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boon hogganbeck
PostPosted: Mon Oct 24, 2022 4:08 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 27 Nov 2020
Posts: 83
Location: mtns of central PA

I’ll probably hunt Tioga Saturday, weather permitting! Maybe I’ll tote that 37…


boon hogganbeck wrote:
My dog pointed a huge one in a grouse cover I hunt a lot in Tioga Co, I zapped the dog and got him away, then I blasted it—because I kept hearing that I should. Honestly regret it in hindsight— I just do not like shooting an animal I will not eat. Don’t think I’ll be doing that again.

A couple days later I got to thinking that I should hang it up in a tree, so somebody’s dog doesn’t get into it. I went back and, to my amazement, saw that it had been totally consumed, with just a pile of quills left behind. I wonder what animal did that.

Shot my first porky in Tioga County more than 40 years ago with a 16 ga. 37 much like you now have. So did most of my friends that I grew up with. Tells you how little impact it had on the population.

If you do shoot one, and NEVER in front of the dog, always place them as high as you can in a fork of a tree.[/quote]
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chilly460
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2022 3:00 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 166

MSM2019 wrote:
Porcupines, raccoons etc., I have no problem killing especially if they mess with my dogs.


But…they’re not messing with the dogs, it’s quite the opposite
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Tue Oct 25, 2022 8:18 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2787
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

Chilly460,

What you say is absolutely true, the Porkey is not the aggressor. You only need to dispatch them on your home property when they cause a danger to your animals, just by encroaching on your home territory. Most times if you train with a training collar and teach your dogs not to go near them, things are fine. Think of them like a different kind of Rattle Snake and train your dogs to let them alone. This is a lot harder to due with a Versatile egressive dog, than a Setter most times. It is the masters responsibility to train his dog to stay away from animals that cause a danger to them.
Letting Porkys set up house keeping near your log cabin is never a good idea. Besides a rabid Coon or Fox & Black Bear or Rattle Snake, there is nothing more dangerous than a big Porkey, to the safety of your gun dogs. We have had them ring trees, Killing some of our nice trees, as thyy eat the bark off the trees. I try very hard to not have to kill them, however I never let them set up house keeping on my property, especially near the log cabin. There are millions of acres in our Pa forest for them to live a full happy life.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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WyoChukar
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 2022 8:45 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 16 Jul 2015
Posts: 2124
Location: Hudson,Wy

My only advice about shooting a porky or rattlesnake is that you can end up training your dog to hunt them since the dog learns to hunt what you shoot. The dog has to associate unpleasantness with that animal before you dispatch it. If not, remove the dog completely before shooting the offending varmint.

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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 2022 10:51 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2787
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

Garhart,

Right on the money, very good advise.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.c. smith Man


Last edited by Pine Creek/Dave on Fri Oct 28, 2022 8:04 am; edited 1 time in total

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Griffon
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:34 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 19 Apr 2014
Posts: 429
Location: Maine

Porkies are a menace. I've questioned our Vet at the Skeet Club numerous times and the only answer we get is a smirk. We suspect Pumpgun and his Vet buddies are secretly breeding porkies somewhere in Maine. Friday nights they load up the truck with porkies, pickup some beer and ride our neighborhoods dumping porkies on the lawns of their customers whose dogs have had porkie encounters. Kind of funny Pumpgun always has a new gun in the spring when the porkies are most active.

Senseless killing none of us need gamebirds to survive on. Hunting is a sport not a necessity.

I was a Conservation Officer for 32 years and never heard of a lost person surviving on a porkie. You can never find one when you need it. Maine years back had a bounty on them.

Porkies are very hard on Christmas Trees and Apple Orchards in Maine.

My dog is on a leash every time we step out in the dark.

I've shot 32 porkies in 2 years but the biologist say there's only 3-4 per square mile. I'll take a skunk any day over a porkie.

Last shot friends bird dog grabbed one $1000.00 Vet Bill! Pass the ammo.

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pheasant16
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2022 10:43 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 Dec 2020
Posts: 29

Ran into a nice big one holed up yesterday in a slough.

Would NEVER think of killing one when I am in it's territory, disturb it, and it continues to mind it's own business.

I've taught Hunter Ed for 30+ years and we teach senseless killing of anything is not hunting; you are ruining our image with the public that doesn't hunt. Hell go shoot road signs it's the same thing.

