43
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago

A couple years ago I was out hunting with a friend and we saw a porcupine. My dad had always told me they were delicious and it was in season so I took my shot. Once we had the meat I thought I would take the hide home and harvest the quills.

Good. Lord. Porcupines are filthy creatures. I had a Rubbermaid full of soapy water and I was pulling the quills and guard hairs out and then trying to wash them free of literal shit.

But basically all I was doing was shit-needle acupuncture all over my hands. I was sure I was gonna end up with some sort of porcupine aids or something.

I spent a good 3-4 hours trying to clean the largest of the quills and guard hairs, and then I said fuck it. Took my fistfull of "clean" quills and put the rest in a few old paper bags and into the green bin.

I found quills in my clothes almost a year later. While visiting a friends house in jeans I had NOT been wearing, while out ice fishing (in the bibs I wore), in my sock one day.

I'm sure there aren't that many people on here that have been considering taking a porcupine and trying to weave/craft with its quills. But please, don't do it.

[-] stelelor@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 hours ago

But was the porcupine delicious?

[-] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Very sadly, it was not. I'm not sure if it was my fault, the prep or what. I do eat all sorts of wild game that I've hunted or salvaged. I love squirrel and pigeon, I've eaten road kill deer, bear, moose, goose.... Cotton tail and snowshoe hare.... Wild Turkey... Basically if it's made of meat I'll give it a go. Still waiting to try raccoon and beaver, which I do wonder if they won't share some similarities..

But I found it very unpleasant. Raw the meat was so... gelatinous? Delicate? Like pressing with a finger would leave a sad dent. It spread out on the cutting board like gravity was too much for it.

We did it as taco meat so I just threw it in the instant pot with onions and maybe some chili spices I can't recall.. it had that skunky gameyness that I've started to associate with older animals and poorly handled meat. She may have been a great Grammama but the meat was well cared for and eaten fresh.

We shredded and ate it on tortillas with onions and homemade salsas. My sister and brother in law didn't mind it and my partner said it was ok but I've sworn them off for now. They are very charming creatures so it's not all bad.

[-] AmosBurton_ThatGuy@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago

I had porcupine when I was a kid. I found it gross, the meat smells gross and it's super gamey. Was cooked by my grandparents who are native and hunted all their lives so it wasn't cooked wrong or not cleaned, I just thought it was gross.

Unrelated but moose meat is the best meat in existence IMO. I could eat that every day for the rest of my life and die with a smile on my face.

[-] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Moose meat is so good. I've had a few supplies over the years. A neighbour got a roadkill once, and a friend's dad hunted one, but he doesn't hunt anymore.

I'd love to go get a moose, but I don't have anyone in my social circles who hunt, and you basically have to have a party to hunt moose in Ontario.

I gotta say I love deer and moose, but black bear is surprisingly good. I smoked some honey black bear hams from my last bear and ma.gawd. Only downside to bear is it's like pork, can't have it rare.

[-] KittenBiscuits@lemm.ee 4 points 3 hours ago

I need to go right now and wash the few quills I received from a porcupine zoo experience. They keep quills that are shed and hand a few out to folks. Poop acupuncture, omg. Since you appear to have survived, your poop antibodies must be off the charts now. 😅

[-] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

I'm basically invisible.

I should have just gone to your zoo... I ended up with maybe 40 quills or something, my friends collection from pulling them out of her horse and dog is bigger...

this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
43 points (100.0% liked)

Casual Conversation

2440 readers
233 users here now

Share a story, ask a question, or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.


RULES (updated 01/22/25)

  1. Be respectful: no harassment, hate speech, bigotry, and/or trolling. To be concise, disrespect is defined by escalation.
  2. Encourage conversation in your OP. This means including heavily implicative subject matter when you can and also engaging in your thread when possible. You won't be punished for trying.
  3. Avoid controversial topics (politics or societal debates come to mind, though we are not saying not to talk about anything that resembles these). There's a guide in the protocol book offered as a mod model that can be used for that; it's vague until you realize it was made for things like the rule in question. At least four purple answers must apply to a "controversial" message for it to be allowed.
  4. Keep it clean and SFW: No illegal content or anything gross and inappropriate. A rule of thumb is if a recording of a conversation put on another platform would get someone a COPPA violation response, that exact exchange should be avoided when possible.
  5. No solicitation such as ads, promotional content, spam, surveys etc. The chart redirected to above applies to spam material as well, which is one of the reasons its wording is vague, as it applies to a few things. Again, a "spammy" message must be applicable to four purple answers before it's allowed.
  6. Respect privacy as well as truth: Don’t ask for or share any personal information or slander anyone. A rule of thumb is if something is enough info to go by that it "would be a copyright violation if the info was art" as another group put it, or that it alone can be used to narrow someone down to 150 physical humans (Dunbar's Number) or less, it's considered an excess breach of privacy. Slander is defined by intentional utilitarian misguidance at the expense (positive or negative) of a sentient entity. This often links back to or mixes with rule one, which implies, for example, that even something that is true can still amount to what slander is trying to achieve, and that will be looked down upon.

Casual conversation communities:

Related discussion-focused communities

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS