Porcupine Trail
It’s fairly obvious when there are active porcupines in the woods, as they leave all kinds of signs. The females, who often spend the day in a hollow tree or rock den, come out at night to eat (males often spend several days up in a tree), and leave very pronounced 6” – 9” trails back and forth to their feeding trees. Along this trail, in addition to an occasional quill, there are often pellets of scat as well as urine, which both your eyes and your nose can detect. Porcupines discard the tips of hemlock branches when they’re through eating the tender buds and leaves up in the canopy, and consequently the ground under a feeding tree is often littered with “nip twigs.”
It looks like you can see where the porcupine dragged its tail in the photo above??
January 4, 2013 at 8:03 pm
due to their short stubby legs (not so great for deep snow) and not so light bodies. They use the same path over and over to pack down the snow and make it easier.
January 4, 2013 at 8:25 pm