Hunting Porcupine | Life Below Zero

Look, the porcupine tracker went right up here. It's not too far ahead. This is a fresh track. Hey, look! There he is, right there, right in that tree. Porcupines, when they're getting chased, they like to take to the trees.

I can't shoot him with this rifle. Oh, this thing would make porcupine soup out of that porcupine! This is for shooting big animals like caribou and moose. I don't have a smaller one with me today.

Now I have to cut the tree. I got a little higher. You gotta think about which way I want to drop that tree. If he goes over into that, there's a real good chance he'll get away under that brush there; I won't be able to get to him.

If I make the tree fall this way, he'll be out in the open. I got a much better chance of catching him. I'll put a little notch here to help guide this tree down the way I want it to go. There, I got the notch. I'll direct the tree where I want it to go.

There it goes! Got it! So, porcupine falls out of a tree and lands on your head. That's what your head could look like—full of quills.

Porcupine is very good eating—one of the tastier animals I hear. I'm a long way from home; I'm not gonna bring him back whole. I got a butcher right here, and it's getting dark, so I better get on it.

I'm gonna start by skinning this porcupine. Get the skin off without getting any quills in me, and I'll be happy. Look at that fat! That's hard to find out here.

A lot of animals out in this country are real lean. It's hard to get enough fat off the land a lot of times, but porcupines are one good source of fat. It's gonna be tasty!

Head off, cut the hide off—didn't get any quills in me. I just gotta get the guts out. It's interesting how one thing leads to the next out here.

So, off in the case, I'll head out thinking that I'm looking for one thing, but along the way, I find something else. Can't be too choosy, and I really like eating porcupines, so I'm real happy even though I didn't find any caribou today.

That's the way it goes—keeps life interesting. Time to get back to camp, go home, and cook up some porcupine.