Armadillo Hunting?

[poppy42]

Don, if a .22 will work anything you have short of throwing rocks is likely to work!

Yep! 22, rock, pointy stick. It’s actually quite amusing or shoot them with a 22 they pop up in the air like a carnival game!

[nidrab]

bird shot works up close

[jaysouth]

How much does a dillo weight? They eat twice their weight in ticks every year.

[Winger Ed.]

I never weighed one, but about they're like picking up a average, grocery store, long-ish, green watermelon.

[steve urquell]

How much does a dillo weight? They eat twice their weight in ticks every year.

You are mistaking the armadillo for the possum. Armadillos do not eat ticks. There is a myth that possums eat ticks but that has been proven to be wrong.
https://outdoor.wildlifeillinois.org...dont-eat-ticks

[steve urquell]

I never weighed one, but about they're like picking up a average, grocery store, long-ish, green watermelon.

Yes. In Arkansas they are getting huge. I would estimate my big ones to be up to 30lbs. I am guessing they have put on body fat up here to combat cold temps since they have no fur. I have seen them up here foraging in 20F temps in winter. I believe they have changed to tolerate cold weather. Fat insulation in lieu of fur.

.22LR on my big dillos is a joke unless you want to shoot them 15X. Last time I shot one with a .22LR was not humane. They are too big for that here. When I lived in TX the dillos were not this big.

In my 23years in the country they have grown in size greatly and are much more active in the cold that before. I fear they will only spread further North as their cold tolerance increases.

[barnetmill]

Yes. In Arkansas they are getting huge. I would estimate my big ones to be up to 30lbs. I am guessing they have put on body fat up here to combat cold temps since they have no fur. I have seen them up here foraging in 20F temps in winter. I believe they have changed to tolerate cold weather. Fat insulation in lieu of fur.

.22LR on my big dillos is a joke unless you want to shoot them 15X. Last time I shot one with a .22LR was not humane. They are too big for that here. When I lived in TX the dillos were not this big.

In my 23years in the country they have grown in size greatly and are much more active in the cold that before. I fear they will only spread further North as their cold tolerance increases.

Years ago I did see what was likely a 30 lb armadillo in Mississippi. The local ones are a lot smaller here in coastal NW Florida. They were originally on the border with texas and mexico and they get some spells there and so likely there are genes they picked up to deal with cold weather.
They go after yellow jacket colonies.

[steve urquell]

Years ago I did see what was likely a 30 lb armadillo in Mississippi. The local ones are a lot smaller here in coastal NW Florida. They were originally on the border with texas and mexico and they get some spells there and so likely there are genes they picked up to deal with cold weather.
They go after yellow jacket colonies.

I killed 2 awhile back that were on my porch. One was so huge it had more body hanging off each side of my flat bladed shovel that on it. As big around as a basketball. I carried it 70yds to one of my hollers to dump dropping it off the shovel 12X at least. My forearms, wrists and shoulders were killing me for a week.

After that I just get my little tractor and haul them in the loader bucket. Too big and heavy to carry off in the shovel. If I recall correctly when I was in Houston the dillos seemed to be about as big around as a 2-liter bottle.

[Electrod47]

Normally I let things be unless I'm going to eat it. But, just the expression on my wife's face upon viewing the destruction of her rose garden gets me out at 2am with headlamp and shotgun......and I don't like being up at 2am

[Txcowboy52]

Here in mid-Missouri we are having a problem with armadillos digging up everything and getting jammed in farm machinery when cutting hay, and combining. I keep a 20 gauge shotgun by the door loaded with 3/4 ounce number 6's for the squirrel problem in our pecan trees in the yard and eating all the wiring out of our cars. So, my question is, what does it take to kill these armadillos, usually at a close range? Will the shotgun do it? Or will I have to resort to my deer rifle? (45-70 with 300 grain RCBS cast projectiles)

A 20 gauge with number 6’s will do wonders as far as clearing out your armadillo problem, as others have stated and from personal experience.

[Winger Ed.]

The local ones are a lot smaller here in coastal NW Florida. They were originally on the border with texas and mexico

They had a little help getting to Louisiana and Florida.

During WWII, my Mom was about 10-14, and some older brothers and BILs were on active duty.
Admiral Nimitz was from Fredericksburg, in the Texas Hill Country. Right down the road from where Mom grew up.

One BIL was on Adm. Nimitz's Staff. Getting leave during the war was almost impossible.
As luck would have it: The Admiral was based out of Florida for awhile back then.
Her BIL was assigned 10 days or so leave by the Admiral to go back to the Hill Country
and bring back a couple of armadillos,,,,, to remind him of home.

Mom remembers herself and the other younger brothers & sisters chasing them around for a week.
They finally caught 3 and put them inside a wooden cage in BIL's car trunk.

They stopped for gas and checked on them near Monroe, LA...... Yep-- The cage was smashed.
That's when & where the pregnant one jumped out.
They got the other two back to Florida.
Admiral Nimitz turned them loose in his yard,,,, and it didn't take them long to dig out of there too.

I don't think they swim unless they have to or get thrown into the water--
The Mississippi River would have been a natural barrier for them going East if they hadn't had a little help crossing it.

[versa-06]

I heard a story when I was young (in Fla.) that some got away from a traveling circus when one of their trucks wrecked. -06

[Devon]

I read somewhere that if the temp remains below freezing for two weeks, it will wipe them out. They hole up when the ground freezes and can't forage for food. I would love to see them wiped out in my area.

[popper]

Devon, that is why then tend to dig burrows near or under the foundation - to keep warm. Food freeze? Nope.

[Rapier]

Guy across the road makes dildo live traps, and has signs out on his fence on the interstate, selling them. We have a few of the critters around, they dig up everything. Most folks here just use a 22 with a mag light mounted to the barrel and co-witnessed.

[Digital Dan]

Have whacked more that a few with .22 BB caps. One shot, flop. Shorts work well also.

[jmorris]

I used. 22 cee bees here at the house and motion sensors to detect their movement. I caught everything else including a skunk in a live trap before I put it back up.

Once I let my chickens free range, they stopped coming up into the yard. The chickens eat everything they come out of the woods for, problem solved. Then you become a predator hunter as everything that eats meat, like the way chickens taste.

[doc watson]

We are seeing them in Western Kentucky as well.

[nidrab]

We have them in Southwest Georgia too.

[steve urquell]

Busted one last night with the new AR9. MP molds 128gr HP/PC loaded subsonic over TiteWad. Quiet and accurate. Entry just above the head from the front between shoulderblades, exited beside the tail for an end to end pass-thru. I doubt it expanded. A humane instant kill.