Min shot size for armadillo

[rickyrick]

Quick question
Min shot size for nuisance armadillos

12ga
20”
Cylinder bore, no choke
25 foot range

Thank you

[Electrod47]

I used a 20 gauge w/18" No Choke at 25Ft with 7.5 shot a few years ago. A huge one by the way. He was done on the spot. Be careful using to buckshot up close. I had one splatter blood back on me. They are known to carry Leprosy.

[FrankenMauser]

#4 or #6 sounds good.
But I'd bet #7.5-9 would be fine, too.
25 feet is close.

[603Country]

You can sneak right up on an armadillo. I goosed one with my rifle barrel muzzle years ago.

As for what size shot, 6’s or 7 1/2’s would do just fine.

[rickyrick]

Yeah, they just kinda keep milling around if I go outside late at night.

They’re getting under the house for the day, and I don’t want any foundation issues as my house was built in 1925. They are also using the crawl space under my porch as a latrine, so it smells bad. (The porch shares crawl space with the house.
They come out at night and currently they are doing their foraging in the pasture.

The 25 feet was just my best guess as I’m not wanting to chance a long shot at night.

I just inventoried my shot shells and they are all buck shot or slugs, so I guess it will require a trip to a town.

[bamaranger]

As noted by all, you can kill'em with what ever shot size you want at those distances. These days, cheap is always better, but............

As a general purpose, do it all shot size, there are not to many things in the category of small game, feathered or furred, that you cannot hunt effectively, with #6 shot and a 12 gauge.

[gwpercle]

They are not hard to kill ... slow and half-blind , a big stick or a 22 LR or 22 short will do fine.
They are also good to eat ... Let me know if you would like a favorite recipe or two .
My Mom told me during the depression (1930's) if it had not been for the squirrels , rabbits , and armadillo's her daddy shot , they would have starved slap-to-death !
He was a blacksmith and made knives besides regular blacksmith work , some had odd curved blades ... Mom told me those knives he used to clean armadillo's ...the curved blade fit under the curved shell !!!
Gary

[ChimpMunk20]

Armadillos are tough little suckers, but not bulletproof. If you use a shotgun for 'dillo control, you will want to use larger shot, as a previous post suggested. You want to kill them on the spot if you shoot them, if only wounded they have a tendency to leap straight up several feet in the air and take off like turpentined cats- right under some inacessible place, where they then die. And stink. Hoo, do they stink. So use #4s if you have 'em, or bigger. A good accurate scoped .22 is a good idea too, if you have one, again as was suggested previously. I've shot through them end to end with a .22 shooting solids, good hits with a .22 will definitely do the job.

I learned that the hard way though, when they first showed up at home in Alabama several years back my dad complained that he couldn't kill one. Shot 'em with his shotgun, he said, shot 'em with a .22 and just couldn't kill 'em. So next time I came home from NC I brought along a little scoped .223 with 55 grain softpoints. Ol' dillo showed up the first night I was home, mom got all excited cause it was digging up her flowers. So I sallied forth and shot it for her.

Well, I can tell you a .223 is too much gun for dillos. That sucker positively EXPLODED. There were dillo bits scattered all over a 10 foot radius, and I had to scoop up all the dillo parts with a shovel and bury them. And blood? Dillos have more blood per ounce of body weight than any other critter on the planet. Dillo blood stinks too, by the way.

When you blast one, scoop the carcass up with a shovel and bury it promptly, they are nasty critters.

[603Country]

If you use a 22LR, use hollow points. But they’ll still jump 2 feet up and run fast. If they make it to their hole, they are self-burying.

[rickyrick]

Picked up some 4 shot at Walmart. Hopefully I can kill them before they make it back to the crawl space. I may preposition blocks to their entrance so that I can temporarily prevent them from getting back in if only wounded.

My property is several acres densely forested with about 3acre of that open around the house.
I have shot armadillos in when I lived west Texas with .223 and I don’t really want to do that again lol

[Scorch]

Considering the risk of being charged by an animal known to carry leprosy, I recommend a slug as the minimum.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by Electrod47

I used a 20 gauge w/18" No Choke at 25Ft with 7.5 shot a few years ago. A huge one by the way. He was done on the spot. Be careful using to buckshot up close. I had one splatter blood back on me. They are known to carry Leprosy.

Good advice.
I don't shoot them that close and I rarely shoot them at all. We had a yellow jacket problem around here. We now have an Armadillo problem and thanks to them, yellow jackets are non-existent. Sine yellow jackets put my kid in almost immediate anaphylaxis, I will welcome the possums on a half shell on my property any time.
Not that I want it, but the Leprosy they carry is not the Leoprosy t of Biblical record. It is a skin staph type infection easily cured with antibiotics.

[Rob228]

Had my first experiences with armadillo last weekend in South Carolina. On two consecutive days I had one just slowly circling my stand and the way those things walk I swear it sounded like a 200+ pound person stalking up to me. Two or three big heavy steps then a tiny bit of rustling then nothing for a few minutes, repeat.

[FITASC]

Yeah, they just kinda keep milling around if I go outside late at night.

They’re getting under the house for the day, and I don’t want any foundation issues as my house was built in 1925. They are also using the crawl space under my porch as a latrine, so it smells bad. (The porch shares crawl space with the house.
They come out at night and currently they are doing their foraging in the pasture.

The 25 feet was just my best guess as I’m not wanting to chance a long shot at night.

I just inventoried my shot shells and they are all buck shot or slugs, so I guess it will require a trip to a town.

First, block off your house areas with chicken wire or similar to stop them from getting under. 7.5s at that short of a distance will do the job. The comment about leprosy is true so be careful handling them afterwards

[Pumpkin]

I have a S&W 77A .22 air rifle from the 70's. That bad boy used to take them out with 1 shot.

[paknheat]

350 grain hollow point outta a 45-70 works pretty good on them.


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[gwpercle]

Known during the Great Depression of the 1930's as "Hoover Hogs" my mom told me if not for the Hoover Hogs " that her daddy bagged with his 38 S&W revolver , that they would have " Starved Slap To Death " ... She says they eat good .
I've got his 38 S&W and Mom's recipes ... let me know if you need a recipe or two .

They are not hard to kill a head shot with a 22 short does nicely and doesn't damage any meat ... anything larger is not necessary ... a 12 gauge shotgun is way Over Kill .
My Grandfather made a couple of knives with curved blades for getting under the curved shell .
I am not kidding you about them being good to eat , they taste better than possum or raccoon . I liken them to the taste of Nutria .

Just remember my motto ... If you kill and eat something ... it's Not a problem ... it's just dinner !
Gary

[JohnKSa]

Have heard from others that they are very good eating. Also that the smell while cleaning them can be hard to take.

[rickyrick]

They don’t look very appetizing to me, but if I was starving, Al bets are off