Anyone eat Porcupine?

Frank V · January 06, 2016, 05:25:00 PM

I read an article in Traditional Bowhunter about a fellow who hunts Porcupines. He says they are good eating but you have to be super careful skinning them.

Anyone here try eating Porcupine???

January 06, 2016, 05:39:00 PM

As a matter of fact, I have! My buddy killed one on a hunt. we were allstanding there looking at it, and my other buddy says "Let's eat it!". So they got to skinning and cooked it up onan open fire.

Lets just say that if I was standed in the woods, and real hungry, I would eat it again! If not stranded and hungry, I would probably pass!

Bisch

elkken · January 06, 2016, 05:46:00 PM

I ate some many years ago and it was not that tasty ... my uncle had run into one driving down the road. He just hit the head so he decided to skin it and put it on the bbq. Like Bisch I would only eat one again if it meant survival.

Frank V · January 06, 2016, 08:14:00 PM

Thanks fellows, I'm not sure I want to go to the trouble of avoiding the quills skinning one. :eek:

The Whittler · January 06, 2016, 08:29:00 PM

They have built in tooth picks. :-)

hunt it · January 06, 2016, 08:30:00 PM

Yep, tastes just like bald eagle :cool:

Roadkill · January 06, 2016, 08:38:00 PM

Smelled like turpentine sorta tasted like it too, but I killed it and I tried to eat it.
Not again unless really hu gry or the zombies ate all else

stack · January 06, 2016, 08:47:00 PM

Not really that bad if cooked right. A buddy and I used to get a couple every year and skin them, if you just work from the belly side there are no quills. You have to make sure you get all the fat off, drop a bunch of bacon over the top and bake them on a rack so all the fat that is left drips off. Not bad eating like that.

drewsbow · January 06, 2016, 09:13:00 PM

I know someone who did but after seeing him clean that one up I sure won't.

Mike Vines · January 06, 2016, 09:35:00 PM

Once

carbonflyr · January 07, 2016, 04:06:00 AM

oh hell no! shot one this past season per land owner request and in the woods is where it stayed

Hopewell Tom · January 07, 2016, 06:31:00 AM

I came close one time. We did all the work right up to the taste test. Maybe shouldn't have been full of steak and potatoes...
I found the one we butchered to be just "drumsticks", not much meat anywhere else. We used a pair of pliers to handle the skinning with gloves on, but still had some quills in the gloves. My view would be to skin the back legs only and leave it at that.
Actually my view is to forget it!

centaur · January 07, 2016, 08:59:00 AM

Never been that hungry.

Izzy · January 07, 2016, 09:03:00 AM

Once you smell one you'll understand that their quill aren't the only deterrent to predators.

Izzy · January 07, 2016, 09:03:00 AM

Once you smell one you'll understand that their quill aren't the only deterrent to predators.

Izzy · January 07, 2016, 09:03:00 AM

Once you smell one you'll understand that their quill aren't the only deterrent to predators.

Izzy · January 07, 2016, 09:03:00 AM

Once you smell one you'll understand that their quill aren't the only deterrent to predators.

Arrowcraft · January 07, 2016, 09:29:00 AM

I believe in some states they are protected because they are slow and could be dispatched easily by some one lost in the forest. I also have been told that its the porcupine liver that is edible and is extremely large in proportion to its body size !

Ron LaClair · January 07, 2016, 09:43:00 AM

When I was 14-15 years old I had a single shot.22 and I was in the woods as much as I could get away with. I even skipped school sometimes to be there. I shot porkies and coons when I came across them, brought em home and my grandma would roast em in the oven.

If you cut off as much of the fat as you could and removed the kernels (glands) from under the arms they were delicious, a sweet dark meat.

Some years ago in deer camp I was telling the guys about how good porcupines were to eat. Of coarse they didn't believe me but as luck would have it I came on one in a tree the next day. He was low enough for me to put an arrow into him so I brought him back to camp and cooked him the way grandma did. The guys ate him and sucked the bones.

Another story, My wife and I were bow hunting deer on State land one fall camping in our tepee. I shot a porkie out of a tree with my Big Five Longbow and cleaned it for us to eat.

Our camp was near a small marsh that had one of those bird houses on a pole. A DNR Biologist hiked in the day I shot the porkie. He was there to check on the bird house. When he discovered our camp he stopped to talk. He spotted the porcupine skin hanging on a limb and ask, "did you shoot that with your bow?" I told him yes and that he was in the pot cooking for our supper. He looked surprised and said "most people shoot em and leave em lay."

He said, "I can't wait to get back to the office and tell them I came across a couple deer hunting with longbows, camping in a tepee and cooking a porcupine they killed with a bow...they're not going to believe me"

Then there was the time...well, maybe I'd better save that one for my memoirs .

..

elkken · January 07, 2016, 10:18:00 AM

QuoteOriginally posted by Ron LaClair:
When I was 14-15 years old I had a single shot.22 and I was in the woods as much as I could get away with. I even skipped school sometimes to be there. I shot porkies and coons when I came across them, brought em home and my grandma would roast em in the oven.

If you cut off as much of the fat as you could and removed the kernels (glands) from under the arms they were delicious, a sweet dark meat.

Some years ago in deer camp I was telling the guys about how good porcupines were to eat. Of coarse they didn't believe me but as luck would have it I came on one in a tree the next day. He was low enough for me to put an arrow into him so I brought him back to camp and cooked him the way grandma did. The guys ate him and sucked the bones.

Another story, My wife and I were bow hunting deer on State land one fall camping in out tepee. I shot a porkie out of a tree with my Big Five Longbow and cleaned it for us to eat.

Our camp was near a small marsh that had one of those bird houses on a pole. A DNR Biologist hiked in the day I shot the porkie. He was there to check on the bird house. When he discovered our camp he stopped to talk. He spotted the porcupine skin hanging on a limb and ask, "did you shoot that with your bow?" I told him yes and that he was in the pot cooking for our supper. He looked surprised and said "most people shoot em and leave em lay."

He said, "I can't wait to get back to the office and tell them I came across a couple deer hunting with longbows, camping in a tepee and cooking a porcupine they killed with a bow...they're not going to believe me"

Then there was the time...well, maybe I'd better save that one for my memories. LOL

Ron you are a treasure ...