Posted on 07/25/2019 4:29:07 AM PDT by marktwain
He woke in the early morning hours, well before sunrise. What was that noise? It sounded like a mouse, chewing on something. Then he realized the noise was not from inside the house. It was from outside the house. He grabbed a rifle, the ubiquitous Ruger 10-22. Prior experience had shown him a .357 magnum was too much gun. Putting on hearing protection in the middle of the night is inconvenient, not to mention waking the entire family. Fortunately, the family dog was kenneled at night. His doggy talents were unsuited to the task required.
The pest was revealed by an LED flashlight from WalMart. It slowly waddled into the garage as he approached. Tossing a couple of expended lead bullets, set aside for re-casting, ahead of it, turned its path back outside. There was no need to exacerbate the damage by firing a round inside. Once on the grass, a .22 Long Rifle to the back of the head dispatched the beast efficiently and instantly.
Porcupines are destructive pests in North American forests. They are one of the largest rodents in North America. Their teeth are continually growing, so they must continually chew to keep their tooth length in reasonable limits.
While their chewing on and eating bark during winter months is said to add little nutrition to their diet, the practice does enormous damage to trees. My brother recently harvested mature trees from some of the family land. A number of those trees were planted by our parents.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Porcupines have been around northern Wisconsin a whole lot longer than humans.
The forests did fine all that time.
Yeah. Gotta keep the critters at bey. Up at our hunting camp we have plugged porcupines and didn’t realize we had flying squirrels in the area till a family of them moved into the barn. For that a .22 with bird shot ( dust) took care of them at close range.
15,000 years ago, there was nothing but mile high glacial ice in Northern Wisconsin.
Humans and porcupines moved in about the same time.
10 years ago there were no armadillos in the Missouri Ozarks.
Today, they’re everywhere and headed north.
Here is an old hunters trick to actually keep porcupines from chewing on your cabin in the woods. Just select a nice log or small pile of firewood, and make sure you urinate on the wood daily. The pungent smell will draw the porcupine to the wood
for its salt content and it will chew only there.
This urination method also a great way to bait them and dispatch them.
Remember, a porcupine craves salt, and will chew any wood it finds with salt on it, such as wooden canoe paddles.
What about raccoons?
“Northern Wisconsin from Porcupines, Eric in the Ozarks wrote:
10 years ago there were no armadillos in the Missouri Ozarks.
Today, they’re everywhere and headed north.”
I saw a few armadillos run over in SC and GA. Hard to believe.
Well, the picture illustrates two of the three “S”’s.
Murderer...... what harm was imagined from the flying squirrels?
I live 110 miles south of San Antonio. The armadillos dig holes all over my yard. See there carcasses on the road all the time. Seem to be a new invader
Ear protection for a 10-22? Well, I suppose it would be OK.
One the time we went backpacking and when we got back to the trailhead, several of the cars in the parking lot were out of commission because a porcupine had eaten the radiator hoses. No cell coverage either.
We were spared and drove to the nearby town and reported that there were a bunch of people stranded at the trailhead. The local tow truck headed out that way. Don’t know how long it took to get everyone back on the road.
The .357 would have required ear protection.
Apparently, they can swim since I’ve observed runover armadillos north of the Missouri River.
They chew the living hell out of everything of value in the barn and chewed through the eaves.
When hunting elk or muleys, we eliminate them any time they’re around.
We’re in northern Missouri, about 60 miles from Iowa. I saw one of those Possums on a Half-Shell (armadillo) dead on the side of the road a half mile outside our little town. I about broke my neck craning it to verify.
You’d think MDC would make a campaign to rid us of these critters like they have feral hogs.
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