I never tried shooting one so I had no idea they were this tough. So.... It sounds like my idea to shoot them with a pellet gun won't work out so well? (There is a house 300 feet away so I can't use a real gun on them.)
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Porcupines
- Thread starter one-eyed Jack
- Start date
I never tried shooting one so I had no idea they were this tough. So.... It sounds like my idea to shoot them with a pellet gun won't work out so well? (There is a house 300 feet away so I can't use a real gun on them.)
Mesatchornug
NES Member
Did a little looking yesterday because of this thread. It would appear that if you make reliable headshots, particularly when they're treed, a pellet gun should be sufficient. Poster was using expanding, polymer-tipped pellets that seemed to be working out just fine.
amm5061
NES Member
Yup. It ate the whole stack of them. My grandfather poisoned them after we noticed it going at them. It finished off the stack and never came back for more.
I had one around here that turned into a problem, my Golden Retriever got into it one morning and I had to take 40 quills out of her face and neck. A couple months later it started coming around again, a big male. I chased it a couple times, he still kept coming back. Caught the dog chasing it again, just in time. We have an invisible fence, the porcupine seemed to know just where it was and come inside it. The next two times I hurried it along with rubber buckshot. Didn’t take the hint. The last time a .22 headshot dropped it where it stood. You guys engaging these things with multiple center fire rounds need to check your shot placement, I think.
AHM
NES Member
We've seen one in the wild. In the late 80's, wandering around the mile²+ of wooded artisanal granite quarries behind our house we spotted one up a tree. "OMG! It's a porcupine!". Lots of pointing and gesticulating.
It fell out of the tree, few dozen feet.
Thump!
It ambled slowly off, grumbling to itself...
Our scout troop leaders commented that there were porcupines in the area of our upcoming camping trip, and warned that we would probably try and attract one to look at by designating a single tree for everyone to pee on. Because they crave teh salt, and would commute over to chew on it at night.
We didn't do any of that, but it's a good story.
Oh, and they also told us about porcupines flipping their tail to shoot quills.
But I never thought I'd live to see the day where there are
all these epic quill flipping videos on YoutUbe.
Do they also tell the students that for missions flown over temperate zones,
their survival kit will include a small packet of dehydrated prop wash,
which is good for rinsing the porcupine meat after they skin them?
I'd say Beowulf or BMG
bdb
NES Member
I have never had one climb up next to me but I did show up for my evening hunt to find one in my tree about 10 feet above my stand. I climbed in and he never moved and didn't see to care. I did keep one on him at all times though because if he decided he was getting down I wouldn't have fared to well so I was going to make sure to beat him to the ground 
I left at dark and he was still up there.
I left at dark and he was still up there.
Lip
Army Veteran
It's a tough call. Depends on how deep and where. I had a dog who 'lost' a battle a few years back. Snout filled with quills. We got some out and left others. It was a very difficult experience. For weeks the dog was in pain. My wife swore years after she could still feel some of them there. Good news is, the dog lived many years afterward and never repeated the error.
Edit: Yes, we used pliers. It was not good...
Did you dry them and roll them, or just stuff them into the bong ???