Gents:

No more than one week has passed since telling a bud that my current german shepherd dog avoided porcupines like the plague, while coincidentally paying down the credit card. That changed last night.

Have pulled plenty of quills out of beagles, a plot, and GSD/Lab mixes, but the straight GSDs seem to have a different perspective on the remedy and vet trips has been the result. Vet costs has just about tripled since the last pointed visit...

Anyway, am on a vendetta to kill them all. Would appreciate any info on behavior, baits and techniques.

Best way to find porkies is to let your dog run loose! . The best "bait" I found fot porkies is a wood canoe paddle that has been used for at least the last 6 days. Over the years I have lost several paddles on trips to quill pigs. None less than 6 days in either.

I don't know of any good baits or tactics for porcupines, they are not generally targeted for any reason. From my my experiences with canoe paddles and a few game camera shots they seem to be somewhat attracted to salt but then so is everything else. They also like antlers as more than one person has had a porky climb a porch or shed to gnaw on the displayed rack. But so will all other rodents so that is not a specific bait for porkies.

I have seen the most porcupines when walking after the leaves fall. They are fairly obvious then and one could pick them off if desired. That would be my best recommendation.

Thanks

Have killed some in the woods and in the "yard" but it was always incidental. They appear to cover some ground, but don't know. Reading some this AM, came across several apples & salt articles and may start with that tonight.

Had one particularly vindictive dog that got nailed twice in three days, and would really like to avoid a repeat...

Best medicine is a rifle. A .22 will work, but they seem to soak up .22s sometimes with little reaction. They'll chew on pretty much any wooden tool handle. Some have a "sweet tooth" for rubber - tires, radiator hoses, etc. Back when our hunting camp was walk-in and vehicles were parked for a week at a time they'd set traps near the tires to keep the porcupines from eating them. We'll still kill any seen near camp or our parking area.

Never heard of anyone trying to attract and trap them intentionally. They're more targets of opportunity.

A friend lost the carrying yoke on his case to a porcupine and that started a war. He regularly soaked sticks in salted water and propped up rocks and logs with them.

It works...

I like it...a lot....thanks Art, the war continues. It is going to be a long one.

We used to use rock salt when we'd trap them for timber company's...

Judman, did you use a box trap for that?

I can see having a salt block in the vicinity of the yard is definitely unwise--and I do. Will move that sucker and expand the choices with a rock and a stick option.

If Ya got one big enough it would work. We used footholds. I hate em, have had hounds get into em a few times, as well as my horse. Horse had em in his nose and front feet. I kill everyone I come across...

No, was just curious. Am sure my dog or the neighbor's would be the first customers inside a conibear. Do appreciate the info. Got a live trap in play and got an adult coon first nite. The live trap, Art's rock suggestion and a 22 pistol should be plenty.

Sorry about your horse...:)

Len would start with a bundle of salted sticks and make more as a trip went on. He was efficient and he knew it...

Hey Art:

Now that is carrying a grudge...:) The case must have been near and dear to him.

I shot the bastard (or a bastard) under an old out building nearby--left him to rot. Large one. Got a couple of coons and a grinner in the live trap. Pulled the trap, but the salted stick deal is solid and an addition to the salt blocks I have out--do appreciate the idea. In the meantime, my coon killing shep adopted a cat. He blasted out the door to snag another coon at the birdfeeder and found a orange cat instead. The cat rubbed up against him and that was it. It's a pussy thing, I guess. Unnatural....probably quill trauma.

It was the cats only defense! Quick thinking cat!

Hard to beat a redhead.

Our Shepherd hasn't ran unto a stickle-pig yet. She hangs close, I'm always trying to look. Porkys are very random, here today, there tomorrow.

At our camp I 'may'(can be illegal in some areas due to deer regs) put a salt block out in the Spring, that's the time they crave salt. I put it at least a few 100 yards from camp. This has the potential to concentrate them around the salt block, at least that's the idea, also, away from the camp.

Even a dead porky on the ground can be a hazard to a dog. They may want to check the carcass out. If out deer hunting I mostly leave them be now. If the kids are around it's fine with me if they dispatch one.

With the fishers around I think porky numbers have been down a fair amount.

Yeah, SD, I moved the salt blocks about a 1/4 mile. Every dog we have ever owned had gotten a nose full at one time or the other. This last one was was a yard porkie, though, and the shep was just running his patrol of the perimeter. Uncalled for!

Good on the fishers. Need them to spread... Beautiful pelt on the wall, though...:)

There seems to be alot of Porkeys this fall, more than iv ever seen around here!

Never pass up a chance to fill the Porcupine tag...

Slid to a stop last night when I saw a quill pig walking along the road? By the time I backed up, grabbed the pistol, the sob had crawled into a culvert. Couldn't see him in there so I didn't want to send one down a tube that I couldn't see. So he lived at least another day.

Good work! You're saving someone a handful of veterinarian bills.

Weekend vet visit (emergency hours) was 450 bucks for slightly crazy dog...then another hundred for a second round of antibiotics when a hidden quill embedded in his jaw started working its way out...