how tough is an armadillo?

R

Rifleman1776

New member
I don't recall ever shooting an armadillo before today. We have plenty of them around the house and they dig up everything. But they come out at night and we never see them.
But, today one was in the yard behind the house.
I shot it with a .22 LR hardpoint. It didn't flinch. A second shot it did flinch but ran off like it was unharmed. The range was less than ten yards, I know I hit it both times.
Just how tough are these critters? I hate to waste a 30-06 round on these pests.
 
My Savage .22 bolt gun was absolutely no more productive than my .177 Gamo Shadow pellet rifle... Since I was hunting palmetto scrub, the scoped rifle was the lesser productive... Took the scope off and both killed 20+ per afternoon...

They sound like little wild boars crashin' brush and most shots were 15-50 feet.

Brent
 
22 is enough

A 22 LR is plenty to kill a "dillar". The fun is to try and roll them up without them jumping 3 feet high and running (while making that buzzing sound) away. I am reasonably sure they go away and die when you shoot them in the midsection but they are tough and hard to roll up on impact. Shoot them at about the second or third row of the shell from the head. When I was a kid I made a game of how many I could kill in an afternoon and how many I could kill without them running. They are fun to shoot and nothing but pests. Enjoy!
 
Funny story that will tell you how tough they are, a friend of mine in south GA was having problems with "something" digging up her yard at night. We talked about moles, armadillos, deer and a bunch of other possibilities. She decides that she'll sit up one Friday night with a strong rechargeable spotlight and see what shows up.

She's sitting on the back patio and hears "something" that she described as sounding deer sized coming toward the house from an adjacent field. She readies her trusty Marlin 22 and gets ready. This armadillo makes an appearance at the edge of the yard and she pops it in the head. According to her it promptly charges the patio!!!!!! She freaks, drops the rifle in the grass and hauls ass into the house. Looking out a back window she sees the armadillo chewing on the buttstock of her beloved Marlin!!!! Naturally this pisses her off to no end. She goes into a closet and gets her Rem 700 in 243 that she hunts deer with, loads a couple of rounds and decides she and the armadillo can't both live in the state of Georgia.

Out the back door she goes and promptly shoots the armadillo somewhere in the middle of it's body. It rolls back across the yard, gets up and with guts hanging out it charges again!!!! Back in the house!!!! (she didn't drop the 243 thank God) Now she's truly ****** off. Back to the closet for the 12 gauge!!!!! Out the back door, draws a bead on the armadillo again and BOOM!!!! 'Dillo rolls out across the yard again but lies still this time. (PS: she keeps some #2 lead I gave her loaded in this thing)

She retires to the house to gather herself, looks out the window and the damned thing is moving again!!!! (according to her) She reloads the 12 gauge and out she goes to wreak havock on said defenseless animal. 3 shots, yes, 3shots later it lies still so she shoots it again for good measure!!!!!

She retrieves the Marlin with the tooth scarred buttstock, looks at it a minute, gets mad all over again and shot the (obviously dead) armadillo again with the shotgun. So, 2 head shots from a 22, a gut shot with a 243 and a body shot from a 12 gauge followed by several "insurance shots" and you want to know how hard armadillos are to kill???????? I'll be happy to PM you her phone number and you two can discuss it.........
 
A heart shot with a .22 rimfire is plenty good for ruining armadillos.

Earthworms are good bait. That's what a lot of their digging is all about.

Armadillos are the most vicious animals in the U.S. Just look at how they lie on their backs in highways, waiting to trap a car!
 
The problem with an armadillo is that they have an EXTREMELY small quick-kill zone and it (the pea-sized brain) is constantly moving. A heart/lung shot is fatal but they tend to die really slowly.
 
I don't know how tough they are, but they are dumb as hell. They will growl at you if you trap one and poke it with a stick, and they will jump up and run when hit with .45 ACP hardball. It thought about dying later, and decided it would, so it did. They also have a strange attraction to the underside of pickups late at night. They always have 4 identical quadruplets for young, and can carry Hansen's disease (Leprosy). I'd have to be pretty near starved out before I ate one.
 
I shot one with some walmart 500 bulk pack 22lr....
A week later I saw him again with a pink scar on his shell.:o

I use CCI mini mags in my 22lr for dillars.

