# Hunting Porcupine



## UTEP (Mar 13, 2005)

Hi, I don't really use this forum a whole lot but I'm over in the Caseville area and I would like to start getting into hunting Porcupine. Any tips or areas that they usually populate that would be good to hunt them or signs to look for? Also if you ever did get one, how could you clean it? Thanks for any help.


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## Smallmouth Chaser (May 17, 2009)

I don't understand why anyone would want to hunt porcupines but if you really want to I would head north of Gladwin and hunt grouse. I would use a real expensive dog that has no experience with porcupines and your are almost certain to find one or your dog will. 

I know I had one lab the liked them so much that I had to pull quills our of her mouth two times.

I don't know how tasty they would be since all they eat is bark and old treestands.


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## William H Bonney (Jan 14, 2003)

UTEP said:


> Hi, I don't really use this forum a whole lot but I'm over in the Caseville area and I would like to start getting into hunting Porcupine. Any tips or areas that they usually populate that would be good to hunt them or signs to look for? Also if you ever did get one, how could you clean it? Thanks for any help.


:16suspect


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## duckhunter382 (Feb 13, 2005)

you have to be careful when you clean them but you have to go from the bottom and be careful of the quills. I have not ate them but have heard they are great when barbequed. I wouldnt have the slightest idea of how to target them as I usually see them alone and its more of a by chance situation.


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## benster (Jul 31, 2006)

I find them around apple trees at our place. Wait till the leaves are down and you can find them easier in the trees. Also you will find there scat at the base of trees where they spend more time.(big white pines or large cavities in trees) It is pencil thick and about an inch long and light brown ( like the color of dry straw) Also look for trees that are stripped of bark up in the tops and I see it in maple trees around us. As for the taste its like a mix between bald eagle and baby seal but the bad part is that it sticks to the roof of your mouth:lol:


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## RDS-1025 (Dec 1, 2008)

benster said:


> As for the taste its like a mix between bald eagle and baby seal but the bad part is that it sticks to the roof of your mouth:lol:


The fact that you know this is a little disturbing. :yikes: :lol: :yikes: :lol:


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## sean (May 7, 2002)

One year I was squirrel hunting around the Baldwin area in the National Forest and as I was looking up in the trees for squirrlies, I saw at least 5 in a few hours. Leaves were still on trees.


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## plugger (Aug 8, 2001)

I tried hunting them but gave up as I could not get the dog interested in retreiving.


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## UTEP (Mar 13, 2005)

Hey thanks everyone for responding. Would anyone know if they inhabit around Caseville? Thanks again.


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## JBooth (Sep 21, 2009)

I would guess no as they seem to not cross a line somewhere near the rifle/shotgun line. They seem to prefer pine stands. I know they are less common in southern michigan than up north. The best way to find one is in the first post with a really expensive dog.


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

:SHOCKED:Cute story about hunting porcupine

My brother in law (at the time 15) got his hunter safety certificate and him, a buddy and myself drove over to Lewiston for a squirrel hunt. It was blowing and the rats were scarce. My BIL spotted a porky in a pine. He asked if it were ok to shoot it. My thought always was, if you're gonna eat it...

My buddy said he'd clean it and cook the damn thing :lol:

OK, it drops out of the tree and in my buddy's game bag it went. Fine for the first few steps, but then the quills started to poke through the material :SHOCKED:

We found an empty carton for a case of beer (Bud, I think). And we lined his vest with it. Cool!
Got it back to the cabin and my buddy went into the 1/2 basement to clean it... LOL

I can still remember him cussing up a storm as he tried to skin it. Finally after what seemed like an hour he came back upstairs with a little sandwich
Baggie of meat 

There's hardly any meat on those things
I told my dad about this adventure and he remembered that at one time 
they were off-limits because it was survival animal, easily obtained in case someone was lost and starving. Somewhere out west or or the Yukon

Never did try though. Kind of a white meat, probably like chicken...


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## ForestvilleJack (Apr 25, 2007)

Porcupines are not in the thumb of michigan. You will have to go north of gladwin to find porkies.


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## eino (Jun 19, 2003)

There were alot of them in Caro when I squirrel hunted there a rew years ago. There is also no shortage around Tippy Dam.

