Porcupine?

[CBH Australia]

i see a few Hunt Porcupine. Are they considered a trophy? Are they mounted? Are they a pest? What is the main purpose?
In Australia we have a much smaller Echidna (spiny ant eater) they are protected, not common but you see them around.
I’m curious about these ,just a point of discussion.

 

[AZDAVE]

I hunted one last year, I consider it a trophy and am having a full mount done with quills flared. They are mostly nocturnal.
One thing is that the meat is delicious, the tracker was a very happy man but is was on our last night soi we didn't get to try the meat this time.

I can't answer if they are a pest or not one of the outfitter will have to answer that one.

 

[CAustin]

i see a few Hunt Porcupine. Are they considered a trophy? Are they mounted? Are they a pest? What is the main purpose?
In Australia we have a much smaller Echidna (spiny ant eater) they are protected, not common but you see them around.
I’m curious about these ,just a point of discussion.

I shot two on a farm in South Africa 3 years ago and the owner said no charge in that he considered them a pest. I did not mount them although my taxidermist offered to do so at a reasonable price. I simple had the quilts harvested and sent back with other items.

 

[Nkawu]

I shot one with a bow once over bushpig bait and the farm workers were thrilled about the meat we gave them. I remember it being a very sweaty and smelly thing! On other farms I’ve been to they raid the trash cans, steal dog food, carry litter all over the place.

 

[WRudman]

Just plain a pest. Ring bark trees, dig up the vegetables, raid the feed store. As a kid used to hunt them on moonlight nights with "kieries" (sticks). Taste like chicken. The skin is a delicacy, made crispy over a fire. Mainly nocturnal, but you get them during the day as well. Got one that keeps giving me the slip, keeps raiding the feed store. Can hurt a unwary dog.

 

[tarbe]

I killed one here in the states, back in the 80s, with a Ruger Single Six.

Cooked him up and ate him.

No, I did not manage to remain completely unpunctured during the skinning process.

 

[CBH Australia]

Interesting, our Echidna are mainly nocturnal. They don’t do any damage as far as I know with the exception of I have one under a house at work that maybe responsible for breaking a phone wire but that’s unfortunate. Although the phone technician says they are destructive vermin, he has seen it before.
Aboriginal people eat them. They are not big. If they went 5kg live weight there wouldn’t be much meat I don’t think. (Traditional food)
They don’t seem to do any harm. They eat termites and they are not in plague proportions so I don’t consider them a pest.
That is why I’m curious about Porcupine. Not the same thing but in a strange way they are compared to them. Echidna have a much shorter quill than Porcupine and they get compared with Hedgehog but I think they are more of a stiff bristle than a quill.

 

[Newboomer]

I used to see them frequently in the woods as a kid. At one time they were considered a pest and there was a bounty on them. They would chew up a horse harness for the salt taste and ruin it. There was an old story that you didn't wantonly kill them because they were one of the few animals you could kill with a stick or rock in a survival situation.

 

[Ragman]

My PH had me shoot one that was raiding the bush pig baits before the pigs would get there. Fun hunt in the dark. My tracker took that porcupine home as well.