Anyone ever tangle with Armadillos?

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

As said before, they'll for sure trash an arrow pretty good, but they make for good practice when the hogs aint cooperating.  I've got some hero pics with armadillos, but once you've seen a dead armadillo..you've pretty much seen em all!

[JV Rooster]

They realy are ugly things.

[Guru]

They are fun!

 Here's one I killed in FL. back in 2004...killed three on that trip. One with a Snuffer, two with a Judo...

 

[Curveman]

Was it Barry or Gene Wensel who told me thy shot one in Texas, froze it, then dropped it in the middle of the street in some far north town, I forget where. It made the local paper!  

[Mudd]

I heard Willie Nelson call them "Possum on the half shell"..lol I found it interesting that one of the main reasons they get killed on the road is that most folks will try to avoid hitting them by straddling them with the vehicle but it doesn't help because when it's startled it jumps straight up in the air. Bang! One dead armadillo.

In past years you had to go to southern Missouri to run into them. A few years ago I saw one hit on Hwy54 just south of JC, Mo but this past year I saw a couple(my 1st ones) north of the Missouri river along hwy 63 between Ashland and Columbia.
With further investigation, I learned that one of the ways they've spread this far north is via pipe. It seems that some old stock piles of pipe from down south has been being moved north and some of the pipes contain armadillos. Maybe true, maybe not but interesting to me none the less.
God bless,Mudd

[Leo L.]

Growing up in Ohio I had never seen them before.  

Then I moved to Key West, and was told they are there.  Didn't see one.

Then I moved to MD.  No dillos there.

Then I moved to south Louisiana.  They are definetely here.  And now I know that we can kill them legally, I have a mission to kill one before I move.

[Mike Gerardi]

 
Shot a couple down at Rays.

[Freebooter]

Hey Y'all,
That time I shot the ones in that first post, I shot the first one with the type of head for small game with the four springloaded arms sticking out (is that a judo point?). When I pulled my arrow out the ring with the spring and arms puled off of my arrow and stayed inside of him, leaving just the metal screw on head the arms are attached too. After that it was like a dull field point. Anyway, after that happened, I started using target and field points for small game. More penitration on the dillos. But if you do miss at a shallow angle those judo points do keep your arrow from dissappearing under leavs and pinestraw.
FB

[Freebooter]

Oh, I forgot to add; I have gotten fired up to go back to that spot and see what all is there, do some hunting, etc.. Ain't been there in two years. But naturally the night before last I broke my little toe. Now it and that corner of my foot is all swollen up and very painful, I have to liimp everywhere and it is hard to walk. so that is probably it for this year's' hunting season. I wonder how long it takes a broken little toe to heal up?
freeboter

[Joe Mc]

If you ever run over one, it will scare the daylights out of you.  They sound like they are tearing up everything under your car.  I shot one one time and I'll bet it jumped ten feet straight up.  I live in north Texas and those things will tear up a yard in town faster than a gopher.  I live in the country and my dogs go crazy almost every night when they come around.

[Freebooter]

Hey Joe Mc,
Yep, it is funny how they "come around". When I was hunting that place I mentioned, you would not see a one. Then when the sun came up and it warmed up a bit (early season), say around 9-10am, suddenly you would notice these little grey balls roaming all over the woods. I mean they were every where!

I have learned to shoot them with target or field points, or blunts. Because I tore up a couple of Judo points (the 4 arm springy things) and a broadhead is hard to get back out of them.

And it is funny hwo they will jump straight up when startled and trot off making a low rumbling sort of a hummed drumming sound.
Later,
FB

[ckanous]

Armadillo was my first ever trad kill. Put me a little stalk on one during a Georgia hog hunt. What really bummed me out was I gotta little ole armour plated possum but missed a big ole pig!

[Freebooter]

Yep, I have never gotten a pig. Supposedly they are crawling all over this part of the country, especially Lowndes Co Management area. But I have never seen any, but the tracks and damage they do. Those wild hogs will destroy a nice pretty little meandering stream and turn it into a torn up quagmire. I read an article how these introduced species are damaging alabama's eco system, threatning native species' well being due to the fact that armadillos and wild hogs will just tear up an area, mess it up for fish, other small game, eall certain foods they need. That is like Coyotes. You don't see rabbits and all near like you did when I was a teenager in the 'early '70s. Coyote's have ravaged their population or so I am told. I know you don't see them like you used to!
FB