west side porcupines

[Bofire]

 :)I gotta tell you all a story, I visited my Sister and her 3rd Husband 30 years go. He had a friend that was an "expert " on everything, specialy guns. He assembled HKS speed loaders for a living,  if you get my drift.
WE went shooting, he had ARs, 44 mags ivory grips etc. We stop to Pee in the woods, this sorry porkypine walks down the hill, Ole Glenn grabs his AR slams a 20 round in and starts blasting, PQP keeps walking, comes down the hill right directly under the Jeep, Glen reloads, when PQP comes out he starts again. Hal and I are on the ground now, laughing and scared .
PQP heads on down the hill. crosses over into some rocks and disappears. no blood, nothing! Glen explianed that the PQP was really dead and would bleed out, thats the way the ammo works because its better to wound then kill,      PQPs I guess!!
 So keep yer eye open for a wounded PQP.
Carl

[CastleRocker]

I grew up in Montana and we always tried to leave them alone.  The reason was that they where one of the slowest and easy animals to kill and if someone was lost or wounded it may save their lives.  That was just what i was taught.

Yep, that's the way I was raised also.  I have shot a few when I was young and we did eat one.  I remember it tasted strong and greasy like some high country bears do. 

[tlbradford]

Glen explianed that the PQP was really dead and would bleed out, thats the way the ammo works because its better to wound then kill,      PQPs I guess!!

That is funny stuff.  I can just picture him being as serious as all get out.   

[Huntbear]

I grew up in Montana and we always tried to leave them alone.  The reason was that they where one of the slowest and easy animals to kill and if someone was lost or wounded it may save their lives.  That was just what i was taught.

Yep, that's the way I was raised also.  I have shot a few when I was young and we did eat one.  I remember it tasted strong and greasy like some high country bears do. 

I grew up in Montana as well, and we were always taught to go after "fools hens" as a food item if we were lost or holed up somewhere.  They are stupid and will let you knock them in the head with a stick.

[WASHBCBOOK]

killed one in toledo last early elk season with my crossbow it went 2 inches and lets just say this nite nite

[Da stump]

Yep fool hens too, heck even water cress for all that matters.  It didn't run to fast either

[yorketransport]

I go porcupine hunting every Easter. It's an annual tradition with my Father-in-law. So far I have 3 porcupines in 5 years. I got the first one 5 years ago with a 45-70 Contender. The second was with a Ruger MK III the day after I bought the gun. The third was with the same 22lr. My Avatar is the porcupine I shot this year. Beautiful blond color.

My advice, if you want to try and eat them only make head shots. I won't eat one if there's quills in the meat. It's not worth getting one of those quills in your stomach. The problem is that a head shot ruins the skull so you can't really do anything with it. My next porcupine is getting done up in a full body mount even if that means I won't be eating him.

Here are pics of the last two that I got.

[littlebuf]

so whats the best way to hunt them? or is it just a lot of luck?

[yorketransport]

Just go for a walk and look for the trees or fresh branches that have been chewed on. Like someone else said, fresh brush piles are good spots to start. I hit the trail about 2 hours before sunset, kind of like hunting rabbits. The critters seem to stick to a small area, so once you find a spot with lots of fresh damage keep coming back and you're sure to catch the culprit.

[Blacklab]

Great pics york, thanks for sharing. I also have a Mark lll what a freaking tack driver. Though I use the green barrel 

[stumprat]

Sounds like fun.

[yorketransport]

I love the MkIII. It's my dedicated porcupine gun. I wish that they made in in 22Mag though. There is no such thing as too much gun when you're in the presence of the viscious porcupine. A 22 Mag would be just right I think.

[Rhinoron247]

The Mrs. hit one with the truck last fall and proceeded to load it in the truck a brought it home for me to pluck.  All I have to say is Love will get you into some sticky situations. 

She has now made some pretty coold hat bands and other jewelery so i guess it was worth the pain.