Porcupines?
 

I was just flipping through the PA digest when I discovered I can hunt porcupines until March 31. I see them quite a bit outside, but when I actually go out with a gun I don't see them. Does anyone know what lures/baits/calls to use? Also, what should I look for (tracks, droppings, etc.)? Is a .22 good enough?

Thanks in advance!

I tend to see them closer to dusk and dawn. I run into them from time to time walking to and from my stands. The things are pretty defenseless besides their quills. I don't think it much matters what you use. They can't outrun you. A big stick or baton would work. Not sure what you would do with them.....we don't like them because they kill the few hardwood trees that we have.

That's the same reason I want to get rid of them. I'll probably be going out later this week, maybe get some squirrels as well.

PA actually has a season on those vermin? I kill every one I see when I'm hunting up at my place in northern MI and there is no closed season on them, but you do need a small game license!

They have a love of the wood on my outhouse at camp. Last year my brother went out to take a crap and opened the door and there was a huge one in there. We had him trapped and tried to do a number on him with a "Pork" stick but he almost ran up a leg and got away. Went up a tree. It was bow season and I wasn't about to waste a 20 dollar arrow on him.

I was always told Porcupine tastes pretty good.

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They have a love of the wood on my outhouse at camp. Last year my brother went out to take a crap and opened the door and there was a huge one in there. We had him trapped and tried to do a number on him with a "Pork" stick but he almost ran up a leg and got away. Went up a tree. It was bow season and I wasn't about to waste a 20 dollar arrow on him.
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Ice fishing keeps me in Vt during winter


***That is exactly why I shoot every one I see. When I first bought my20 acres up in northern MI back in 1973 I built a nice outhouse out of expensive marine plywood the first year. The next Spring when I got up there they had eaten two sides out of it and I ended up making major repairs and then creosoted it good. Once that started wearing off after a few years they were back and I covered the whole thing in steel before they could do any more damage. Ever since then I shoot every one I see because of the damage they do to the trees, etc.

12 ga. is the way to go. Sometimes in the winter you can spot the up in the hardwoods. Trying to gather heat from the sun I guess.

I'm not a fan of them either.


ATB

I have hunted them out in Wyoming a few times and every time we went it was around 12-1 in the morning. We would drive around the hay fields and shine them. That was the best way to get them out there anyways.

We left them be as kids,were allways told leave them for lost folk to eat!
Catch them sunning during the day.porky den trees will have quite a pile of droppings in its hollow base.
Any thing humans touch around a camp can get knawed. Missing bark,looking like some one cleared a patch off with edge of chain saw when fresh a good indicator along with droppings,have seen porkys feeding on more than bark too.
There was a market for certain quills and hides,research could give you ideas for preservation for buyers.
I believe its their liver you never want to eat,to much vitamin A?or something.

"I'm not a fan of them either."


Did you or that poor pooch write that line---OUCH!!!

Yup legal game, a 22 LR properly placed is plenty.

He doesn't have time to waste on the internet.:happy0157: Being a DD is a full time job.

I've got a 9 year old DD and that's my big worry when we're up at my place near Kalkaska or skunks anywhere! Were you up in northern MI when he got hit by that porky?

I've shot and ate them before. If I was on my home computer I could post a step by step for skinning them out. Not too hard, start at the belly and work carefully. They cook up pretty good to be honest.
-Jake

save the guard hairs the long ones,bundle them in one inch bundles neatly with rubber bands. Some fur buyers will buy them. At our fur sales here we get as high as 18 to 20 dollars an ounce!!

The natives up here in northern Alberta just bash them over the head with a stick and roll them around in a fire to burn off the quills, then dress them out and cook over a fire. They claim to like it, but I found it a little..... odd tasting I guess. Hard to describe, there isn't much to compare it to.

What do they use the Quills for?

That was Marquette county. The same week he blood tracked the bear in my avatar.

He'll be 10 feb 1st.

ATB

A variety of things. Look up native quill work. Quills are dyed flattened and "sewn or woven"or wrapped for decoration of a variety of items. Definitely an art. usually the respected work of guilds.
Some people today make earrings with them.

I've heard that they're good eating. Also that fisher cats are very fond of them.

Well I guess I'll just have to get a recipe then! IF I get one-I haven't seen anything in the woods and that includes small game. I'm pretty disappointed that the last squirrel I SAW in the woods was in deer season. And I haven't killed a rabbit in God knows how long.haent seen many deer in the woods either: maybe this year will be very unproductive :(