A pal of mine shot one with his .30/.30 Marlin one afternoon after leaving his tree stand. His said "....It exploded. I guess it's just that big ole' slow moving bullet. Don't try it in your yard, he'll be too hard to clean up."
:rolleyes:
 
I shot one at 10 yards 5 times with my 44SBH loaded with 225 Speers @ 1400fps. Until I shot him in the head, he kept squealing and sitting up on his haunches. Damndest thing I ever saw.
 
Years ago, used to bass fish Fla. every winter. Took a buddy of mine (Hank) from KY. with me one year. He had never seen a dillo.

One night we're driving an old country rd.,saw a dillo and friend asked me if dillo's were mean and if they could run fast. Of course I told him dillo's were very docile.
The next dillo we saw I pulled over with headlights shining on him. Hank bails out of truck and starts to chase dillo down a fencerow. All of a sudden this dillo stops,turns and stands up growling/snarling at Hank. Hank jumped over the dillo.
The dillo spins around and went after Hank for about 10ft. growling like a rabid pitbull:eek:

Naturally, 'yours truely' was rolling on the floorboard by now. Wished I would have had that on video.:D

Needless to say, there's a fella named Hank in KY that think dillo's are pretty tough
 
I use huge turtle sheels from noodleing them.
Click to expand...

How many fingers you got left?

I've never seen one but my grandpa said they are mean little critters and this is the guy that used to catch raccoons with his bare hands. He said he used to use his service pistol (357 Mag) and after 3 shots theyd finally die.
 
They have really poor eyesight. You can slowly come up behind one that is busy digging. If they raise up or look your way just be motionless until they look away, then continue up to them until they are at your feet. Put one foot on top of them and press them down into the ground (helps if they are in a slight depression that they have dug). After about two seconds move your foot off them fast. They will spring up in the air about three feet high and upon landing will flee at a fast rate bouncing like a small kangaroo.

You can pick one up by the tail, but hold them at arms length and be wary of their claws. They are extremely heavy for their size and you wont be able to hold one for long because they thrash around alot. They cant curl up and bite you when they are held upside down.

Our dog has one as a friend in the yard. She (a Weimar) will point it for a few minutes and follow it around without attacking it. Eventually it goes back under the porch where it lives. It pretty much ignores her and will not "set" like quail will, but she has fun with it.

22's kill them fine, but most, or all, will run when shot and will try to make it back to their hole or under a house or porch before they die. Smelling a dead one that you cant get too under a building for a week is not fun, so be aware of their ability to run after being shot.

We have numerous armadillos on our ranch and I leave most alone. The only critters that get shot on site are skunks, porcupines and wild pigs.
 
twobit, thanks for the info.
The 'dillos dig up our yard and my wife's gardens. That is the only reason for getting rid of them, when I can. We have hundreds of holes that make mowing a bumpy experience.
This one ran back to the woods.
Racoons are the biggest problem here. They can decimate the wild turkey population by eating the eggs and killing the poults.
We don't have any feral pigs near my home but they are getting to be a problem not far away in the forests.
 
How many fingers you got left?
Click to expand...

All ten LOL :) they is a trick to it, come on over and I will surely show ye a fun time and some turtle soup.

Really tho, farm ponds are full of them, walk in the mud, step on one it sucks into its shell, reach down real carefull like and find the tail it will be the only thing sticks out. Grab it and pull him up but watch out for that head. He is faster than a rattle snake when he strikes. I show you how to clean and we make him do the hurdy gurdey, then we eat him up.
 
A .22 is plenty, though a .17 hmr is is very effective, as is a .204. Small, fragile bullets at high velocity tend to penetrate one side of the shell and explode inside. DRT

Something else you might try is shot placement. Go for a lengthwise shot, rather than crossways. In my experience, a head on shot, (or tail on, if presented) will traverse the whole body, striking several blood bearing organs, if not the CNS, whereas a broadside shot may not cause as much damage, especially if you hit it further back, i.e. gutshot. This flies in the face of conventional big game hunting wisdom, but remember, we're talking about an animal that is on average, about 12"-18" in length (less tail), not exactly a grizzly bear.

Your call on how you feel about the sportsmanliness (sp? maybe not even a word?) of a tail on shot, but around here, they plow up just about anything the hogs don't get to first.

Edited to add:
Be aware that the super fast, tiny bullets will do enough damage to prevent wearing the shell as a hat, gaping wounds in your headgear is definitely a fashion faux pas.
 
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