Anyone ever hunt porcupines?

buckthumper

New member
I REALLY want to go porcupine hunting and I have a hot spot picked out where there are always 3-4 of them hit on the road each week but I have never gone before so I don't know what I'm doing. I would love to hear some advise from someone who has done it before and basically give me a little how-to instructions.

How do you hunt them?
What do I need to look for?
Where will I typically find them, in trees?

Any help you guys can give me is appreciated.
 
They hangout in trees during the day so keep your eyes to sky. Theyll look like "tree cancer" and youll know a big one when you see it. You can catch them on the ground of an evening, just about dusk. At that point you can hit them on the nose with a stick and theyll die.
 
More like shooting than hunting. Killin' porkys ain't too hard. They have to be one of the dumbest criiters of all.......
 
I guess the Florida version of a porcupine is the armadillo. I just walk around until I find one, Grab it and go home. they are slow and stupid (I would think by the way you could get so near) so I would think a porcupine would be similar. But what do I know, I have never seen a spike ball in the swamp.
 
Originally Posted By: AlexanderWallerI guess the Florida version of a porcupine is the armadillo. I just walk around until I find one, Grab it and go home. they are slow and stupid (I would think by the way you could get so near) so I would think a porcupine would be similar. But what do I know, I have never seen a spike ball in the swamp.

Ummmmm, ya'll don't wanna do that to a porky!!! Shooting them first allows a quill-less hold on their paws, if you really have a need to carry them around! Ask my dog what it feels like to to get them pulled outta ya!! LOL!!

We just (finally) got a season on porkies here in PA, although they may have been the illegally assassinated beast in PA short of groundhogs on Sundays (no, we cant' hunt on Sundays either...or use AR's or semi rifles of any type for hunting, or.....).

Buckthumper, saw your post on HPA too - like the one guys said there, hunt them whenever you're out for whatever, and keep looking up. They den in the rocks usually, underground, but live mostly on tree bark, so they're usually in trees if they're outta the den. You'll know when you're in porky turf - trees all over will have bald patches all over them - kills a lot of the trees. They're really slow, so even squirrels are tougher to get a shot at, but there's not near as many as squirrels in most places. Doesn't take a lot of gun either - think groundhog size, but not as tough.

2muchgun, it's no different than shooting prairie dogs, groundhogs, marmots, rockchucks, most deer, some bear, fishing, etc., etc., etc. Go where they are or frequent, wait, when they show up, hit them with an adequate caliber in a killing part of the anatomy, & they fall down, go boom, drt. Boring, right?
 
If you have a healthy population of them they should be pretty easy to find.Just set up on a hill overlooking some trees and start glassing and you'll be able to see them if there are any around.From a distance they'll look like a big nest but if the sun is shining on them you'll be able to tell the difference.During the Winter they're always easier to spot because there aint any leaves on the trees.Well....that all depends on what kind of trees they're in I suppose but anyway.If you're wanting to specifically look for porcupines that's a pretty good way to find them.
 
Up here we look for telltail patches of bark eaten off. Porkies are usually nearby. Once we caught one by putting a box over it and closing the flaps under. We put it in a buddy's car. You'd have thought he had an ejector seat installed by the way he came flying out of the sunroof! He was screaming pretty loud too....
 
I never actually went hunting for them specifically... but my dog did and it didn't end pretty! A weekend emergency visit to the vets can be a little pricey!
 
They like to eat the plywood of the outside privies in N. WI; they were hanging out in the pine trees near the privy, and I was instructed by the owner to do them in. A 12 gauge and a 25/06 did the job on the two after several hits with a .22 pistol.
 
Originally Posted By: ChupathingyI know squat about hunting porcupines, but I do know not to eat one a$$ first.....


Chupa

chupa, you're killin' me! Every time I read one of your posts I think maybe I'm not too young for the Depends. By the way, how did you acquire that little bit of wisdom anyhow?!?!
 
I've never actually went hunting specifically for porkies, but over the years, I have taken a couple while out squirrel hunting.
{in season, of course}
 
Originally Posted By: Paul-eOriginally Posted By: ChupathingyI know squat about hunting porcupines, but I do know not to eat one a$$ first.....


Chupa

chupa, you're killin' me! Every time I read one of your posts I think maybe I'm not too young for the Depends. By the way, how did you acquire that little bit of wisdom anyhow?!?!

Let's just suffice it to say that life can dish out some hard learned lessons. And most lessons are even harder learned when you're a moron like me.

Chupa
 
Its bad luck to kill a porcupine. In the old days they were trappers survival food. If a fella was lost or stranded in the woods he could always find a porcupine to eat, and they were easy to kill.
 
To hunt them specifically set with the sun at your back and glass the pine trees. They will glow when the sun hits them. Once you spot one in the sun you will know as the are a color unlike anything else in nature.
 
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