Where did the armadillos go?

This was the first season I can remember when I never saw or heard an armadillo while deer hunting. And as most of you know, they can be noisy critters and make it more difficult to hear an approaching deer. I can't even remember seeing one dead on the road.

This has been an unusually cold winter for sure. Do they hibernate or stay burrowed more during cold weather?

They burrow in my yard. I know that there's about 6-7 less than there was a few months ago

I did see one in the pasture the other evening, he got a pass. As soon as he heads to the dark side, he's toast.

Well there is your answer Earthkid killed them all

Come to think of it, I didn’t see any either that I can recall. Did see a dead one’s shell or two.

Any Fire ant mounds around?

[video:youtube]ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyVYM_OjZJk[/video]

During a drought you have to look in bottom lands with soft dirt. Or in someone’s yard.
There is no shortage of them out here. They are mostly nocturnal animals too.

No more than usual. I have noticed a marked increase in dillers over the past few years. Just about every bow hunting sit I have been seeing them. Don’t recall seeing any this year though. May just be coincidence IDK.

Now that you mention it I haven't seen an armadillo in quite a while on our place. Skunks on the other hand seem to be having a population explosion in our neck of the woods.

I did find this...

"Armadillos do not hibernate however a moderate climate is essential to their survival as they cannot endure long periods of freezing weather. The creature’s armor like shell covers most of its body and provides a certain amount of protection; however it offers little insulation against cold weather. Armadillos will not expand into extreme northern climates due to the cold temperatures.

These creatures do not store much body fat, do not hibernate, and instead continue to forage year round. As winter arrives, their food supplies become scarce and frozen ground conditions prevent them from being able to dig in order to search for food. Since they cannot tolerate freezing temperatures, in order to escape the cold the armadillos often retreat underground. However, it should be noted that they are still unable to hibernate while doing this because they will either freeze or starve to death in these types of conditions."

I think I counted 7-8 the other day

Seen the usual amount in the Concho Valley...

On our place in Mills co, they disappeared for almost 15 years. As for them being nocturnal, bull chit, we used to see them all hours of the day. It used to be easy to see 15 driving around our 1200 acres. Then, 0. In the last two years they’ve made a comeback, we now see 1-5 each time driving around, I suspect disease was the culprit.

I had one rooting around in the yard this afternoon. And no I did not kill it.

Exactly opposite where I hunt. This year we are covered up with them.

I'm thinking a localized disease outbreak might be why we're seeing them far less frequently.

Plenty on my place, shoot on sight! Was even able to run over 2 with the 4 wheeler a couple months ago!

We have seen plenty dillos in Franklin county (northeast tx). Dang near came across at least 1 either to, during the sit, or walking back from the blind this past year. They get a pass on the hunting property. If they are rooting up the yard or the flower bed, they get a 22lr to the head.

we used to kill them on sight growing up, the ranchers hated them. On my first deer lease out of college, the old rancher told us we could kill anything legal except coons and armadillos. ... so I had to ask why those? he said he and his brother still headlighted coons and that he used to kill every armadillos he saw until one day someone told him that they were good to eat, so the next one he killed, he took it home to skin & cook it. once he got it skinned he was curious about what it had been eating, to find the stomach full of mosquitoes and mosquito larva, said he hadn't killed one since. So they get a pass from me unless the LO tells me to kill on sight.

They exploded on our property in Coryell county this year.. I’d see 2-3 each hunt and have seen several driving around our ranch..

They make good pig bait I guess.

Saw the usual amount

About the same around here, no more or less from I can tell.

I saw four yesterday while driving around

Not too many on the lease in Evant this year but have quite a few in Navarro co.

They tend to be cyclical. Population up, then down.

They are in holes it's to cold for them......

.....to hell I hope, lol! They wreak havoc on all the yards in my neighborhood. I've killed too many to count. I've always wondered what preys on them besides man.

we used to have (1970s) an armadillo and rattlesnake round up each spring in my hometown ... there were prizes for the biggest, the smallest and the most caught on both armadillo and rattlesnake ... I thought I had it won with armadillo one year with about 30 when some guy showed up with 40-50. Had to bring them in live, they would clean the armadillos and snakes (after milking them) and then they had a deep fryer that they were frying them up.

