Porcupine - how to find them?

[MPI]

So my friend’s dog has "fetched" his second porcupine, maybe the same one both times? Needless to say the dog has lost both times. So he has asked my help to rid him of this expensive nuisance.

The porcupine or porcupines appear to be living in a copse of woods about 50m in front of the house (he lives on a farm). But he has not been able to find it/them. How do you track them? I know they like to live in the trees but does anyone have any tricks of the trade in tracking these things?

Please help the porq has to go.

Thanks in advance.:beerchug:

 

[wobbles99]

let the dog loose and follow.

It seems to find them pretty easy.

 

[mdbuckle]

Cut down every tree in the vicinity and burn them...or you can pay for all of us CGN members to fly in and do a massive search and destroy mission. Sounds good to me.

 

[art.h]

salted plwood

just wash a piece of srap plywood with salt water, hang in the open with a bell on it it won't take long:

 

[MPI]

let the dog loose and follow.

It seems to find them pretty easy.

That would end with another trip to the vets. The dog is tame on the leash but will bolt after anything alive when off.

Any alternatives?

 

[MPI]

just wash a piece of srap plywood with salt water, hang in the open with a bell on it it won't take long:

How's that work?

 

[Mike]

Trap it using salt as bait. They love salt. Either something like a rag soaked in salt or plain salt will work. My dog has lost 2 battles with porkies.

 

[MPI]

Cut down every tree in the vicinity and burn them...or you can pay for all of us CGN members to fly in and do a massive search and destroy mission. Sounds good to me.

We've done a five man flush with no luck. Thought about doing a local CGN porq hunt and BBQ. :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug: :beerchug:

 

[MPI]

Trap it using salt as bait. They love salt. Either something like a rag soaked in salt or plain salt will work. My dog has lost 2 battles with porkies.

ok thanks.

 

[gunrunner100]

Any alternatives?

Remember the movie "Old Yeller"?

 

[madtrapper143]

Please don't kill the porcupines! Many a lost hunter has been saved from death by finding a porcupine. All you do is follow him because they are all headed to the Trans Canada highway to be run over.......

cheers Darryl

 

[Claybuster]

When our dogs had a porcupine encounter we put one of the dogs on a leash and she lead us to it quickly. FYI, #4 Buck does a real job on them.

Once after doing in a porkie I took the e-collar out for a little aversion training. They got a light jolt when they neared the corpse. Since doing this the dogs haven't tangled with a porcupine.

 

[MiG25]

So my friend’s dog has "fetched" his second porcupine

should have learned the first time.....

depending on the size of the woods, maybe scan the trees with binoculars, they can climb.

 

[TonyMo]

just wash a piece of srap plywood with salt water, hang in the open with a bell on it it won't take long:


How's that work?

Ask anyone is has ever built an outhouse out of plywood or OSB. If you don't paint it, the porkies will eat it. There must be salt or something similar in the adhesive.

 

[MadDog]

I don't make a habit of killing porky's but every now and then, usually in the fall for some unknown reason they have a tendency to get into my 100 acre lot and skirt every beech tree on it. I believe those tree's which have at least a 2 foot diameter (the smallest) keep the deer around my lot in hunting season cause they're dropping their nuts. The deer love em. Anyways, where was I? Oh ya, they skirt them which really buggers them up when they strip the bottom bark off the tree prior to the winter so I gotta go for a walk and stare up into the trees. Luckily my lot is about 99% maple and 1% beech so it's not hard for the little buggers to be skylined. I just pop em with a twelve gauge and let the yotes have a good meal for the night.

 

[Luger9]

Just wait on the HWY, you're bound to see one.

 

[Spitzer]

That would end with another trip to the vets.

An easy and painless way to get the quills out is to take cupful of vinegar and add one tablespoon of baking soda to it and stir well. Sop this solution on all the quills then wait for ten minutes. After ten minutes, sop the quills again, then wait another ten minutes, and pull out all the quills. It only takes 20 mins.

Vinegar is a mild solution of acetic acid which softens up the porcupine quills which are made of calcium and lime.

I've done this method twice on my dog and it works great. Please pass this on to other dog owners who frequent the woods, it saves alot of pain.

 

[Winters]

So he has asked my help to rid him of this expensive nuisance

Not that I understand how pulling out quills is expensive, but my first thought was that the guy wanted you to put-down this dog that he had shelled out a fair penny for, even though it's only had two chances.
but then you wrote this:

Please help the porq has to go.

and I'm thinking 'It's a shame to kill a porcupine just because of stupid people or stupid dogs...'

Any alternatives?

and this question brings me back to my first thought and I'll say: gunrunner100 x2.

Remember - a dog that doesn't obey unconditionally, or that heightens your healthy distrust of all animals to unease, has absolutely no traits endearing enough to save it from death.

 

[Luger9]

^^^
Not a dog lover are you???

 

[sunray]

"...this method twice on my dog and it works great..." The quills can get into the back of Fido's throat where you can't reach 'em.