Unwanted visitors

[Pat B]

Well, there goes our neighborhood, there goes the suburbs and possibly our town! Those beady eyed, unwanted creatures from the south. We knew they had taken over the southwest and the southeastern US in more recent years but never expected they would come into our neighborhood, our community. But, today, on my way to town I saw two of THEM on Carson Creek Road here in southern Transylvania County. That's right, two nine banded armadillos.😱

[Stoker]

Sorry to here that. 3 S's theorem would apply here.
Thanks Leroy

[mmattockx]

I'm from the frozen north, so can someone enlighten me as to why armadillos are a problem? And why you would need to use the three S's to deal with them?


Mark

[Pat B]

One problem with them is they burrow. Also they carry leprosy.
Possum on the half shell! 

[Pappy]

Ya got them here also, just showed up the last few years, see them dead on the road all the time now, right here at the house but haven't really seen any problems from them yet. Funny they always seem to be laying on their back when seen dead on the road, guess they just roll over and die. I have a knife a friend gifted me with an armadillo skin wrapped handle, pretty cool, may try one.
 Pappy

[Eric Krewson]

Here is the thing about armadillos; they have few natural enemies and are prolific breeders, the females usually have 4 identical twins every year. It doesn't take long to be overrun with them. They root up your food plots, hillsides and dig escape holes all over the place making some hillsides look like Swiss cheese.

The usually come out at peak deer hunting times, if you have one or more rooting under your stand at dusk you can forget about seeing a deer for the most part. I hunted 340 acres in Tn and had to dedicate myself to spending some days just killing the dang things if I was going to see deer, I killed over 50 in 2 years.

I found when hunting them you can walk right up to the first one or two you kill, then they must have some kind of ultrasonic danger response they spread. After the first few kills every armadillo within a half mile of you will run when you get closer than 100 yards from them. They are really stupid until you hunt them for a while, then they get as weary as any game animal, they learn quickly.

I also found you can't run one down after dark with a flashlight and a 22 rifle. You can slip up on one rooting after dark and as soon as you shine the light on them they are going to put just enough distance between you and them so you can't put the cross hairs on them.

[mmattockx]

Here is the thing about armadillos; they have few natural enemies and are prolific breeders, the females usually have 4 identical twins every year. It doesn't take long to be overrun with them. They root up your food plots, hillsides and dig escape holes all over the place making some hillsides look like Swiss cheese.

Thanks for the info. They are a destructive invasive species in that case and need some killing.


Mark

[mullet]

And they are tasty, and yes, some of them carry leprosy but Leprosy is not contagious. Cooking then and not eating them rare like most animals is the thing to do. Cooked on the grill it is hard to tell the difference between it and pork, thus the name.

[dylanholderman]

just going to add that i have a tobacco bag made from a whole armadillo skin, cool project idea if you're up for it 
i also didn't realize they were so destructive, think they're worse than groundhogs?

[Eric Krewson]

Much worse because they don't stay in one spot like groundhogs, they wander and migrate county to county and state to state.

[mullet]

Funny, I noticed a lot more in SC lately and now you guys up north are complaining about them. I haven't seen very many in Florida since the coyotes started to be a problem and we used to be covered up in them. The highway used to be covered in them in the 70's and 80's.

[Pat B]

They had to climb nearly 2000' of mountains to get here. Fire ants made it a few years ago but I think they hitched a ride in some long leaf yellow pine needle bales used in landscape.

[Pappy]

Guess I should know but what is the 3 s rule? Pappy

[KHalverson]

Guess I should know but what is the 3 s rule? Pappy

shoot.
shovel.
shut up.

[Eric Krewson]

The 3 S rule is mostly for neighborhood dogs and cats that make your life miserable because the irresponsible owners let them roam and create chaos.