Goes back 40 years or so ago, nothing to do with M.A.S.H.
T'was a time I could not go into the woods without seeing a porcupine where no others could. They destroyed trees in the forest and were thought of as vermin, and we shot many of them, although in Maine this was illegal as they are one of the only animals that can be outrun by man and thus considered a precursor to MRE's for those lost in the forest, if you like the taste of turpentine that is.