Armadillos

[SELFBOW19953]

Bill,

There's a big difference between possum and dillas!!!  Many years ago I helped a guy catch some possum in Florida.  Found some dead woods cows, beat on their sides with a stick and caught the possum as they ran out! Just as soon eat a buzzard as a possum!!!

[shag08]

Bill, we do have them in TN. I've seen them in western middle TN and southern middle TN. They just don't seem to have made it to my particular neck of the backwoods yet. I'd hate to shoot one with a perfectly good arrow when they do get here...I think I'll use the sidearm for the nasty buggers.

[LBR]

I never heard of an armadillo eating eggs--never even thought about it--so I had to look it up.

 http://www.ask.com/pets-animals/armadillos-eat-ded751ee0e6ba1b3#

Apparently they also can carry a lot more disease than I ever knew--besides leprosy they can also carry/transmit rabies, parasitic worms, and salmonella.

[randy grider]

Armadillos are in Kentucky, cant imagine they would not be in middle TN. They are real prevelant in Land Between the Lakes, all the way to the north end. As far as Invasive, Are they condidered invasive if its a natural migration ?

[KenH]

It's not really a *natural* invasion if they're being 'driven' out of their home range by over population causing a dearth of food.  Which was caused, no doubt, by humans overhunting the 'dillo prey species.

[Eric Krewson]

I have killed three deer this year(flintlock, not bow kills) and collected a fresh road kill so I have all the deer I need and then some.

I started a new sport this evening; Deer scouting/armadillo thumping. I sit in places I wouldn't normally hunt deer to see if any happen by and watch their movement. Not planning to kill anymore deer I carry my 22, which came in handy on my way back to the truck. Eric 1, Armadillos 0

[freedomhunter]

 Sounds like fun.  Don't want to take one with the bow?

[Eric Krewson]

I shot one with a bow once, my arrow stunk so bad that I left it in the woods.

[cloudbaseracer]

Just when I was starting to think that these may be slow and dumb enough for me to shoot.... you guys go and break the bad news that it can cost a good arrow in the process!  I don't want to leave any arrows in the woods.

[mj seratt]

shag08,  I saw just within the last few weeks that people were complaining of how many armadillos they are seeing at Land Between the Lakes.  I'm in West Tn, and we're getting more and more of them also.

[Eric Krewson]

I have been actively chasing armadillos for about 5 years and have some pretty unusual findings.

If you are hunting ones that haven't been hunted they are slow and dumb until you kill a couple. I hunted them on 125 acres of leased land that became so overrun with them that as many as 5 might be milling around the base of your tree any time you climbed.

I would start onto the property walking down old logging roads and listening. I could walk right up to the first couple of them, Bang. I could get withn 25 yards of the next few the same day but they would be moving away from me and I may or may not get one. After my initial assault they would make a mad dash into their hole when I closed to within 50 yards of them.

An armadillo a mile away from my first kills would take flight before I could close in for a kill.

I suspect they have some ultrasonic danger/warning noise they put out when shot to alert others in the area to get out of dodge if anything approaches.

They have a memory for danger as well and remember from year to year what poses a threat. I hunted one of the "smart" ones yesterday, set my tree seat and waited where I have see this one multiple times before, he didn't show, he remembers me.

They are like simi domesticated deer in a city park until they recognize you as a predator, then they become like wild deer.

[Liquid Amber]

WE call them possum on the half shell in Louisiana.  They cause havoc in my yard annually and I generally trap and relocate 20 or so every year.  My wife simply shoots them with her .38 pistol off the deck at night.  My brother-in-law lives in the country and has owned Great Danes as long as I've known him and they love to catch and crush armadillos with their jaws.    

I have a great stand in a wild pecan tree within bow range of a large, prolific persimmon tree.  In the afternoon the first critter to come in will be an armadillo.  They literally run in to hunt up and eat the fruit.  

They are reported to eat quail and other ground nesting birds' eggs but I don't know if that is fact.

They are unprotected in Louisiana.

[shag08]

I live in Cookeville, TN, guys. I hunt every chance I get...when I'm not hunting I'm a logger by trade. So I am in the woods on a daily basis pursuing a dollar... or a deer, turkey, etc. They aren't here at the moment.

I've seen them in the form of road kill not far from Nashville...and pretty close to Dunlap. I hope they don't have good climbing gear and, as a result, never make it up to the Highland Rim and Cumberland Plateau.

[mj seratt]

Shag08, please don't think I doubted you.  I have a good friend who lives in Fairfield Glade, and he hasn't seen any there, either.  Maybe y'all have enough altitude to keep them away.

Murray

[Cookie125]

Eric I have had similar findings as you but I have also noticed that now if they smell people they really freak out so I like stalking up on them as practice for hunting other animals. As far as reason to kill them I too then its admirable for those to say I won't eat it so I won't shoot it. where I was targeting them in south central Kansas we were getting calls of pig rooting activity and come to find out it was actually armadillos. So to attempt to manage the problem they were creating was hunting them. In one summer I took about 65 but in past summers before that it was closer to 40. I have taken them with everything from .22lr to .223rem and everything from .410 to 10ga. But talking with a recurve is probably the funnest I can say I've done with a .22lr handgun being close to it.

[beaunaro]

If I experience a problem animal, I try to eradicate it.

Raccoons, skunks, oppossums, eating my chickens are an example.

I have encountered the occasional armadillo and left it alone.

I have killed coons stealing corn from our feeders.

Guys that shoot squirrels just for fun....I don't go along with that line of thinking. If you eat them, it's entirely different.

Some guys say they do, but really don't.

I know some professional big game hunters that kill just to make a TV show and do not take the meat.

That is appalling.

JMHO

[Eric Krewson]

How do you trap them Cliff? They did a number on my front yard this year, I could never catch them in the act to put a bullet in them, even looked for them in the middle of the night after the typical old guy bathroom trip.


I have a really bright street light over my front yard and could see one if it was out there.

[SELFBOW19953]

I used to put corn on the cob out for the local squirrel-fun to watch them on a corn cob spinning wheel.  To show their appreciation, they ate through the wiring harness on 2 vehicles-over $600 each for repairs, and ate holes in my field & brush mower's gas tank.  They no longer get fed and some get invited for dinner, squirrel stew.

[freedomhunter]

Yes, I took 4 squirrels with us when I took the family on a camping trip with my buddies family as well.  Season salt, cast iron skillet, and some vegetable oil.  My wife said anything I bring home she would try one.  She was very hesitant about trying squirrel, but still kept her word and really liked it.  

Squirrel is great to eat but there is an issue with them.  The amount of meat you get and cleaning them.  This last one I took was my first kill with my recurve bow and was a lot of fun.  So now when I am out shooting in my back yard I also shoot at small pieces of foam for practice.

[foxbo]

I lived in south TX for six years. Dillas were everywhere.

I was the only guy in the hunt club who used a recurve bow. This was 1977. I shot one with a Kodiak .409 fiberglass arrow once and it hopped up into the air and landed on it's back where it died. Half the shaft was sticking out of each side of the critter.

I use to catch them for a local taxidermist. He stuffed them and sold'em to various clients.

When you put the sneak on a dilla, you have to grab it by it's tail and instantly keep changing hands. The dilla will twist it's whole body causing you to loose your grip. If you keep changing hands, he will tire. When he does, stab'em in the throat and take to the taxidermist.

Chasing dillas is one of the treats of south TX!

Oh, there was a joke of the day back then. It goes something like this.

"How many aggies does it take to eat an armadillo?" The answer is two...one to watch for cars! hehehe!