If you hunt with dogs that's a decision you make to again bring them into it's territory. When you brag about 10,000 dollar shotguns, 75k Suburban, and flash C notes in our little bars that charge 2 bucks for a bottle of beer, can't feel sorry when you whine about big vet bill.
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Pine Creek/Dave
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2022 11:02 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 17 Mar 2017
Posts: 2787
Location: Endless Mountains of Pa

Pheasant16,

I agree with some of what you stated however it sounds to me like you are a might jealous of sportsman who make a good living. One has nothing to due with the other.
How much money a man makes usually has nothing to due with his ethical compass.

Training your dog to stay away from Porkies is the best way to handle the situation.

I did have one Gordon Grouse Dog who was a repeat offender even after being trained with a breaker. He finally figured it out when he turned 8 years old.

All the talk about looking bad to the non hunting public may also be a waste of time, the real anti hunting people hate hunters and have their own agenda. Most American sportsman come from a hunting background, there ancestors hunted to survive here in this country, and they are aware that our wild life is protected by the Sportsman and the millions of dollars, used for protecting them and the habitat they live in.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

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pheasant16
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2022 12:41 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 Dec 2020
Posts: 29

Too funny

Jealous? Hell I was able to retire at 45.

Come from a place where royalty checks sit on the dash of 90's vintage F150 that is never washed or locked, and often times never cashed. They want us to get direct deposit so as not to mess up their accounting.

Pheasants are economic development. We enjoy the entertainment dudes provide.
Keep coming.
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Griffon
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2022 1:22 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 19 Apr 2014
Posts: 429
Location: Maine

Country western singer or oil baron?

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pheasant16
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2022 2:10 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 Dec 2020
Posts: 29

Hired man's name is Lufkin
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Griffon
PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2022 3:49 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 19 Apr 2014
Posts: 429
Location: Maine

Mine is Dubber. Not the brightest light in the circuit but he means well.

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manofthewoods
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:24 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 03 Sep 2007
Posts: 161
Location: Orangevale (aka, Sacramento)

nwmac wrote:
I just returned from a great hunting trip to Montana for sharptail, huns and pheasant. The last morning my dog , a nine month old brittany got into a porcupine. As I was trying to remove the quills others in the party asked if I had shot the procupine. I replied that I was too busy getting the dog under control and removing quills that I did not care about the critter. Oh you should shoot them!

Normally, I don't like the idea of killing an animal that is minding its own business and does no harm to the bird population. I know soft city guy Wink What do you guys think. Is it an ethical thing to do, a normal way of dealing with a problem, or just a wrong headed approach to dealing with the outdoor realities of nature.


I hunt Montana as well. I've had my dogs quilled 6 times. 2 vet visits, 1 was because i couldn't get 3 broken ones next to teeth. The other was this year, my puppy couldn't "take it like a man" and moved every time I'd get ready to pull a quill. His dad was always stoic. Each visit was ~$100 at a country vet - they do 'em all the time.

My last pheasant/sharptail hunt I saw a sleeping porky high in a tree while my older dog was birdy about 50 yards away in a brushy area. I'm walking from a distance when a rooster gets up and flies right to left past the treed porky. It was a long shot and by a miracle I downed it. It went down about 15-20 yards from the porky. My dog never saw the bird, so, when I called him over he sat at the tree where the porky was now waking up and moving down the tree - YIKES. I gave the dog a shock and called him to the general area where the bird went down, and commanded "fetch" he started working as he should have. Now, his son shows up and sees the porky only a few feet above ground (heading down). I shock him and call him over to join the fetch, another miracle - he came over and gave me a look of "what's going on dad?" I look over and the porky is making haste into a nearby culvert (yes!). My older dog has found the rooster and we avoided a porky adventure. A win win. fingers crossed; my boys have figured out Porkys = no fun/unhappy dad.

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Ohio Wirehair
PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 11:28 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 24 Jul 2016
Posts: 546
Location: Ohio

Don't have any Porcupines around here but I kill every Coyote, cat and groundhog that I see. Also racoons in season or when doing damage. Don't even get me started about chipmunks. Black birds and sparrows you betcha. That's part of living along a river in the country. If that makes me a wanton killer so be it.
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pheasant16
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2022 5:29 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 21 Dec 2020
Posts: 29

That's called pest control, not wanton killing. Laughing Laughing Laughing

You may want to reconsider cats; they will keep your mice, rats, rabbits, voles under control.

Not a fan of poisons as raptors eat the dead critters, so have learned to tolerate cats. Daughter's old mouser taught me tolerance. Laughing
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