I try any thing once.I like porcupines in the Fall when they are fat.There is no tenderloin on a porcupine .The only animal I have ever seen that does not have any.I l;ike to smoke or barq them.They might need trimming of fat and parboiling some.I wack them with the tire tool .Its only of only two things in Alaska you can kill with a stick or rock.The spruse grouse is the other.I got a 52 pounder with a big root once.I had my 338-378 weatherby but I though it to be too powerful .You clean then from the belly with gloves.I got to eating them by reading Russell Annabel books.

I think maybe rather than the only ONE, you are probably one of a small number.

In the Canadian bush you also find porcupine eaten as a "survival" food. No season, no bag limit, but could only be taken as an "emergency" food, the last time I looked. (That was over 30 years ago.)

They are one of the few animals it is easy to kill with a stick, so the game departments always felt it was best not to indiscrimanently slaughter them. There always might come a time when someone lost or stranded out there had a stick, but no food, and it would be nice to have the "Porkys" available.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
I think maybe rather than the only ONE, you are probably one of a small number.

In the Canadian bush you also find porcupine eaten as a "survival" food. No season, no bag limit, but could only be taken as an "emergency" food, the last time I looked. (That was over 30 years ago.)

They are one of the few animals it is easy to kill with a stick, so the game departments always felt it was best not to indiscrimately slaughter them. There always might come a time when someone lost or stranded out there had a stick, but no food, and it would be nice to have the "Porkys" available.

That would be a lot like possums. They could easily be caught on the forest floor. Seems like I see them everytime I go bow hunting. I have never eaten one, though.

It is said that the indians would throw the porky , whole, on the fire to cook it. They have strange tastes . My friend had one chew a hole through his new parn , eating preserved wood !! That stopped after spraying chlorine bleach on the wood which will also keep racoons away.

As far as I know the law against shooting porcupines is still in effect in Saskatchewan. But, as a hunter who's lab had a major encounter with one up there in a rose thicket, I kind of forget that law when I encounter one in the fields.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
As far as I know the law against shooting porcupines is still in effect in Saskatchewan. But, as a hunter who's lab had a major encounter with one up there in a rose thicket, I kind of forget that law when I encounter one in the fields.

Hey, Senor Fat Cat <G> -

Your allusion to the Alberta Rose country in Saskatchewan reminds me of an incident in 1973 or '74. I was hunting mule deer on the south bank of the South Sakatchewan River, just north of Sceptre...was crouched on one side of a "feeder" gully in some bush and was surveying the bush on the other side through a monocular. Panned the brush from aout 350 yards downhill to just about opposite me.

Was just about to put the glass down when...MOTION!! Took a closer look...Hell's Bells! There comes a griz ambling directly toward me in their slow, lazy, (when undisturbed), way. Jeez! What am I gonna do? I don't have any license to shoot grizzly bears...and he's getting way bigger quick in that glass! Further, there aren't any trees big enough to climb within about 8 square sections of land. That old guy's mane was standing right up and the wind was blowing it in ripples just about like ocean waves....and mine was starting to stand up too!

So, covered him with my .300 Mag anyway.

But then the brain finally kicked in. (Mine, that is.) There aren't any griz in southern Saskatchewan wheat country! And, come-to-think-of-it, who ever saw a griz with a really pointy nose like that? So, I put the gun down. Looked with my bare eyes.

Well, the visual traverse of the other side of the arroyo with the glass had led across brush which shortened gradually enough that as one was scanning stuff closer and closer to him, it still appeared about 6-7' tall.

It wasn't. It was more like 12-18" tall at my end of the gully. But it made that animal LOOK huge.

In reality, it was just a porky. Boy, was I glad no one else was there to witness that episode....

Canuck, I'd think that was a BS story if I hadn't had a friend do the same thing. We were hunting Elk outsider Fernie, BC EARLY one morning and he was glassing another ridge. He turned and glassed down the horse trail and saw the grizzly coming towards our horses. They weren't spooked however, and that's when he realized his view was closer than he'd thought and it was a porky.

