# Going on a porcupine hunt... so sick of quills



## Rectifier (Jun 12, 2011)

My pair of LGDs will not, can not learn how to keep their jaws off a porcupine. I pull quills at least once a month, if unlucky once a week, from these unfortunate dogs, and have been doing so for a year. This has obviously been pretty hard on the dogs.

So over the next few days I am going to take the .22 out, or maybe the shotgun, and try to put the biggest dent I can in the local quill pig population. I heard they mostly hang out in trees, though I only ever see them in the ditch while driving. Must be other porcupine haters here, any tips to maximize my kill count? No limit, they are considered a pest animal here. I wouldn't mind if I drive them extinct for several miles (which is how far my dogs range)


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## RichNC (Aug 22, 2014)

I shot one once with a .22, from ground to half way up a tree it took six direct hits to bring it down, they are really tough. Other than that, good luck and sorry about your dogs.


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

Cage traps and a rag soaked in salt water or just plain salt is supposed to work good.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Find tracks, follow them. They tend to laze around in tree crotches napping during daylight hours. They do leave a very unmistakable track.

A hit to the head with a .22 is sufficiently lethal. I never found them too tough with that medicine.

Good luck. If you find some, you may find it worth your while to pluck out the long guard hairs. There are buyers for it that pay a pretty decent price at times.

They are terrible for dogs!


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## Rectifier (Jun 12, 2011)

Much of the day hunting on foot and only got one, but she's a big one, 20lbs. Found her up a tree about 3/4 mile from the yard. Lots of dog tracks around so I suspect this may be one of the culprits.

I tried cage traps with apples and salt, reportedly a good bait, but as porkies don't travel very fast or far, I guess you would have to place traps in every forest?

Amazingly tough as mentioned, my wife put 3 rounds of .22 in it before it so much as dropped from the tree. Still crawling so I finished it with a load of birdshot to the back of the head - full choke - not many can get up from that.

Wife posed with her first quill pig kill and it sounded like it growled at her even though it looked to be 100% dead. Yeah... tough... 

Then I had to drag it home to burn it as the dogs wanted to eat it right there... they are great LGDs but sometimes... :hammer:

Dale who is buying the guard hairs and what for? Lovely coat on the bugger but for all the spines :happy2: I will happily pull them if they are worth money, I have not yet incinerated the critter. Do they need to be washed or anything?


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Well, glad you got one! As far as hair buyers, I only know about it because places like Halford's out of Edmonton sell it for native craftwork. I know a guy who says he plucks them and sells it, to whom I have no idea. I would need to chat with him. But I wonder if Halford's would buy direct? 

It was in the dollars per ounce, but I wonder how many ounces there would be? Just one of those things. I just do not know enough, I only know some do sell the stuff! Sorry I wish I had more info...

Again, you just saved dogs grief and pain. Good job. 

Apparently they taste good too?


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Did a quick google. Found offers for 25 bucks or so an ounce, 300 plus bucks a lb. Not sure what yer typical porky would yield, lol.


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

Much larger than I thought.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

Rectifier said:


> My pair of LGDs will not, can not learn how to keep their jaws off a porcupine. I pull quills at least once a month,


Poor dogs! You would think that they would learn after the first couple of times. This is sad but kind of funny too.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Some doggies learn the first time, some never learn! The worst we had, was when about a week after removing quills from our poor Aussie, we noticed two quills we had missed, had moved from the initial entrance point in the nose, to an exit point just under the eye, a distance of 4 or 5 inches.

The things actually work their way through animal tissue. It is unbelievable actually. We have taken our dogs to the vet. In an hour, quills that are not fully embedded, can completely disappear into the tissue of the animal, making the extremely hard to find and extract. 

Whatever you do, get them out, and get them out as quick as you can. They can be lethal.


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## Rectifier (Jun 12, 2011)

So, Dale tricked me into spending much of the morning plucking $30 worth of porcupine hair. Now he suggests I try to eat the sucker? Not happening, buddy :happy2: 
I skinned the sharp parts off to burn and left the meat for the dogs. Amazing how much muscle is in the tail!

