface layers to get at the goodies beneath.

During long ago graduate school days, I stopped to visit a buddy, and his wife had a dead one on the kitchen table meticulously removing hundreds of quills and sorting them by size and color. Seems tribal folk would pay serious bucks for well-matched sets. Quite noticeable and attractive on their dress ups at their annual pow wows and a strip of hide with that long hair makes a neat mohawk. Haven't tried the hair for fly tying, but I think it would make some dandy streamers for pike and muskie.



Even though we've had a couple dog run ins, we don't personally have it in for them. Not much of a sporting kill, and they're never looking for a fight, so they get a pass when we're out and about. Unlike skunks and raccoons, they don't come in looking to toss camp after we hit the sack. We just get out the Leatherman, tell the dog to sit, and go to work. If I lived in NY though, I'd maybe work up a nice porcupine coat to wear on those crowded subways.

Something in the woods though is extremely adept at taking them on. I once found a fresh hide turned inside out beside a cattle trail and not a sign of any other remains. Don't know if it was a cat, bear, wolverine or what, but something certainly did a surgical class job of skinning the animal and packing off the remains.

As to numbers, I guess some things just wax and wane. Lived here for 10 years before seeing my first skunk in 1992. I asked the local historians about them with responses being they were common into the early 1970's and then disappeared.

Early 1980's we had a jack rabbit explosion. Everything green was consumed, haystacks were undercut and toppled, and one would see a dozen or so running the streets in town when coming out of the movie theater. Out in the desert, one could do a brick of 22LR's in a day without ever moving, and we had hawks and eagles to no end throughout the winter. Now I see about 2 jacks a year and that's with thousands of highway/byway miles and weeks in the bush.

Tough to get a decent porcuie picture, as they mostly want to display their south end.


Have a good one,

Protected in PA still?

Was surprised to see them in the Palouse in E WA. Not many trees up that way in places. Odd to see them walking along a road surrounded by wheat fields.

Was walking along a hillside in NE PA, near a quarry of sorts. Heard weird noises coming from over the edge. Peeked over, there was a couple in a tree top making like this. Weird sounds to hear in the woods

Didn't the women of many American Indian tribes use the quills for decorating clothing, bags, etc.??

Maybe they might still be in the market for some. You boys seeing all those porcupines could make some pocket money.

L.W.

Leanwolf,

Quillwork is waaaaaaay beyond my level of aptitude and ability. It is not easy work! One of the reasons it fell out of vogue with the introduction of glass trade beads. It hung on a while. And you see a mixture of both arts on many items. But beads eventually took over.

My hat is off to those who still do quillwork. My lady friend has a quilled scissor pouch that is to be worn around the neck. Very nice work.

Interesting that you mention this. Years ago I found a dead one over by Sandy on my wife's old family place. No one believed me and thought I was a crazy yankee until I came back with quills. Now they are somewhat regular there.

Yup! They are all over the place. Sandy (Blanco county) is full of em.

Shoot on sight. Lost a great rabbit beagle because of the fuggers.

I love to see the quills fly when you put a 30-06 through them.

I can tell you've earned that merit badge.

I have seen those quills fly with Hordany V-Max out of a .223 as well. Always find it entertaining.

I've seen some fishing bobbers made of quills, a thin wire loop cemented on one end.

A good part of that was the lack of thread. They all had to sewn on with thin strips of buckskin. Cutting that was a major undertaking. Beads could be made with larger holes which greatly sped up the sewing process.

Years ago I read in IIRC a copy of Outdoor life where porcupines were very easy to kill. Just use a club and hit them in the head. Apparently you don't have to hit them very hard. Always wondered if that was true. A few years later while on a hunt I came across a porky and as he didn't seem incline to run away from me, bopped him on the noggin and damn me if he did just lay down and die. Never did figure out how in the hell I was supposed to skin the damn thing to eat it so left it and went on my way.
PJ

Interesting you note the sounds they make.
My mentor on the trapline told me he has had them come to the cabin door on really cold nights and make sounds like crying babies outside the door. I have never heard them, but it isn't the first time I have been told that by other trappers.
I also leave them alone.

It's crazy to see one roadkilled in the Panhandle a hundred miles from the nearest tree.

Kaywoodie, you're correct that the beads took the place mainly of quill art with the women of the American Indian tribes. As you know, beads were one of the favorite trade items carried by the American fur trappers. Kegss of various colored beads were toted by the traders to the rendezvous where the fur trappers gathered each year in the Shining Mountains. From what I've read, those were "shining times."

L.W.

Sinew not buckskin was used for the appliqué. Still know a few into quillwork. Same with beadwork. Lots of sinew was used. However when it comes to trade items sewing thread and needles were just as big as beads. For obvious reasons 😁I also have several friends that still use sinew for sewing brain-tan. In our reenacting camp there is generally someone always fabricating a new pair of mocs or a shirt. In the traditionL fashion.

Hours of scanning trade manifest from assorted companies is always interesting. One would be amazes to see what was going west 😉