Ed


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## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

Good population in the State lands north of Reed City / Evart to Cadillac.
What with their diet of bark, including pine, one would think they taste like turpentine...
That's what chicken tasted like when some scouts in our troop 50 years ago used old pine lumber to make a fire. :yikes: Can still taste it thinking about it. :gaga:


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## Swamp Monster (Jan 11, 2002)

Our Mecosta County cedar swamp is loaded with them. They don't offer much of a challenge. Destructive little bastards though! Hunt away!!! Find some blue hairs that want quills for quiliting etc and they will love you.


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## diamoma1 (Jul 7, 2000)

They're actually pretty tasty. Obviously skin them from the belly side. They look like a big rabbit once skinned. We cooked them in a turkey fryer (used water, not oil) and then shredded the meat like pulled pork. Mix in whatever seasoning or sauce you prefer (we used BBQ) and make sandwiches. Our place is loaded with them (Clare/Farwell area) and they're very destructive. We get rid of everyone that we see.


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## Birddogm33 (Nov 9, 2007)

If you throw out a bag of sugar beets they will come.


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## CrashAxe (Jul 10, 2010)

Smooth barked trees are very attractive to porcupines. They can strip a girdle around a maple & kill it very quickly. I've never eaten them but I'll shoot 'em if I see 'em 'cuz of the way they destroy trees.


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## jcam2412 (Sep 11, 2010)

I've seen lots in Montmorency / Otsego Counties as road kill (more in the last year or two than historically) and have a regular population at hunting property in Northern Isabella County. I think you'll find them pretty much anywhere in the north.


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## kmonty (Aug 26, 2009)

I got the chance last rifle season while i was up at camp to kill one, and clean it. It was 2 days before rifle season, and i shot it out of the hardwoods near camp. Once i finally got it back to camp, i just wore a pair of leather kinco work gloves and started out by rolling it on its back, and making a cut from its neck to its butt. Then i just worked the hyde around using my knife and peeled it right off. I cleaned up the meat and we roasted it in the oven at camp with a little bit of bacon on it and potatoes.... It was actully very good, and this one had alot of meat on it! If you see a small porky dont take it, of course its going to have a little bit of meat on it.... But if you find a good sized porky, why not.... its worth a try! I thought it tasted just fine.


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## Ole Spike (Nov 22, 2004)

The few that I have seen were so dumb or lethargic that they let me walk right up to them. Couldn't bring myself to kill 'em because they are actually kind of cute close up. One kept looking at me and made a cute little purring sound?!?! Maybe he liked me.:yikes:


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## sjk984 (Jan 4, 2010)

I just saw one yesterday on the west side of the rush lske SGA. I was hunting the ridges off of the stat park road for squirrel and he walked right up to the tree I was sitting at. Scared the s%^t out of me.

Steve


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## USarmy17 (Aug 27, 2010)

I actually got one today, I just stumbled acrossed it though. It took forever to skin it, kept getting poked. But if I came across one again I would definetly shoot it. I've heard they're pretty good eating.


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## cgc Zephyr (Oct 24, 2006)

every once in a while i'd have one hanging around and feeding off apples where i was hunting. when i was younger i was told to leave them alone if they were feeding off the apples since they would taste better after a week or 2 of eating apples. So the ones i ate were shot after they had been comming into the apples regularly and then we roasted tem.. no one would eat them if we called them porkie, butthey sure ate the **** outa them when you told them they were eating wild michigan pig. As far as skinning. flip onto it's back(Duh) go from neck to vent then from the slit straight out to the legs cut around legs andstart to work the skin off. Rose clippers or pruning shears work well on the tail to seperate. 

i read in a old, old hunting magazine that they were to be left alone, they were known as survival food for lost folks.:coolgleam


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## tree dweller (Nov 5, 2001)

Ever?


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## mak (Apr 19, 2009)

saw one up an oak two days ago where I plan on deer hunting, today there were 3 up the trees. Big ones. I left them alone.


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## Justin (Feb 21, 2005)

I shot one years ago in Feb. or March. It was way up in a cedar. After skinning and gutting it the smell was so bad that I couldn't bring myself to eat it. That and the huge tapeworm it had.:corkysm55


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## mak (Apr 19, 2009)




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## midwestfisherman (Apr 19, 2001)




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## KPC (Jan 29, 2000)

*'I don't understand why anyone would want to hunt porcupines..."*

Apparently you've never owned a cabin with T-111 siding.

:banghead3













KPC


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

Or had a dog who got hit by one in the hip and arthritis set in


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## 2shooter (Sep 30, 2008)

My father in law would tell ya to wait till it rains; they're easy to spot once they put yellow raincoats on.:lol:


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