flying porcipines

snowman · January 21, 2007, 08:16:02 AM

I have some beautiful young ponderosa pines that have a strange problem.The are avg 6"DBH, 30' tall vigorous healthy trees. Up near the tops of many of them they are girdled and dripping sap. I assume they will die there and grow 2 tops. It looks like porcipine damage you usually see at the base of trees. I can't imagine them climbing to a 3" top and girdling them there.And Im positive they cant fly! Some sharp forester out their got an answer for me?

bitternut · January 21, 2007, 09:16:30 AM

Snowman they don't fly up there they climb up at night and chew the young tender stuff all night long while you are sleeping. I have tracked them many times in the snow from a hollow beech den tree to a nice nearby sugar maple. If you go there in the daytime all you see is the tracks from the den to their lunch tree. Porky is nowhere to be seen. Put a conibear trap in the den entrance and you will find him the next morning. Sometimes you will find them perched in the tree top during mild weather but they are mainly night feeders and prefer the new growth which of course is at the top of the tree.

333_okh · January 21, 2007, 10:51:29 AM

In bad years where the winter is specially cold or long, we also have squirrel damage the same as you talk about in our redwood, which are very sweet in cambium. You may also have that problem.

I do agree however that the porky will climb as high as the brnach will let him and 3 inches in diameter is no problem.

Ron Scott · January 21, 2007, 10:56:02 AM

Ditto to what Bitternut said. You have some local porcupines that you need to take care of, especially if you are noticing a lot of "fresh girdling" to the top stem. That's favorite winter feeding that will continue tree damage and lose if left unattended.

Also note if you have a large squirrel population. Check for signs of each to determine the culprit.

stumpy · January 21, 2007, 11:01:26 AM

We have 40 acres of mature pine in Northern Wisconsin and you can frequently see porky damage. I've shot 3 or 4 out of the tops of trees.

SwampDonkey · January 21, 2007, 05:54:34 PM

Quote from: bitternut on January 21, 2007, 09:16:30 AM
I have tracked them many times in the snow from a hollow beech den tree to a nice nearby sugar maple. If you go there in the daytime all you see is the tracks from the den to their lunch tree. Porky is nowhere to be seen.

Yup, one got one of my back yard maples, and I followed his beat down path to an old junk car about 150 feet away. He had all the fine limbs chewed up in the top of the crown. I searched around the old car and never found him. Figured he left for the woods. I'm a long way from the woods, don't know what possessed him to walk across a 100 acre field from the woods. :

I found one in a maple-yellow birch grove and it nested inside a hollow yellow birch. He had hauled in some leaves and straw from the nearby field. When I seen what he was doing to the yellow birch around there, his little abode went up in flames. >:( They'll get into tamarack and white spruce stands bad to, all it takes in an abandoned shack, barn, shed or playhouse near by to live in. We had an mess of them here at one time around old buildings. They would chew the bark off the old apple trees in orchard.

Texas Ranger · January 21, 2007, 06:17:06 PM

Flying porcupines, huh? During Rita, we had lots of stuff flying, amazing what can get air borne when the weather is right.

Tom · January 21, 2007, 07:32:40 PM

what does porcupine taste like?

Kevin · January 21, 2007, 08:18:08 PM

Bald Eagle. ;D

thecfarm · January 21, 2007, 08:25:48 PM

Tom,I'll send one down to you and you can tell us.

Tom · January 21, 2007, 08:38:47 PM

I got to see one waddling across the hiway in the UP. I was on the road not far from Jeff's cabin. Supper went through my mind but he got away before we could get stopped. I figure they are a buffet deli on foot. You could cube him up, put a cube on a quill and fry that rascal up. Then dip it in cheese and munch on him with some red wine on the side in a big jelly glass.

There's a name for food preparation like that but I can't remember what it is. There is a Yuppie restaurant in Orange Park, down the road, that gets big dollars to let you cook your own stuff at the table. They do special stuff too, like, letting you dip strawberries in hot melted chocolate. The women like that kind of thing.

Maybe Detour would too. I saw some empty store fronts there last year. :D

I could name it the Porky Palace. :D

Fondue, that's what you call it, Fondue. If you like Fondue you're supposed to be sophisticated. ;D

thecfarm · January 21, 2007, 08:47:40 PM

Let me know the name of your restaurant when you open it Tom.I want to make sure I don't stop in for a bite to eat. :D There are better things to eat than a Hedge hog as my Father called them.I might have the dog trained not to touch them.As long as I can get to him before it's to late.If I'm running something that has a motor on it,I don't make it in time.I left my FIL sitting in the lawn chair one day.The dog was barking steady and wasn't moving.He had one under some old building.One less one to chew on the trees.

