How to Collect Porcupine Quills

Last Updated: October 23, 2016

There are many uses for porcupine quills, from Native American quillwork to fishing spears. But how do you get them without hurting the animal? It's probably easier than you think.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Collecting Quills from a Live Porcupine

1
Prepare your supplies. You'll need a few things before you begin.
- Cushion or thick blanket
- Some kind of body padding or armor (protection from quills that might miss the collecting object)
- Safety goggles (for protection from quills that might miss the collecting object)
- Thick gloves (for protection from quills that might miss the collecting object)
- Plastic snack container big enough for quills
2
Start the hunt. What species of porcupine lives where you are looking? Search online to find out, and then find out where it lives, what it eats, where it rests, how its feces look like--basically, anything you can find that will help you track one down.

Advertisement
3
Search in a place that matches the description of a habitat for your chosen species. Search silently and carefully to avoid alerting any porcupines. Look closely everywhere.
4
Collect the quills. Once you have found a suitable porcupine, you should collect the quills.
- Don't worry--this will not harm the animal. The quills are designed to stick into things and stay there, and as soon as the porcupine knows they are stuck in something, it will eject them from its skin and run away. Also, they cannot shoot quills--only let them go from their skin once they have stuck into something.
- First, sneak up on the porcupine until you're right behind it and it doesn't notice you. (Or get within accurate cushion-throwing distance, but be careful, you only have one shot per animal.)
- Then, slowly pull back your arms and suddenly throw the cushion or blanket down onto the unsuspecting porcupine. Making sure you are wearing gloves, pick up the soft object (after you are sure the quills were released) and observe the stuck quills! Pick these out and safely put them into a plastic box in your backpack. Be careful-- they are sharp!

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Collecting Quills from a Dead Porcupine

1
Get your protective and collecting gear ready. You will need a few things for this method.
- Some kind of body padding or armor
- Safety goggles
- Thick gloves
- Plastic container (the kind you'd use for snacks--make sure it is big enough for the quills to fit)
- An already-dead porcupine (look, for example, for roadkill)
- Shovel
2
Find the porcupine. If it smells, don't use it. The smell gets into the quills, rendering them horrible for any use. But if it's fresh roadkill, for instance (you hit it or you just saw it hit, or it's clearly not smelly or attracting flies), go for it.
3
Collect the quills. You can do this on site or at home.
- Act like you're petting the porcupine from head to tail. Nothing should try to stick you if you rub it right. Then, while petting it, grasp a group of quills between your fingers and pull at the same angle you were petting. They will pop out. Get all the quills from the animal, and store them away somewhere in your backpack.
- If you want to collect the quills at home, just worry about skinning the porcupine on site. Put the skin, quills and all, in a shopping bag. Put that in a second bag and that in a third bag. Tie it all up. Dispose of the rest of the carcass as described below, carry the skin home, and use the methods in the first option to get the quills at home.
4
Dispose safely of the animal. Dig a hole and bury the porcupine near some plants, or if it was roadkill, toss it off the roadside into the forest for scavengers to eat. This returns its nutrients to the environment.
- If you're interested in eating the porcupine (not a common food, but it is edible), skin the animal and bag up the skin. Dress the animal and place the meat in the remaining two bags--like with the skin but only two. Discard the leftovers into the woods for scavengers. Take the quills out of the skin at home as described above, and put the meat in the freezer while you do this--and only do it before you cook the meat; the skin will spoil so you must do it now.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Collecting Quills from the Zoo

1
Go to your local zoo and ask if they have a porcupine.
2
If they say yes, ask if they would be willing to give you the quills it naturally sheds. They might give you free quills!

Community Q&A

Question

How do I determine how much suede lace to use to wrap the hoop of an 8" or any dream catcher?

T. Chinsen

Top Answerer

Depending on how you wrap the suede lace, the minimum is 25"/~62 cm.to cover the circumference of the hoop. If wrapping the inside and outside of the hoop, the width of the inside and outside surfaces is divided by the width of the lace. The result is multiplied by the circumference to give the total length needed to completely cover the hoop.