.22 short for armadillos?

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mole

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Like the title suggests, is a .22 short powerful enough for armadillos? I've got an armadillo tearing up my backyard. Usually a .22 short round nose out of a long barreled Winchester single shot does the trick for me, but their armor has me questioning it's appropriateness for this animal. I prefer the .22 short for pests because it's actually quieter than my pellet rifle and doesn't disturb the neighbors. Would trapping and removal be a better option?

Thanks,

John
 
It'll be fine. Back decades ago when I was (much) younger, and .22 shorts were commonplace, we'd buy 'em 'cuz they were cheaper, and we shot quite a few armadllos with them.
 
Patocazador said:
Their armor isn't really armor, it's just overlapping horn-like skin sections. It helps to protect them from some predators but not from bullets.
Click to expand...


^^^^^^^^ True.

We have property out in the country that we live on. So from time to time we have armadillos digging up our lawn. Last summer a 'dillo' was really going to town on the front yard, but I never did see it during the hours I am normally awake (up to midnight).

One morning my wife was preparing breakfast and looked out the kitchen window. Low and behold....an armadillo (in broad daylight) tearing up the yard. She yelled for me, I got my shotgun and went out the back door. There is an island of Trees and Shrubs that separates our home from my workshop. I slipped down there to use the shrubbery for cover and to stay down wind until I could work closer to the little devil. As luck would have it....the dillo started rooting its way right toward me, so all I had to do was wait on it.

Once it got to within 15 yards I took a bead and rolled it. Went and picked it up and threw it in the shrubs. Mrs. Flintknapper witnessed all this from the kitchen window. Once back in the house, I settled back into watching the TV show I had been enjoying.

About 10 minutes later, I hear my wife shriek from the kitchen "EEEEEK, IT GOT UP"! I called out from the bedroom, "what got up"? She replied...."The Armadillo"!

I walked toward the kitchen exclaiming that armadillo DID NOT 'get up'. I had hit it with all nine pellets of OO buckshot and had tossed the lifeless creature away. I met her at the window and she was pointing out in the yard (roughly the same spot) at an armadillo....very much alive. A second armadillo had ventured out into the yard. Of course, it received the same welcome as the first one, but I always get a chuckle when I see an armadillo and think of that day. "IT GOT UP"

Flint.
 
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I'm thinking no. Never shot a dillo with anything except an arrow (it ran away with the arrow) and I have had to chase down squirrels nailed with a 22 short. I guess if you don't care if they run off and croak elsewhere it will be "ok".
 
If these are the typical nine banded armadillos, five to fifteen pounds at tops, .22 short high velocity is adequate for similar size rabbits and raccoons.
 
51RQC59A0XL._SX317_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 
I normally trap them if I catch them digging under the foundation. I shoot them too, when ever I can with a 22LR, but your shorts will work too. I shot one one time with a 30 carbine, it literary exploded. 223R does a good number on them too.:D

I have caught the largest one I have ever seen about 6 yrs ago. It weight around 25-30 lbs and 3 feet long. That thing broke out of my traps twice in 1 night. Was so long the doors would not lock down. Till the last time it tripped and I got up and shot it. This was 4 in the morning. It had burrowed under my bedroom window.
 
Their armour isn't really armour unless you're a coyote. Still wouldn't use a Short for hunting anything.
Assuming it's legal to shoot anything in your back yard.
If the beast is digging in your yard it's because there's food. Likely grubs or just worms.
 
I prefer a 57mm Bofors gun but in a pinch, .22 short will work.:)

Don't knock some of the quiter 40 grain .22 LR round out there. I'd probably use one of them instead. Or, a crossbow would work nicely.
 
Trapping a dilja is pretty easy actually, just set up a trap in your yard and take some 4x12" planks and set them up in a wide V shape leading to the trap. If they bump those runners, they'll just keep on trucking down toward the trap and walk right in. They're not very bright, have poor eyesight and are primarily driven by food.
 
CZ9shooter said:
22 short? I don't know about that. Even a 38 spl has a hard time with Armadillos.

I kid, I kid. Sorta. Remember this story...

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/texas-man-shoots-armadillo-gets-hit-face-bullet-214656503.html

But seriously, that round seems awefully week for that purpose, at least to me. I'd want no less than a 22lr.
Click to expand...


Trap and release. Other than tear up yard looking for something to eat they are harmless. What they eat is what needs to be shot. They are doing you a favor-for free.
 
we used to shoot them with what ever was available, and watch them "break dance" i.e. jump and flip for awhile. also, do not make the mistake of playing kick the armadillo! It will break your toe!
 
I went through this myself.

I used my game radios but if you google "driveway alert" you will find cheap remote motion detectors that will tell you when they are out there.

I used CCI quiets myself but the only shorts I had were CB caps and not only are they quieter than pellet guns they are also less powerful.

A trap sounds like a great idea and I caught everything except an armadillo. I put the trap away after catching a skunk right next to the house.

Here is how I let it go without getting sprayed.


Nothing I have found has been more effective at getting rid of them than chickens, they are more effective than the Orkin man at getting rid of little things that move around your house.
 
I haven't been able to catch it in the act. It's digging small trenches in my backyard, so it's got to go. I guess I'll try to trap it. Thanks for the advice.
 
If you go ahead with the trap idea, don't bother with any bait, you'll just attract other animals with it anyway.

You need to guide the things to the trap. They just tear up your yard as they wander around, until they hit something and change direction. So you need to funnel them to the trap vs just having them happen to randomly walk into it.

6.jpg
 
Do you happen to have a link to plans for that trap? One would cost 60 bucks at the local hardware store.

Thanks
 
This fellow sells them.

http://www.thearmadillotrap.com

Build a box, have two doors held up by string and have string attached to a hunk of wood with a notch in it caught on the side of a hole in the top. Critter bumps protruding stick, knocks it of the edge, it comes up and doors go down.
 
SoonerMedic said:
Trapping a dilja is pretty easy actually, just set up a trap in your yard and take some 4x12" planks and set them up in a wide V shape leading to the trap. If they bump those runners, they'll just keep on trucking down toward the trap and walk right in. They're not very bright, have poor eyesight and are primarily driven by food.
Click to expand...


This is exactly what I do to catch them. When an older man from church told me to try this I was skeptical to say the least. I caught 7 Dillo's in 10 days. The next morning a .22LR to the head would make quick work of them.
 
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