Had the dogs out grouse hunting this morning. The older lab, Boomer, had his second encounter with a porcupine. He took a tail-slap to the snout.






Luckily it didn’t seem to be a hard slap, I was able to pull all but these two with just my fingers. I had to take him back to the truck and get a pliers for those.



Back at the truck I got the last two quills out and made sure there weren’t any more.



I am sure it won’t be his last encounter.

Did you shoot the porcupine?

Keith

Don’t look like fun at all lol

We usually shoot them on sight. Besides turning my dogs into pincushions they do a lot of damage to the trees around my camp and to camp itself. There’s actually a season on them in PA now.

My buddy tried to locate this one to kill it while I was pulling quills but couldn’t find it.

This is him looking into the thick stuff where Boomer got nailed.

You would think he would avoid them after the first time.

The black one in the truck is smiling going "Ya Big Dummy".

At least with my stock dogs they either completely avoid them or try to kill them the second encounter.

They don't seem to learn

The yellow one ain’t smart Boco. He’s a super-hunter with crazy prey-drive but dumb as a stump. I doubt this will be his last encounter.

The black female probably is laughing at him elkaholic. She’s way smarter than he is and a great retriever but she’s not half the hunter he is. I’m pretty sure once a porky gets her she’ll avoid them after that.

I hope Boomer doesn’t try to kill the next one, pulling quills from inside his mouth doesn’t sound like much fun. I didn’t realize you had porcupines out in Nevada.

What is the purpose of putting a season on them?

that seems like a pre step to the antis making them a restricted species

you know like requiring a free for now license and making it a stupid short season for something in the dead of winter to avoid a bear that wouldn't have been an issue 2 month earlier.

We have the same hound come in every couple months for sedated removal of porky quills. He just can’t stand the things! Poor puppy!!

They were protected for many years in Pennsylvania. I don’t know why, but there was no season on them and it was illegal to kill them. I always heard they were protected because it was the only critter a lost person without a firearm could easily kill and consume. I suspect that is more of an old hunter’s tale than anything.

About four or five years ago they put a season on them.

He looks proud to be wearing them. lol

I will usually pull them myself. If there are not too many and they are not embedded to deeply. Years ago I had another yellow lab that got a hard tail slap. There were too many and they were too deep for me to attempt pulling them. I took him to a local vet who sedated him and pulled out 111 quills.

Funny story about that; I waited at the vets office while he performed the procedure. He gave me my still sedated dog to take back to camp. As I was carrying the dog out to the truck an older woman came walking up the sidewalk and almost started crying, saying how sorry she was that my poor dog had passed away.

I do keep the numbers of several local vets on my phone now because every lab I’ve ever had has gotten nailed by a porky up up here except for the newest one. And it’s only a matter of time until she does.

He does look like he’s happy about it in the pictures doesn’t he?

He wasn’t nearly as happy about it when I started yanking them.

Unfortunately, that's not how it works most of the time.

The quills have cash value to Native Americans.

Some dogs learn a lesson, others spend a lifetime trying to get even

^^^ this ^^^