Armadillo hunters?

[Swamp Pygmy]

I was looking at my states hunting regulations and they say they are open all season for armadillos.

I figured armadillos were on that list with voles, and mice and stuff that just didn't really have on books. But you need a basic license to kill them.

I have NO interest in hunting them I just wondered do people actually eat them? What on earth do they taste like?
 
I think I remember seeing Anthony Bourdain eating one cooked in its shell somewhere in mexico one time.

I'm even going to try nutria but armadillo is over my head. I figure nutria probably tastes like a rabbit, but what on earth could armadillo taste like? Its closest relative is the anteater and sloth. Two other animals I have no idea what they taste like.

Anyone on here ever been brave enough for 'dillo on the half shell? Just curious.

[Lewis Brookshire III]

That would be critter I WOULD NOT eat! Plus they carry a form of leprosy. I dont think anyone has ever contacted it from a Armadillo in the states but just knowing they carry it is enough for me.

[Apex Predator]

They taste like "possum on a the half shell"!

[Kip]

Evan  Many years ago a bunch of guys went sq. hunting opening weekend and one of the guys brought 3-Armadillos to cook for friday nite as long as we replaced them for his wife, she loved them.They tasted fine a light white meat came out good in our S. Louisiana brown gravys.He told us when cleaning if they smell like fresh dirt, clean and eat if they have any other odor besides dirt leave them alone.So the next day about five dillos brought in we needed to clean 3- to replace.Out of the five 3- smelled like fresh dirt and 2 did not, not a bad smell but different got her 3 replaced.Try them you might like them but clean only the dirt smell ones.Kip

[Swamp Pygmy]

Huh. Thats interesting.

Thanks, but like I said I've no interest in eating them though. I was just curious. I see them constantly while hunting but they are too easy to shoot and not something I want to try.

White meat is about the opposite of what I thought though. I was thinking more like turtle colored meat.

I never heard them growl until today. I got quite a chuckle from one that thought he was a pitt bull. Ran a few feet and turned back at me growling. Pretty brave. Wouldn't want to mess with the giant prehistoric ones.

[Ray Hammond]

gauchos in Argentina will ride past a red deer to kill and eat an armadillo.

[Van/TX]

Some of my fondest memories are Armadillo hunting  :D   There was a time when you could get $5 for one, or so I'm told  :p  ...Van

[david_lewis93]

Back before science discovered that "DILLERS" were bad for you we used them to suppliment our country folks diet.They were a blast to chase down ans catch. When you clean them dont let the belly skin touch the meat and the back legs hinge backwards.Other than that ,and they can jump up about 4 feet streight up ,is that they dig really fast too.OH yeah btw.they taste like PORK  NOT chicken  good fryed baked or bar b qued.

[Swamp Pygmy]

ha ha. David I found that out the hard way one time.

When I was thirteen maybe I had a little bass in a fishtank and I used to go to ditches and scoop crawfish to feed it. I was down in a ditch when I had an armadillo come by me, and I was just watching it feed around and I was walking just a foot or so behind it. I had been following it for a while and nudged it with my foot and it freaked out and jumped up to chest height. It scared the bejeezus out of me. They are such a clumsy creature I never would have guessed it could jump that close to my face.

[JoeM]

Some Trinidad fellas who work for us consider them a delicacy!!  Never ate them myself but used to just about wear out my .410 and my dog in our pastures when I was a youngin.  Joe

[Charlie Lamb]

I agree with David. It does taste like pork... just like it!!

Curtis Kellar cooked the first one I ever shot for me along with some wild hog (on the grill) and I couldn't tell them apart.

They are a pain to skin, though.

[trashwood]

The Zapatas were care takers at the ranch yrs ago.  Every time I went out to hunt Mama Zapata ask me to bring back some dillo's.  they a had flock of kids.   off we'd go.  I was shooting a 68" HH BigFive they called el taladro (the drill).

Mama Zapata cleaned and cooked them, chili peppers into a red stew.  Man they were worth the effort.

rusty

[trashwood]

one day I ware a big mexican hat out to the ranch.  it gave me my nick name to them "le tachuela"  - the thumbtack  

rusty

[Charlie Lamb]

Too funny rusty!!  

[Ray Hammond]

Badjesss?? We DON' NEEEED NO STINKIN' BADJESSSSS!        

[e alexander]

I was hunting in the northern end of Land Between the Lakes (Western Kentucky) this last weekend and saw this armadillo.  It's the first one I ever seen alive, look's like they are heading north!