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 ...
Murder is causing the death of a HUMAN, not a rodent.
Eastern Grey squirrels are an invasive species where I live, and a group of them caused over $5000 damage to my roof and interior parts of my house.
Squirrels destroy birds’ nests and eat the nestlings. They chew on anything and everything they can access.
Squirrels are rodents.
Rodents are vermin.
Vermin should be exterminated.
By any and every means possible.
I’ve spent a lot of time in porcupine country. I’ve seen two trees that they’ve nibbled, both hemlocks. Too much other stuff to eat in coastal Oregon for them to be a problem. Mountain Beavers( boomers)on the other hand....But in all honesty, bear and elk, and deer kill more trees than the rodents do.
I’ve heard of fisherman taking a snooze in the woods waking to find a porky chewing on their cork fishing rod handle.
PS. From the looks of that damage to the garage door casing, my first thought was “That’s where a cat’s been pissing.”
I don’t like them being to thick anywhere I’m likely to be walking a dog.
I’ve heard that some places outlawed the wanton killing of them, simply because they were such easy prey for lost hikers.
To prevent the kind of damage shown to the wood trim, mix sand with paint for any exposed wood.
To be rid of the pests entirely, mix lead with porcupine.
We put out a couple of salt blocks out hoping to keep the porcupines away from our log cabin.
I have no idea if it works but the cabin has not been damaged.
Interesting. They do not own any cats.
But, do any cats claim that spot? Sometimes, if neighbors have cats, they’ll split up the properties without cats.
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