Forget being afraid of the Bears in my neck of the woods,....BEWARE of the Porcupines!!!!
I did some trail signs for a park and they asked me to make some more but to use a different material because the Porkies were eating them. They love MDO. .
.
So I said "No problem, I will make them out of metal"
Like I said Beware of the Porcupines, they like metal just as well. . . . .
[ October 05, 2012, 09:36 PM: Message edited by: Sam Staffan ]
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Porcupines eat steel? Maybe thats why the quils are so sharp???
Never woulda thought.
Posted by Marty Happy (Member # 302) on :
Charge them extra for vintaged/distressed signs!(LOL)
Posted by Sonny Franks (Member # 588) on :
What's next? PVC?
Posted by PatRaap (Member # 4290) on :
That is crazy!
Posted by Craig Sjoquist (Member # 4684) on :
yikes don't park your car ohh your bicycle lol
Posted by Sam Staffan (Member # 4552) on :
Craig, we have a lot of insurance claims up here in the spring on the underside of vehicles being completely gnawed on and the wiring shot from it. They are nibbling on the undercoat to get the salt residue from winter plowing and they take whatever is in their path.
Posted by Preston McCall (Member # 351) on :
Kinda feels like the phone company when you see all of those weird charges on the bill. Universal Use tax....Special Assessment Tax....Line Subrata Fee...
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Over forty years ago, Shenandoah National Park was having problems with bears eating the signs because they liked the preservative on the wood, so the Rangers wrapped the signs in barbed wire. Not long afterwards, they had a bunch of posts ending with rectangular barbed wire loops at the top.
Porcupines have been known to eat backpackers' boots and the straps off their packs while the hikers were asleep in their tents.
Horses got this one.
Edited 'cause a porcupine ate one of the letters off a word I typed... Honest! Really!
BTW: Check the spelling on "Scenic Overlook". I think a porcupine in the shop snacked on the first "c" of "Scenic" before it ever got to the buffet out at the park.
[ October 06, 2012, 02:46 PM: Message edited by: David Harding ]
Posted by Sam Staffan (Member # 4552) on :
David, yes that is why I had to go out to get that sign on the trail because it was noted I spelled it wrong, did not know when I got there to replace that one that they all had been munched on.
Posted by Deri Russell (Member # 119) on :
Thats nuts! How about painting it with that stuff you put on your fingernails to make you stop biting them? It tastes sooooo awful. Or dousing with a hot pepper emulsion?
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
That works until you get a porcupine who likes spicy food!
Posted by Nancy B. Bennett (Member # 1451) on :
Too funny!
Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
If you can find that beaver you might want to hire him...if he can round corners and make arches like that with his teeth...just think what he could do with a compass, a tape measure, and a saw.
Posted by Keith Jenicek (Member # 11121) on :
Wow! Are they climbing to get these?
We have had trouble with woodpeckers drilling what looks like a bullet hole in HDU.
Have also seen ants build a colony between two HDU boards that were "sandwiched" for a double faced sign, but nothing that would tear apart metal!
Sounds like no matter what you do, you will have repeat business!
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Sam's got the porcupines on retainer.
Posted by Deb Fowler (Member # 1039) on :
That's crazy! And I've seen cable thick metal wire chewed in half by squirrels. Maybe try a scent in the paint they despise ?
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
Last summer I was seeing almost 1 porcupine every weekend int he woods. My lab finds them & shows them to me, then sits & lets me take their pictures!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
?
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