Not really worth it, unfortunately - it turns out a quill pig wears about an ounce of marketable length hair, mostly in the middle of the back, and the rest is too short. It's hard to tell which parts will pull long and which will come up short. I guess you could say:
"The porcupine hair itself is worthless, they are paying for the labour to extract it"
Unfortunately I could have made quite a bit more money in the same time with a coyote - as the coyote itself is worth good money for much less work. Guess that's why the porcupine isn't a big trapping target.

mekasmom, I will admit I laughed the second time but now I just get frustrated. It's hours of hard work to get 95% of quills from the two dogs. At the end both humans and dogs are exhausted and angry at each other. One dog will come and stand to have the majority pulled - he understands what is going on, despite the whimpering and the occasional snap. The other dog requires 3 men to hold him down if you are to do a proper job.

We are lucky to have seen relatively low quill counts, and all the ones missed come back out. Our Akbash dogs have long noses, and missed quills will pierce right through and come out the top of the snout in a few days. Yes, I remember once getting a grip with the pliers on a tiny white stub and pulling only to find it was a quill buried 2 inches deep in the gums! 
Regular shots of LA penicillin has kept any infections from becoming an issue. Fortunately this is happening far from the eyes, brain and large blood vessels. 

The biggest problem with the vet is that each dog would have cost us well over a thousand dollars in vet bills this year.

Any tips on sedating the dogs with our limited Canadian products? I have been very tempted to try diphenhydramine HCL ("benadryl" type antihistamine) as I know it is dog safe and a fairly strong sedative. Tricky to find the right dosage though.
It would be a perfect local nerve block IF one could remove all the stuff put in the tablet to prevent you from injecting it. Microcrystalline cellulose is almost impossible to filter. Pure diphenhydramine ampoules are prescription, unfortunately.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Glad you got at least one of the buggers! They are terrible for the dogs for sure!

Here I have a friend that uses the quill's to make fly fishing lures. You might find people interested in the quills for that reason too.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

If you cut the quills they will shrink a bit and should be easier to pull out.


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## Squeaky McMurdo (Apr 19, 2012)

I think they're tasty :shrug:


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

Porcupines are protected animals here, and very rare. They were hunted almost to extinction in the early 20th century and have never come back despite a total ban on hunting. There's a few around here, but fortunately, the dogs have not run into them. Funny how different areas have different ideas of problem animals.

Instead of porcupines, we have jumping cholla in the lower desert areas. The effect is pretty much the same, and some dogs never learn ... and you can't shoot a cholla. (Well, you can, but it's fairly pointless to do so.) 

(Usually they step on a cholla pad, then bite it, and end up with a face and mouth full of cactus. The spines can be an inch and a half long and will go through the sole of a sneaker or puncture a quad tire. My current heeler/aussie cross strictly avoids the stuff, but I had a border collie/aussie mix growing up who would get so focused on chasing rodents/bunnies/birds that she'd run full tilt right through a patch.)


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## Rectifier (Jun 12, 2011)

Out flying model planes today and spotted a big black spot 1/4 mile out on the hayfield. Gotta be a porcupine, I say!
Run inside for the binos and it sure was. Strapped on snowshoes, grabbed the .22 and bagged quill pig #2. Much smaller, not worth harvesting anything or taking pics.

4 shots to the head and still it got up and tried to escape the calf sled on the drag home??
Next one it's 12ga to the face. Critter obviously has a tiny brain!

Cholla story makes me laugh as it reminds me of my dogs... how stupid can an animal be to bite a cactus in anger! That's a dog for ya!


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## Kasidy (Oct 20, 2002)

I have had several ranch dogs "interact" with porcupines over the years, but I always blamed the dog. It never occurred to me to blame the poor porkie and go out and shoot it!
We had a GSD who was smart in every other way that got quilled at least a half dozen times during his life. I just couldn't understand it---but he learned to lie still and not complain when I sat on him to pull the quills.
We had not had an incident in at least 10 years until last week. While we were out walking one of the pups ran down into a coulee and kept stopping to chew on his foot when he came back up. It was full of quills. He always paws at the cats when he wants their attention. So I can just see what happened in the bottom of that coulee!!!
Fingers crossed that he is smarter than that old GSD!


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

I once had one that would visit my garden at night and dig up fish guts I buried. So one night I went "Rambo" on it and blasted away with the shotgun and bird shot, probably hitting it 3 times. It took about 3 or 4 years before I stopped finding quills, and I did not go barefoot in that garden for quite some time!

So cutting the quills actually allows you to pull them out? In the two times our dog got the quills we ended up at the vet cause he just would not let us pull them.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

When you cut the quill, it shrinks a bit. This makes it easier. Was told this decades ago by a forest ranger.


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