Porcupines Chewing Car Parts

Jim Talaric and I were doing some photography around the Aspen area earlier this week and I decided to car camp at the Silver Bell campground on the way to the Bells. Turns out there's some porcupines there that like to chew on the underside of cars so I was able to use some abandoned chicken wire I found there to wrap around all sides of my 4-runner. The little #%*&^$@#@#'s kept me awake half the night with the noise of their trying to get through the chicken wire. Turns out this is not unusual---they like the mineral content or salt they find especially on brake lines, etc. I googled this subject when I got home and there was 142,000 results.

Rod,

I carry a pellet mixture that I got from ACE Hardware that is designed to keep rodents etc away. I just normally sprinkle it around my car at a trailhead. I can't remember the name or brand of stuff but I got it after I read several threads on 14ers.com.

Good to know, I've never heard about this before.

They climbed on my tent two years ago. I woke up to a sagging tent at 2AM. Strange.

I had a nightmare of a night because of the damn porcupines around Maroon Bells. The kind rangers failed to tell me about the porcupines when I checked in. I headed straight up to the lake for photography, arriving at my campsite way too late to get chicken wire to protect my car after seeing everyone else with it around their cars. My night consisted of getting out of my car, throwing rocks at the porcupines, getting in the car, moving the car from the campsite to the lake parking lot, and repeating. I share your frustration, Rod!

This is also an issue with marmots in Sequoia - they warn people in all of the materials for certain parts of the park. Would be nice if the Maroon Bells rangers did the same thing.

I've had a couple sleepless nights in my 4Runner due to marmots or some other unknown critters. What a pain. I'd like to know about those pellets, Jody. I'll have to look those up. That seems like an easy, light solution.

I don't relish the drive down some roads if critters have been gnawing my lines!

Medium caliber handguns....

And yes, I am just kidding! Please hold the irate cards and letters!

Here are links to three chemical solutions. I'm leaning toward giving #1 a try.

Home Depot:
#1 - Critter Ridder repellent granules - non-urine based - will not attract predators - $15.50
http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Animal-Pest-Control-Animal/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xhfZapzy/R-100390658/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

McGucking Hardware - Boulder:
#2 - Shake-Away repellent granules - coyote/fox urine - $17
http://www.mcguckin.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_155&products_id=1567&zenid=ej7ega9c1umet9u4arnovrlma7
also available online at Critter-Repellent - $15
http://www.critter-repellent.com/porcupine/porcupine-repellent.php

Outdoor Solutions - online:
#3 - CoyotePee - spray bottle "pee shooter" - $26
http://www.predatorpee.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LE&Product_Code=91216&Category_Code=CU

I guess I've been fortunate to have never had any problems. I haven't camped at the Maroon Bells for 15 years. No problem back then, so it's good to be forewarned about the current critter vandalism !!!

I ran into this last fall when I rode my motorcycle to the Bells. I wondered why there was chicken wire at every campsite and wouldn't have discovered the reason why if another camper hadn't warned me about the pesky porcupines. The rangers never told me about it. Luckily, I didn't run into any problems with them while I was there.

Growing up in the Midwest, we used to have similar problems with skunks. Although they didn't chew through car parts, they would waddle randomly through your campsite (probably looking for food). If everyone expected it and remained calm then it wasn't a problem. The first time a skunk startled someone by brushing up against his leg and the guy would unexpectedly jump - well, all hell would break loose.

In order to keep the skunks away and avoid the possibility of disaster, we would drop a few well-placed mothballs around the campsite. It always kept the skunks away and I'd bet it would work for porcupines too.

Sorry for the duplicate post, my bad---I was distracted by someone in my office at the time. I like one of the chemical solutions. We did talk to the person on the desk at the Forest Service office in Aspen about notifying campers in some way and he said the camp host was the one handing out or suggesting chicken wire. Problem was, I arrived late in the evening with no host around. We suggested that maybe some kind of sign would be appropriate but the response was "hey, we can't be putting up signs about all the critters in the forest." BTW, we ran into and had several interesting conversations with Jason Hatfield at Maroon Lake and later at Crystal Mill---great to meet you Jason!

Porcupines chewing up your car...SHEESH! Must be natures way of saying "GO HOME!"