Be very, very quiet......I am hunting (not what you think) PIC
William81
Member Posts: 25,499 ✭✭✭✭
Armadillo !!!!
They have been on my game cameras for about three years but never saw a live one in the yard, just dead ones on the road. Last night I heard some noise in the back yard and shined the light out for a look.. Deer near my apple tree, racoons down by the shop, a possum by the old garden area and as I shined the light near the back corner of the house, I saw an Armadillo butt walking up the sidewalk and then across my driveway....
Something has been tearing up my wife's flower beds and digging big holes out along one of my fence rows where I walk. So war has been declared...
I walked outside with a .22 rifle and could see him digging away in a flower bed. I was surprised how much dirt he was throwing...So one less armadillo to deal with, but I have a feeling there will be more to come..
Comments
Those little bastages leave ankle breaking holes all over the yard. The dogs do a number on them when they catch one, for the rest of them there is a 5mm loaded up and ready to go.
I hear they are good eating if properly prepared😫
I figured I would grill one like a lobster tail, right ? 😜
well it is national bbq day
Better grill it well done! They are one of the few animals that carry leprosy. 😝Bob
Possum on the half-shell.
I never heard of armadillo as far north as Missouri. I welcome them to keep heading north; I've never shot an armadillo.
They are thick in my part of the state.
I live East Of Kansas City and have been seeing road killed ones for a over decade now.
Texas is full of 'em.
Can I sent ours back your way ???🙄 The buggars have dug deep holes near fence rows and water ways on our place....I tripped on one in the dark headed to my tree stand last hunting season......luckily I caught the edge and did not step down into it.
no where close to us seem like one of mother natures odd balls but look like a post apolitical opossum
armor plating to ward of radiation ?
didn't they ( may still do ) make purses for the tourist trade .. out of them
One of two mammal species that began extending their range during the 20th Century. Too dry for them here in the New Mexico desert.
I was taking a class in Oklahoma and one morning the instructor arrived very late. He was pretty upset, said he was driving along the interstate and saw an armadillo crossing the road. It curled up in a ball and he figured he could pass over it, and just as he got there... "the damn thing just jumped straight up in the air, BAM!!! right through my radiator!"
Apparently they're known for doing this? Kamikaze roadkill????
I have always been fascinated by these strange critters! I admit to have never seen one in person, just pictures. Not even in a zoo.
We have a few on our property, don't see them too often, but they do dig holes looking for grubs I guess.
I did dispatch a small possum the other day as an act of mercy, poor thing had wandered into the garage all soaking wet from the rain and I was just trying to encourage it to leave when I noticed it was hurt, looked like a bite on its back and the rear right leg was being drug as it slowing left the garage, I got a 22 and ended it, no way it was gonna survive as hurt as it was. It fed the buzzards for two days before the remains were totally gone.
"Texas Speed Bumps" or "Hoosier Hogs" They do make a lot of noise when you hit one with a car, and can do some damage. I have eaten some, the texture is akin to pork, (don't taste like chicken).
The leprosy story is mostly folklore, a few were found to be carrying it down in South Louisiana, but no one actually contracted it from them.
I used to live in central Georgia 25 years ago. One day the Atlanta Journal Constitution had a big story on armadillos, they interviewed a professor from UGA. He talked about how they had invaded from Texas and were found only in south Georgia.
One day on the way to work I found a dead armadillo on the side of the road. This was on highway 212 in Baldwin County. I picked up the animal and took it to work. One of the nurse's husband was a grad student in Biology, she called him up and he came right over and got that armadillo from the bed of my pickup. What the Biology boys do is, they got a sturdy cage about 3 foot square made with tough screen with 1/4 inch mesh. The put the dead animal in there and set it up in a tree about 6 feet high, so the stray dogs can't get to it. The shut the door so raccoons or possums can't get in there.
In a week, and fire ants have stripped the fat and meat from the armadillo and they have a nice clean skeleton. This was the first armadillo skeleton ever at Georgia College.
I called that Biology prof at UGA and he told me he would put my case on the map as that was the farthest north sighting of an armadillo in the state of Georgia. I guess by now they have taken over the state. We still don't have 'em up here in the NC mountains, too cold I guess.
They came to Georgia from Texas. I wonder how they crossed the Mississippi River.
Seen one mashed on the road just the other day
"They came to Georgia from Texas. I wonder how they crossed the Mississippi River."
I'd bet they took I 20 east...🤣
Charles Apelt was 15 years old when he emigrated from Germany to Comfort, Texas in 1887. A background in basket-making provided the inspiration for turning armadillo shells into baskets (their meat was turned into barbeque & chili which was popular at the time), and in 1898, Charles opened the armadillo basket factory. Within the first six years, 40,000 baskets had been sold and shipped throughout the United States and the world. A visit to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis helped promote the business. Plain baskets started at $2.50 apiece, while fancier versions sold for $4 and up. Floor lamps on wrought-iron stands ranged from $15-$25; smaller table lamps went for $12.50-$18. Bed lamps and wall fixtures were also available, along with smokers’ stands, ladies purses, and wall banners. Armadillos were both caught in the wild and bred onsite in elaborate burrows and tunnels. In the 1940’s, a large armadillo fetched a dollar, while smaller ones went for .75 cents. Often, the animals were sold to hospitals and medical research facilities for study, as well as circuses, zoos, and to private individuals as pets.
Me and my little Winchester Model 04 Single Shot 22 Rifle waged Armadillo Wars yearly, killing 5-7 a year. However, a few years ago we started having Perm-O-Green, who was already doing our lawn fertilizing, apply an annual Grub treatment every May and we haven't had an Armadillo problem since. The primary reason for the Grub treatment was to eliminate our mole problem, which it did, but we had the added benefit of taking away the Armadillo's food source.
While I miss the nightly target practice, I don't miss the torn up yard!!!!!!!
If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!
Just as well I did not have a purse made for my bride out of this one......I don't think she would appreciate it too much..
In my early college career as a Biology major I wrote a term paper on fire ants..........otherwise known as Solenopsis invicta.
Those are some of the worst invasive species in the USA.
Allen, we've seen them in Iowa before. They are commonly seen in Kansas and Missouri now as well. They are quite the invaders and diggers.
Oh, they are certainly in Missouri. I’ve only seen two alive, running across the street in our neighborhood while driving home late at night. They are most commonly seen in this area of the western St. Louis metro area motionless, sleeping along all major roadways during the day.
#2 bit the dust out by my brush pile about 550 a.m. today....I think I am in trouble !!
When I first started giving them a bullet I would purposely gut shoot them so as they would run off and die.
I quit doing that because few days later the stink would really get bad.
Seems they always die where the wind blows in the direction of my house and they slow stink forever, they just bake inside that shell and when you start smelling that stink you cannot force yourself to go look. Had a friend shoot one and it run under his house and died. His wife went to visit kinfolks until the stink went away. He got to spend some time by himself.
They now get a bullet to the head and I make sure it's a drop in the tracks kill shot.
If you want a surprise try grabbing one by the tail and lifting it off the ground.
They also sound just like a deer when they are walking along though the woods before daylight in deep leaves. I've shot a few in the flashlight beam out of my tree stand just because they got me excited before daylight. If they can't be quite I can make them quite.