When Fred Koski gets outdoors with his camera, you just know he's going to bring back some great shots of wildlife here UP North and today's photos are no exception.

It looks like Fred got UP close and personal with this prickly fellow to snap these two photos, but I'm hoping that it was really that he had a good lens to focus in on him from farther away. I'm guessing it is the latter, since this Porcupine doesn't seem fazed by being the center of Fred's attention at all. Having never had the opportunity to see one of these guys close up, I didn't realize that their quills are white, kind of making him look a little skunkish in the first photo and more like he just has gray hair in the second photo. Anyway, I'm glad Fred took all the risks for us to get a good look at Mr. Porcupine, so our viewers are safe from the dangers of getting stuck with those sharp tipped quills.

Be sure to check out the rest of Fred's work over on his Facebook page and don't forget to click the "LIKE" button while you're there. You can find his Photography page right here: Fred Koski Photography.

Amazing photographs of Mr. Porky-Pine!!

At first, I thought it was a skunk, too. I wondered if porcupines could be domesticated, so I went to Google Images and saw a few. I also saw a dog stuck all over the face with quills, so I searched Google Images for "dogs with porcupine quills"...OUCH, OUCH and OUCH!

When my cousin was little, she saw one in the woods near our house. We told her it was a porcupine and from that day on they became known to her as "pokey-pines". She's 32 now and every time I see her I never let her forget it..... ;-)

Hi
Our Alaskan Malemute once tangled with a porcupine. The vet had quite a job finding the black and white quills in her black and white coat and getting them out.

OUCH!

Don't mess with them, lol!!

Made it to the U.P. Long ride from Toronto with temperatures
varying between 48 and 84 over the course of three hours. Lots of
fog, torrential rain and a tornado warning made for an exciting
ride.

Glad to be at camp. Tomorrow we will have our pump fixed and
hopefully have running water.

Beautiful evening, and the blueberry bushes are in bloom. My
father would have been so happy to see them.

You're making me homesick, Kosk!!! :P

The pics are really neat. We do not see many
porcupine pics!

Good for you, Kosk. Hope you have a great time.

If it isn't great, it will still be meaningful. I can walk on my
backroads, remember my loved ones who are no longer with me,
and spend time with my loved ones who are still here and sustain
me.