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Anyone who has spent a reasonable amount of time in the woodlands of Western New York has probably stumbled upon a porcupine at one time or another. Those of us who own camps or land with any kind of wooden structure have almost certainly had encounters with them. Being members of the rodent family (Erethizontidae), and having large front teeth that never stop growing as long as the animal is alive, they tend to gnaw at cabins, sheds, outhouses, axes, paddles or any other type of wood that contains salt and oil. Becasue of this trait they are often thought of as nuisance animals.

Being nocturnal, they are most likely encountered by humans either on the way to or from the tree that they hollowed out to live in and spend most of their time in. They are a very slow moving animal and very easily walked up upon by people and other animals as the dog pictured here found out. I have walked up on them and been within 4 feet being fairly safe. However, I do not recommend this as they are a wild animal and very unpredictable. Contrary to popular belief, a porcupine does not shoot it's quills. In fact, the quills are nothing more then modified hair. As a defense mechanism, if the porcupine feels threatened it will turn it's back to the opponent and whip it's tail attempting to strike the attacker with it, dislodging the razor sharp barbed quills.

Porcupines reside throughout most of North America. They can weigh as much as 40 pounds and grow as long as 40 inches with a tail that can reach lengths of 8 inches. The guard hairs in the front half of its body are yellowish blonde and darker on the body and hind side of the animals. Up to 30,000 quills that reach lengths of 3 inches are mixed in with the body hair and the tail. The front feet have four toes and the rear feet have 5 toes, all of which have long curved claws and textured pads on the bottom.

These animals breed in the Fall and early Winter, bearing one or two young that are born with soft quills which harden an hour or two after birth. After about 10 days the baby's eyes will open and they will start eating solid food after about 2 weeks continuing to nurse for up to 5 months. Their life expectancy in the wild is about 6 years but can live up to 10 years in perfect conditions.

So what do you do if you find yourself having a problem with one of these critters. This is a hard question both lawfully and in principle. They are not protected because of their population so it is not illegal to kill them, however, there is no food value and certainly no sport value in hunting porcupines. From another aspect, good luck finding a taxidermist that will accept the job of mounting one. Because there is no specified hunting season for Porcupines, this option is available 12 months a year. The law also stipulates that a private person (not having proper licensing) cannot trap any wild animal then transport it off their property. It boils down to the extent of damage being caused by the animal to justify hiring a trapper to transport the animal to a place where it can't cause any more damage or eliminating it yourself.

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