You're a better man than me, Don. They rip up my grass and create mudholes after a rain. Haven't had that problem lately though.

I snuck up on one in Florida and grabbed it by the tail. My son got a kick out of it.

We had a resident Amadillo at the compound at the lease for the last two or so years. We kept him around because we had heard they eat the rattlers, which we had never seen (snakes) in the compound...until this year when I was the lucky one to walk within a foot of one. Now I guess the guys have adopted either/both a raccoon or little fox (and some kind of barn cat that I haven't seen yet) around the compound. I'm gonna start calling it the Dr Doolittle lease from now on...

Grab near the base and lift up fast! Those claws are something. We caught one and gave him a cattle earmark one day, but never knowingly saw him again.

I see quite a few in Bandera County.

I sneak up on them and take pictures. I think they are neat animals.

Ever scared one and seen it jump?

saw 6 today first i have seen in a while

They are jumpers for sure.
We were running snares along the HF one day and the wife was digging around in the grass looking for a pulled out snare.
We had snared an armadillo and he had hunkered down behind a patch of grass. He suddenly jumped up with the snare around his middle, and started hopping around (and hissing) on the end of the cable, my wife fell over backwards trying to get away. I 'bout hurt myself laughing.
After we had a good laugh, she said, "thank God that wasn't a skunk."

I used to see 4 or 5 a day on my place South of Bowie. These days, it is unusual to see one per year.

I got mad at them back in August. I was sick of them digging holes under the fence, it makes for a starting hole for pigs or coyotes. I must have trapped 20 of them before the hole making stopped.

I read once that's why they seldom get missed when you run over them. Even though the wheels might miss them, their instinct to jump when scared causes them to get knocked in the head.

I'm right there with you............

My grandfather had flat feet, so they didn't ship him overseas during WWI. He was in the Quartermaster Corp. and bought and sold horses for the Army.

The ONLY time I ever saw him run was when we were driving around, looking at the place by Luckenbach that my dad had just bought. My grandfather jumped out of the vehicle, ran and caught an armadillo, and smashed it against a tree.

Horsemen hate them. The neighbor to us up there (another oldtimer) was obsessed with killing them too.

'Don't think they're going extinct. 'Thought I heard or read a TPWD rep say to kill every armadillo, raccoon, and skunk you see, if you want to see more quail.

Interesting. Do you know why? I’ve never heard that.

I've always assumed that it's because horses sometimes miss seeing their holes and break their legs in them.

We have some armadillo dens the size of badger dens. Some look like a mini volcanoes.
They are a problem for horses and cows.

Used to see a lot of them growing up and hunting them.
I see a lot fewer now days, probably since there are a lot more roads and that keeps the populations down.
They can't look both ways before they cross a road.

Interesting question because I had not really paid attention and yesterday I saw 3 in less than 5 mins and I thought whow I have not seen any lately.

We used to race them at the Top Rail over sort of near the Winchester Shooting range back in the 7o's. I guess they call it Elm Fork shooting sports or something like that now. Drank a lot of Lonestars at the Rail back in those days.
Fun times and fun girls!

We nicknamed one of our blinds "Dilly, Dilly" every sit deer or no deer the armadillos were there. Plus the guy that named it likes Bud Light. I bet we saw 25 a day in Mills county, I am trying to figure out the negatives to having them on the range.

This past couple of weeks it seems they have come out in force. I am seeing atleast 4-5 daily all over ranch

Weve got plenty in Mills county. PM your address and I'll mail you all I can catch

This is the first year I can remember seeing them around our lease. One here or there yeah but see them almost every circuit around the place this year.

They are all over our area. Im tired of them digging a home by the fence for a coyote to use to come in.

As we install our fence we are running a 36" woven wire fence on the ground, hog ringed to the fence bottom to help keep the mangy buggers out.

They came to Bandera

I've killed my share of armadillos. But I NEVER see them any more. Haven't seen measurable numbers of them in the past 2 decades other than dead on the road.

Over that time I've owned ranches in 7 counties. And I can count the number of dillo's on one hand that I've seen.

They get a pass from me. They are way more fun to watch than they are to kill.

We use to catch them,paint them with orange glow paint and let them go.......