I have eaten only three porcupines. Two were by campfire while hunting snowshoe rabbits in the north woods of Minnesota. one was roasted in an oven with herbs and garlic applied. by far the best was a head shot porci over an open fire of birch and maple. the fat dripped off him like a pork roast and the hot tea in my theromos was a nice rinse. AFter lunch we shot a bunch more of rabbits and it was good.

I've tried Bobcat, coon, muskrat, and yes even porky but I really don't see myself intentionally dining on any of them again unless needed.

Canuck, my uncle and I were sittng in the van one day glassing geese.. old uncle Bob has his big 12 power binoculars out. He says "holy F##$$ there's a flock of wild turkeys!! I looks about 20 feet in front of the van and there's a flock of grouse walking across in front of us.....just like yer grizzly.

the chef

No wonder there are so many "hunting accidents" in Canada! Remind me to wear blaze orange at the shopping mall up there! Whacked out folk in Canada

Did eat one at survival school. Don't think I would hurry to do either of them again...

So which is the best porky or Spam?

Porcupine is commonly eaten in rural Alaska. I haven't had it yet but I would.

I have never ate a porcupine but...when I was much younger and a "man of the woods" a friend and I killed and ate a blue jay. I can still taste it from time to time. Most revolting thing we ever tried.

quote:

Originally posted by dgr416:
I try any thing once.I like porcupines in the Fall when they are fat.There is no tenderloin on a porcupine .The only animal I have ever seen that does not have any.I l;ike to smoke or barq them.They might need trimming of fat and parboiling some.I wack them with the tire tool .Its only of only two things in Alaska you can kill with a stick or rock.The spruse grouse is the other.I got a 52 pounder with a big root once.I had my 338-378 weatherby but I though it to be too powerful .You clean then from the belly with gloves.I got to eating them by reading Russell Annabel books.

Isn't a 52 pound spruce grouse some kind of record??!!

Conifer----Would depend on how long it's antlers were as to whether a 52 pound spruce grouse was record or not.

My family and I have eaten numerous porkys and beaver. They are good tablefare when I cook them and delicious if my does her magic on them.

WIFE wasn't included!

I guess the good thing about eating a porcupine is that you dont have to find the toothpick dispenser on the way out

You definately aren't the only one, I have had porcupine stew that my uncle made and it was delicious. He is gone now and I never did et the recipe but it was good chow.

Well---I was going to eat one once when I was a kid, but....

Our place bordered that of an old retired Army Col. who ALWAYS walked the woods with his service issue Colt 45. He had been telling me for years about the wonders of marinated porcupine and I couldn't wait to try some. One day while we were out on a hike he potted a fine spiney specimen. At that age I hadn't seen the inside of a lot of critters, but when he opened that prickly guy up one look was all I needed to abandon any thoughts of partaking of the feast.. I have NEVER, before or since, seen ANYTHING with so many intestinal parasites.
There were roundworms, hookworms, flat worms and things that to this day I have no clue the name of...and they were all moving and writhing around in the interior of the porky. Maybe that particular specimen was an exception to porkyhood but I've had no inclination to nibble on one ever since.

It's considered a delicacy here. Porcupine were imported here by the Romans from Africa some two thousand years ago, possible for throwing at christians.
We eat them from time to time, you need to learn how to "pluck" them rather than skin them and I just cook it like lamb, roasted with potatoes, garlic and rosmary. Pretty good too.

It was a 52 pound porkcupine.I lkie spruce grouse smoked too.I have not seen any porcupines the last two years.I guess I ate them all.The bears and everything else has hit upon them hard.I do want to try beaver and woodchuck.I would rather eat a porcupine than a nastey chicken full of cancer.Chicken is about the nastest animal to eat besides a buzzard.The like their own poop just as good as feed yuck.The started feeding dead cancer chickens to the cows and cow poop yummy .I dont do beef either its become too full of chemicals and seroids to me.Pork has started to bother me too so I wil;l leavce it for yall.Give me a moose or bear steak smoked any time.