How do I find a porcupine?
9
419
resolved Sep 11
50%8%
Hike in Garnet Canyon at dusk
50%12%
Look up trees
0.8%
Camp at Death Canyon Shelf
0.8%
Hike in Death Canyon at dusk
0.8%
Camp at Alaska Basin
0.8%
Wait for snow and look for tracks
0.8%
Look for 5-millimeter tooth marks in tree bark
4%
Follow your nose
4%
Go to a location where porcupines live in the wild
5%
Create a market on Manifold asking people how to find porcupines
5%
Make porcupine noises
5%
Listen for noisy chewing
2%
Go to a nearby zoo and ask where the porcupines are
14%
Drive on a highway with a lot of dead porcupines late at night. Try not to run them over.

How do I find a porcupine?

I've asked a dozen different rangers and mountain guides for advice on how to find a porcupine. A couple rangers described porcupines as "a real nuisance" and "a menace" in Death Canyon, but I haven't had any luck meeting this menace.

As soon as I see or hear one, I'll resolve to any answer that proved useful in helping me meet a porcupine! I'll push the market close date until that happens — I've been on the lookout since December and it could take patience. In the meantime, I'll tip for any porcupine information that's new to me!

I'll only consider ethical ways to meet a porcupine in the wild, so leaving a saucer of salt outside my tent, for example, wouldn't count.

It's been a great wildlife season and I've thoroughly enjoyed recognizing my neighborhood elk and dodging my first flying squirrel. But I haven't had any luck with porcupines, so I'm extending the close date by a year.

Get Ṁ200 play money

🏅 Top traders

#NameTotal profit
1Ṁ67
2Ṁ53
3Ṁ17
Sort by:

A couple nights ago I heard a porcupine while coming down the switchbacks after Garnet Canyon! I went back up the trail (a herculean effort after being awake and moving for 18 hours) and looked in the trees but couldn't see him despite trying sooo hard.

I'll keep looking though! This season I've also become obsessed with trying to meet the owl who hoots outside my window. I've been waking up at night, staking out the tree I think he lives in, asking neighbors and rangers for advice, reading research papers on owl hunting .... I might as well look for porcupines at night while I'm at it.

Where do you live? Are there porcupines there?

answered
Look up trees

@Alice They spend the hot/sunny parts of the day in trees, and forage around on the ground near dawn and dusk.

answered
Look up trees

@FutureOwl I didn't realize till recently how often porcupines fall out of trees (and risk self-quilling)! I haven't seen any porcupines in trees yet, though last week I did come across a black bear cub 50 feet up a whitebark pine, snacking on pinecones and swaying in the wind.

answered
Make porcupine noises

@IsaacKing If only I were cute enough to make porcupine noises!

answered
Follow your nose

@RobinFoster I'd heard about the odor but didn't know what it smells like! Thanks for sharing.

Why would it be unethical to put out a saucer of salt?

@IsaacKing You can't feed the wildlife. And thankfully, I haven't had any salty gear chewed on.

answered
Listen for noisy chewing
answered
Make porcupine noises
answered
Follow your nose

@RobinFoster Wikipedia says they have a strong smell to deter predators.

I've added answers for everything I've tried so far.