Dr Trout, please let me know what those porcupines are here for? At least one of my bird dogs get nailed every year. They seem to multiply like crazy in our area. I heard it is illegal to kill them.  Bob

so... thats a porcupine in todays featured pic? call me stupid...

The Picture is adorable....ALTHO I wouldn't want to run into one.... & awww, ur poor dogs Bob

Bob....

One of the things that is discussed on the game land tours of SGL#44 is the relationship betwen not just deer and the habitat but other creatures and the habitat and their relationship with deer and other wildlife....

IT is really interesting and I have asked WCO Boderhorn for a reply to your question about procupines..

BTW.. you should attend the tour on the 27th....  

I know you will enjoy it and promise you will come away knowing things you did not know before attending the tour... I learn something new every tour and I have been on MANY MANY of them...

I hope someone can tell me where the tour is on sgl 44. I dont know that area well. My place is near  siegel in jefferson county. Bob

Porkies are a lost mans meal. They walk so slow in the woods you can walk with them. They in my opinion have the cutest looking face!!!

If you are lost, you can easily make a meal out of this little guy.

As promised here's the information on porcupines and their importance to the balance of nature from WCO Bodenhorn... and I thank him for this reply....

Quote :

Porcupines are species of the northern tier where snows sometimes get deep and stay for prolonged periods of the winter, the growing seasons are short and the soils are generally poor. All of those conditions result in having more serious winter conditions for the white-tail deer, cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hare. Basically you couldn't have as many white-tail deer in the northern tier if we didn't have porcupines because the porcupine helps feed deer in several ways. Porcupines climb trees and eat the bark off of the tree limbs, mostly through the winter, which then causes that limb not to get leaves in the summer. That then allows sunlight to get to the forest floor and allows new trees to start growing. Deer eat those new tree seedlings to the tune of about seven pounds per day all summer and fall and about three pounds per day through the winter. Porcupines will occasionally eating enough bark from some pole timber size trees to kill the entire tree which then allows more seedling size trees to regenerate and grow within the reach of the deer, the rabbits and snowshoe hare. During hard prolonged winters the deer get forced into wintering grounds that are primarily hemlock bottom lands where the snow is not as deep and the thermal cover provides the most protection from the harsh energy reducing cold and deep snow. Porcupines inhabit these same hemlock bottom wintering grounds during times of deep snow cover. The deer can't reach up to browse very high on the hemlock browse but the porcupines will cut hemlock limbs the size of a man's thumb from high up in the trees allowing them to fall to the ground. The deer then browse on the limbs the porcupine dropped to the ground. That along with the browse the deer can find on the edges of the thermal cover areas is usually enough to carry them through the winter. Porcupines also help to control predator populations that prey on many various small game and ever deer. When predators attack the porcupine they will sometimes get quills in them. Though most animals inherently know enough to avoid attacking a porcupine some will make the serious mistake of attacking the porcupine and that is often a fatal error. Porcupine quills are barbed and work in a vacuumed type manner which cases them to keep working deeper into the animal. If the quills reach a vital organ it will often be fatal for the predator. Hawks, owls, raccoon, fox, coyote and bobcat are all subject to population control when there food supply get low enough they feel the need to try to take a porcupine for food. The fisher is a very successful predator on porcupine though when it knowingly stays at the head of the animal, instead of attacking the tail the porcupine turns to any approaching threat, and then when the opportunity is right will grab the porcupine by the nose and face where there are no quills, roll it over onto its back and attack the stomach. The fisher then eats the meat from the porcupine and leaves the skeleton and quills behind with the still upside down porcupine. Though dogs will attack porcupines, and some of the dumber ones repeatedly, and get loaded with quills that is all part of the natural flow of nature as much as people complain about it. But, make no mistake about the fact that the porcupine is a friend to the northern forests, the white-tail deer and a host of other wildlife species that are important to both man and a natural forest and wildlife eco-system. Dick Bodenhorn

Now as to how to get to the tour from Sigel.......

Take the road past Clear Creek State Park (rt 948 -- I believe) continue past the Belltown Bridge (on the left).... past the Heath Township Gas Pump Station
(on the right)...

Keep going until you come to a "T" intersection and the stop sign....

turn left...

You will finally come to a small community... Portland Mills.. speed limit 35...

Go thru the town... you will bear left and you will then cross a double bridge..

at the end of the second bridge there is a DIRT road to the right.. commission road... turn right and go until you see a "metal building" on the right with cars and trucks parked there.  

Sure would be nice to see you there...

it's rt 949. i fished toby once. is this the gc area right past toby?

Yes it's 949 north the whole way from Sigel.

And yes, it's past Toby going north.

i work that day. i may have memorial day off, dk. maybe i can try to show up.

i found the thread about it. http://drtrout.aceboard.com/270293-1850-1817-0-SPRING-TOUR.htm
starts at 1:00pm. i should be able to make it. if i'm early, i'll start taking pics.  

--Last edited by prnc on 2007-05-16 17:52:02 --

The tour is a very educational tour and an eye opener. Dot and I enjoyed Doc's company and WCO Dick Bodenhorn. Do not forget your camera!!! Make sure you wear hiking boots or trail rated shoes or sneakers.

Thanks for the education.                     bob