HikeArizona.COM

Below is a link to an interesting article from today's Arizona Daily Sun about historic hunting of porcupines in the forest near Flagstaff and Grand Canyon. Here is my unbiased summary. Apparently porcupines are essential to preservation of the health of old growth forest as porcupines eat Ponderosa Pine saplings and greatly aid smoldering fires in maintaining a balance of tree population. Obviously the lumber industry couldn't have these animals eating all the young trees or it would severely jeopardize the future crop of trees to be logged, so the logical conclusion was to kill all the porcupines. The logging industry died out in 1970s because they ran out of old growth Ponderosa to cut down, and their destruction of the porcupine population and contribution to forest overgrowth serves as the most prominent pieces of the industry's lasting legacy in Northern Arizona.
http://azdailysun.com/sports/columnists ... f887a.html

Interesting that of all the fauna that we see here in Arizona and post on HAZ ... there are only 3 porcupine photos on HAZ! http://hikearizona.com/dexcoder=504
I've seen two. (The second one was up on the rim and isn't tagged in a photo here on haz). But that's not a lot if you think about it. (There are photos of 7 separate mountain lions [wild] in the database as a comparison!)

chumley wrote:Interesting that of all the fauna that we see here in Arizona and post on HAZ ... there are only 3 porcupine photos on HAZ!

I think about that a lot. I've never seen a porcupine while hiking in any state, although I've seen probable chew marks in CO. Their mostly nocturnal nature limits opportunities, but I'm still surprised they don't show up as roadkill more often.

Some casual googling reveals quite a few porcupine sightings in my area, and even some photos. From the Warren Reporter (neighboring county), March 6, 2013:

John P. Parke, stewardship project director of the New Jersey Audubon Wattles Stewardship Center, has seen five porcupines in the last two weeks nestled in trees along Old Mine Road, most of them between Route 80 and Millbrook Village, Parke said.

Old Mine Road is a quiet country lane that parallels the Appalachian Trail in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area. Millbrook Village is a historical site operated by the NPS. Mrs. big_load volunteers there in the summer and fall, so I hike around there quite a bit. I'm just not as good as John P. Parke at spotting porcupines.

We've seen a few (maybe 3-4) in the last several years at Hart Prairie.

I've seen at least two in a couple of grasslands areas adjacent to the White Mountains. In neither case were there any Ponderosa Pines nearby. One was across Lyman Lake by the petroglyphs. The other was on 180 between Holbrook and St. Johns near Zuni Heaven. In both cases I was able to walk right up to the animal and take a photo, maintaining a safe distance from that tail they can thrash at you! (I don't know where the photos are.) Those areas have pinyon pines, junipers, and many other plants.

I've only seen two. One I saw up by Pine while driving and I'm not 100% sure that one was alive The other was one was about 5 miles south of Wilhoit. This one was very healthy and from pictures I've seen this one was very big

I have observed two, one in Peppersauce Canyon in the Catalina's and another near a missile silo complex NW of Oracle Junction cheerfully eating mistletoe in a paloverde tree.

I have seen two.. both on the north rim highway 67.. one was dead and the other was walking down the yellow line... I kinda directed him off the road as he slowly walked into the pines...

I haven't seen one in AZ. but our German shepherd did while camping in the Brads. My wife and I both sat one her as I pulled them out with pliers from her snout. She wasn't a large dog but she did manage to stand up with both of us on her back. It appeared that these were a tad more difficult than cactus spines.

Found the photos of the one I stopped to look at on 180 near Zuni Heaven (between St. Johns and Holbrook).

big_load wrote:I'm still surprised they don't show up as roadkill more often.

The first and only one I've ever seen was road kill at the Little Yaeger trailhead last year. Very stinky.

Preston wrote:

big_load wrote:I'm still surprised they don't show up as roadkill more often.

The first and only one I've ever seen was road kill at the Little Yaeger trailhead last year. Very stinky.

Flavorful!