SwampDonkey · January 21, 2007, 08:49:35 PM

I'm willing to wager, that you'll only eat one. That's if you get past the nasty quills and those oversized bucked teeth. ;D They've gotta be the toughest rodent I've ever seen. :D

Furby · January 21, 2007, 09:24:23 PM

Maybe we can have some "porky" with the piggy at the roast this year. ;)

bitternut · January 21, 2007, 11:07:06 PM

I'll be on the look-out for some the next couple of days while I'm cutting wood. If I run across any I will throw them in the freezer for you Furby.

Furby · January 22, 2007, 12:22:34 AM

Wasn't offering, but sorta requesting. :-\
I'd try some that was prepared well.
May not ever try it again, but I'd try some. ;D

snowman · January 22, 2007, 08:23:42 AM

OK, thanks for the help. I've never really noticed porcipine damage in tree tops before, only around the base of trees. The things look so slow and clumsy I couldn't imagine them climbing way up there. I may be looking for porcipine recipes in my next post. ;D

SwampDonkey · January 22, 2007, 08:33:32 AM

They are slow but ferocious.

Jeff · January 22, 2007, 11:01:49 AM

Remember we all got to try gator at the last pig roast thanks to Woodbowl. It weren't half bad tasting but the texure was a bit odd.

Sprucegum · January 22, 2007, 08:40:11 PM

Them little Porkys were real nuisance around around the old outhouses , they liked to chew the seats out of them! Now the campgrounds all have cement floors and plastic bowls so poor Porky has gone back to the trees ;D

I have heard they are tasty as any varmint out there. 8)

Jim Spencer · January 22, 2007, 09:24:08 PM

I have shot Porky out of White Pine trees 100' up.
They like the tender bark and that would be very near the top.
They will destroy the tree. I have shot many of them.
In the Huron National forest near Glennie, Mich.

Tom · January 22, 2007, 09:31:22 PM

Are the quills easily removed? I've seen them used in American Indian dress as ornaments. Things like breast plates and headdress bands. They are quite brittle, I've heard. Are the smooth?

Ron Scott · January 22, 2007, 10:54:57 PM

The quills remove from the animal's back quit easily when its "messed with". They are somewhat stiff and not very brittle. The quills are tough on a dog when a dog gets into one. The dog often has to be taken to a Vet to have the quills removed from its face and mouth.

I kicked one once and its quills went through my rubber boot into my ankle. Not a smart move on my part. :-[

SwampDonkey · January 22, 2007, 11:50:26 PM

We had one dang dog that got into them 3 times when I was a kid and father had to take the quills out of a snarling dog. There was no vet visits. It was that or a bullet. :

This place used to be bad for quill dogs, with all the old outbuildings around.

thecfarm · January 23, 2007, 06:14:00 PM

Have to get Tom up here to see one in person.The quills are smooth,but not on the end facing you when they are still attached to a porcipine.There is a barb similar to what you would find on a fish hook.They go in easy but come out hard.The end facing you is real sharp too.They will thump thier tail on the ground to make the quills loosen up so they can hit you with thier tail if you get too close.I had to pull them out of dogs that I have owned.I was told to snip the end off to make them easier to pull out.Well easier on whatever the quills are coming out of.The one I have now is very protective of this place.He's got into 2,so far.The first time he got into one that was born that year.I shoot it after it was too late.Most dogs will get them around the nose,mouth.Most quills are about the size of the lead in a pencil,but are hollow.Some are an inch long some are 3-4 inches long.This young one that he got into had quills like hair on your head.Never seen any like that.I've never seen a small one before.I had to go buy a better pair of needle nose pliers to pull them out,because all the ones I had would not close tight enough to pull them out the ones that were like hair.I got all but 4.These were inside his mouth,around his lip.His lips are black and so are the quills. I could see them but as soon as I would try to get the pliars into his mouth the dog would jump and I would loose sight of it.When they are pulled out the barb hurts.These were the ones like hair.A trip to the vet and $45 later he is happy.He got into one when I was working.I had the wife take him right up to the vet.Same price.Doesn't matter if thier is 4 or 20.I have killed these porcipines almost every way that you could think of.Rocks,wooden clubs,pitch forks,axes,picks,guns and so on.There must be a reason why they exist,but I don't know why.My father had a old Homelite and one of the porky chewed the top handle to get the salt.All they do is destroy trees.Now if he would keep away from them skunks.He's up to 5-6.