Porcupines and Coyotes?

Ursus21

Ursus21

Active member
I've been around a lot of dead coyotes that I shot or my partners have killed. Plus I also do skull cleaning and for a couple years worked in a taxidermy shop. In other words I've seen more dead coyotes than I could possibly remember or count. In all that time I'd never seen a coyote with a face full of porcupine quills until a couple weeks ago. I called in a pair and my pard had the shot. He killed the male. It was a large framed dog, with a big skull, and long healthy canine teeth. However his body was skinny as could be and his face was full of porcupine quills. I guess I'd always just assumed that coyotes (especially mature coyotes) left porcupines alone for the most part. This poor yote looked like he was starving to death. I think my partner killing him did that particular coyote a favor. Has anyone else shot a yote with a mess of porcupine quills in it?
 
Where is the pictures.
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GENE'O
 
My dogs have got stuck several times.Coyotes ive trapped never had any quills in them .Maybee its engrained from parents to leave them alone? It must happen ocassionally.
 
Judging by how few have commented I almost have to think that a coyote messing with a porcupine is pretty rare. Guess I called in the one dummy around here that didn't know better.
 
Coyotes can and will eat Porcupines if the chance should arise.. They just get the Porcupine flipped over and eat from the belly side inward. I shot some last year and laid them next to a tree so i could come back after a few days and remove the hairs and quills.. Coyotes got to them before i got back and picked them clean with just the skin and head remaining.. I've also shot a few with quills or catus thorns under the skin and they must of been there awhile. The fluid under the skin had them soften up some.
 
Ursus21...never hav shot a quill'd one ....but i've come across a couple dead coyotes that looked like a pin cushion...deer too....like skunks; i kill every one i see...saves the ponderosa pines too.
 
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Chapped Lips, up until about 6 or 7 years ago I let most porcupines go. Then I gained more knowledge about what they do to domestic livestock and dogs. I've waged war on them ever since. Doing so has actually helped gain long term access to several private ranches for hunting of coyotes and/or big game. Most cattle ranchers do not care for porcupines. After seeing first hand what they do to cows I can see why!
 
I've read that coyotes will prey on them along with other predators, but the fisher is the greatest threat to them.
We had Norwegian Elk Hounds when i was a kid. The pair would get loose all the time and return with quills in the face. really dumb dogs.
 
Extreme Porcupine control is a good thing. We have to pull quills from horses here on a regular basis. Cows and calves often get quills in their nose. If not removed the quills will cause them to be unable to graze or suck and they will starve down quickly.

Most bird hunters will be able to share horror stories of quills and bird dogs. The greyhound coyote hunters have been known lose hounds to undetected quills that work their way from the roof of the mouth up to the brain.

Yes they do kill the brush and damage riparian areas that provide critical habitat to other wildlife.

Kill em all? We have proven that it can't be done. But we do work on extreme control.
 
I've seen dogs that have found out what porcupines are all about more than once.A blue heeler that my cousins had used to kill or try to kill a porcupine at least once a week.But I figured coyotes knew enough to leave them alone and for the most part I'm sure they do.I'm guessin that yote that ya'll shot was just hungry as all get out and thats all he could find and decided to give it a try.But I'm probably not tellin ya nothin you did'nt figure out on your own.Its kinda obvious that crazy yote tryed to take a bite out of the porky huh?
DoubleCK is right about them quills bein able to work their way clear through.My grandpa told me that when he was growin up they always had cats around the farm to kill mice and whatnot.One of em' ended up gettin a bunch of quills in its face.He told me that one quill was stuck in its cheek and eventually worked its way through....the back of the cats head.I cant remember where he told me it came out at.Either behind its ear or behind its jaw.Either way thats pretty crazy stuff.

I'm not a big fan of porcupines either and they usually aint around long if I happen to see em' out doin porcupine stuff.The first one I ever seen/killed was at my cousins house.I smoked that sucker right in the gourd with a rock and killed it dead.....man if only I played baseball.If I did I'd be in the Major Leagues right now I'm almost positive.
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Anyway thats about all the stories I have about porcupines hope ya'll enjoyed em'.
 
Years ago I worked on a ranch in the John Day, Ore. area. When I went to work there the foreman said " if I ever find out you saw a porcupine and didn't kill it, I'll fire you". I've killied quite a few with a .22 and one with a stick. We used to drive a road in the evening and shoot them out of the trees. They can take a lot of lead in the body and keep going. Head shots work best.
 
Had to rope a cow in the brush, once; snubbed the old bi--biddy to a tree; and pulled about a washtub full of quills from her nose & face with fence pliers. She wasn't very appreciative, so this all occurred while doing a high-speed Mexican two step around a large Gambel's oak surrounded by knee-high brush. HATE them porcupines every since !!
Mark
 
I shot one with one quill in his tail. It had been there a while. Shot another one with a quill under the skin but cant remember where.
My friend used to live in an apartment that was attached to the taxidermy shop. Quite a few of the lions that came in to the shop would have a couple of quills in them. The cat hunters told me lions prey on porcupines quite often.
 
On a side note I've shot a lot of porcupines with a 22 rimfire. However like one person mentioned they can soak up a lot of lead. I did discover though, that a 17HMR to the head is pretty decisive.
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I shot a coyote two or three years ago (can't find the picture) that was unusually small for the time of year. It was late winter and he was not much bigger than a pup is now. His ribs were showing and he looked pitiful. When I got a closer look at him, he had porcupine quills all over his face and muzzle. He even had one or two on the inside of his lips. I hypothesized that he had not been able to eat very well since his run in with the porcupine. I do believe I did him a favor. I think coyotes will eat anything.
 
I've shot lots of porpupines right from the deck over the years. They are killing the pine trees around. I'd take them and lay them on their back out in the snow. Nothing would touch them. Lots of coyotes tracks around it but nothing would eat it. Maybe they don't like the taste or something. I imagine they taste pretty "piney"
 
When I kill a Porcupine here I always check back on the carcass. I often find another high priority eradication target enjoying a "Porky Meal." You know....the smelly black & white one.
 
We have lot's of porkys here. They are hard on dogs, livestock, and worse on trees. They like to climb to the top of young fir trees and eat the tender tops, effectively stunting the tree. Timber companies used to pay $5 a nose bounty. I haven't checked with the mill I work at now to see if they still do that. I still have a baggie full of porky noses in my garage freezer. lol!

Now that you mention it, I've never shot or trapped a coyote with quills in it either. I used to use fresh porcupine carcass wired to a tree at bobcat sets. They loved it. Never had coyotes touch it but they shy from the type bobcat sets I was using anyway.

Both cougars I got had quills embedded from long ago in their front legs. The quills were soft like their body was breaking them down. They like the slow moving porky.

Dogs seem to either learn to stay away from porkys after the first encounter or make it their mission to kill every one they see. I had one dog that if left loose would not come home till he found one, He would just lay there and let you pull the quills out when he returned with his full beard. lol! After a few years he suddenly died and I always suspected a missed quill.
 
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