On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 03:07:17 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


"Ned Simmons" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:52:07 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
On Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:29:29 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


"Ignoramus13320" wrote in message
news:1N6dnZC3S4ayOIbRnZ2dnUVZ_t6dnZ2d@giganew s.com...

Sounds like havahart is the way to go.

i

Make sure it's a BIG one.

A reminder about live traps - rig a remote release in case it traps
something you don't want ... like a skunk. :-)

Wayne

Oh, boy, do I have a story about that. g I had to forge a hook on the
end
of a LONG stick (actually, two 11' surf rods taped together) when that
unfortunate circumstance occurred. I wrapped myself in a plastic drop
cloth
before getting that close. That was for my wooden box trap. If I'd caught
one in the Havahart (spring-loaded door, with a latch) I think I would
have
just kept him in there as a pet and fed him with the surf rods...


I learned a couple years ago that I'm part of local lore in the small
town in Nova Scotia my mother's family came from.

About 35 years ago I was camping on my grandmother's timber lot with a
couple friends. I had made a trip to Labrador, hitching and by ferry,
and while there met a fellow who taught me how to snare rabbits.
Anxious to impress my friends with my new skills I got hold of some
wire, found all sorts of rabbit runs in an abandoned orchard, and
figured to have a couple rabbits in no time. I set 3 or 4 snares in
the runs around the orchard. When I returned they were all pushed
aside, and not a single rabbit. I reset them, opening the loops a
little wider. Same result. Damn, these must be big rabbits. Opened the
loops wider, and came back several hours later to find a very angry
porcupine in one of the snares. There was no way to release him, so I
was forced to club him to death with a stout branch. After that we
felt obligated to eat him, and proceeded to roast him on a spit. It
was edible, but not something you'd want to eat a lot of, so I made a
big pot of lentil stew with the leftovers. That's the way to cook
'pine.

My uncle has since inherited the land and is building a camp. I was
there a few years ago and he told me some locals stopped by to visit
and wanted to know whether he was related to the guy who eats
porcupines.

--
Ned Simmons

Ha! Good one!

I'm told that porkies that live among evergreens taste like a pine tree.
That's one critter I've never eaten.

Wes can update me on this, but during at least part of the time when I lived
in Michigan (1966 - 1973), it was illegal to kill porkies. Not because they
were trying to preserve them -- they do a hell of a lot of damage to
trees -- but because they were the only animal slow enough that you could
kill one with a stick. It was an ancient law that was based on the idea that
someone lost in the woods could always catch and kill a porcupine to eat.

During that time the conservationists were raising hell about the law,
pointing to the awful number of trees they destroyed. I never did hear how
that legal fight came out.

In the fifties, it was generally regarded as unsportsmanlike to kill a
porkie in Michigan for the reason you stated, but it wasn't illegal.