Armadillo hunting?

[Harley Quinn]

They used to be all along the highway in certain locations, sort of like rabbits going to Vegas. I like them they are one unique animal.

 

[leathermanwave]

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To prove to the Armadillo it could be done.

 

[MCgunner]

30 years ago, you'd see a dead armadillo on the road, some joker would normally stop and roll him onto his back and stick an empty Lone Star long neck in his mouth. Had to do with a running Lone Star commercial back then.

 

[Clipper]

30 years ago, you'd see a dead armadillo on the road, some joker would normally stop and roll him onto his back and stick an empty Lone Star long neck in his mouth. Had to do with a running Lone Star commercial back then.

I dunno, MCgunner...I tried Lone Star once when I was in the service at Ft. Sill. That stuff WAS nasty enough to kill and embalm a 'dillo!

All the Lawton bars served in those days was Lone Star, Coors, and Old Milwaukee. That's how I developed a taste for Old M. I didn't know there was anything nastier than Coors, until I tasted a Lone Star...

Gave me a new respect for Texans, though. Anyone tough enough to drink that stuff and live...

 

[MCgunner]

Lone Star was champaign compared to Pearl. ROFL! Sort of a Shiner Bock guy, though, myself, for Texas beer. Lone Star got sold, shut down the brewery in San Antonio. I never did find out what happened to the "hall of horns" there, a museum of big deer and such.

Shiner used to be worse than LS, but it went big time and ain't bad, now, though I drink Michelob Ultra Amber mostly for the low carbs. Diet beer.

I can remember actually LIKING Lone Star from a long neck. Even when I was in college and measured my daily intake by the six pack, I couldn't stand it out of a can. Now days, I don't drink a six pack a month. I don't know, just rather have tea or coke most times. Not much of a beer drinker anymore. Maybe it's an age thing.

</thread jack>

 

[Art Eatman]

Lone Star? Sent a sample to a vet. He told me my horse had kidney trouble.

An armadillo is the world's most vicious animal. The reason they're lying in the road, upside down, is so they can catch a car.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Lawn problems...

While they can do nasty things to a person's yard, if they are eating your yard, then you likely have a grub issue.

Yep, and further north, the striped skunks take over on the grub control.

It's like that all over--if you have centipedes in yr basement, then you also have some sort of critter the centipedes want to eat--the centipedes aren't there to pester YOU, for heavens' sake. Neither are the 'dillos nor the skunks--leave 'em alone and let 'em help you.

 

[qajaq59]

An armadillo is the world's most vicious animal. The reason they're lying in the road, upside down, is so they can catch a car.

ROTFL

 

[XDKingslayer]

XD,

You just gotta get there earlier! Seriously, I haven't seen one live either! All dead on the side of the road. As far north as Springfield Missouri about 15 years ago. My buddy outside of Wichita is infested with them too. They are eaten in Mexico and South America I know.

My dad keeps telling me I need to come up and shoot the armadillos in his yard and keeps saying he's got a bad armadillo problem. He shows me all the triangle shaped holes in his yard but just walk out the road, show him that there are no dead armadillos and tell him that obviously armadillos aren't making those holes in his yard.

 

[G17Steve]

Hate them they will destroy a garden. Me and my meibhor have probly accounted for 50 them over the years.

But anyone who has eaten one deffinalty deserves a man card.

 

[JShirley]

For humans, we are pretty much soft underbelly all over. We have good sight, moderate hearing, poor sense of smell, no armor, no real fur, no claws, no big canines, and we are awfully slow with bipedalism. Our big advantage is culture. Without culture, we are nothing but prey.

Well, that's certainly sounds true, doesn't it? By "culture", do you mean "tool-using"? If you do, there are a few different animal species that can do this too, including crows. Man DOES have some natural advantages:

1. We are pack animals. Working in concert we can take on virtually anything even with simple tools.

2. Endurance. Man can run down ANY land animal over time. A fit human can run down any of the grazing animals on flat terrain. (Not sprinting, but over distance.)

3. The biggie: intelligence.

 

[mike724]

Tank Rats taste like pork, so I'm told. I decided to never eat one after seeing one crawl out the rear end of a dead cow. Carrion eaters! However, I've seen children catch them by the tail by simply sneaking up on them It's that easy to do. No gun nessesary.

 

[ArmedBear]

A fit human can run down any of the grazing animals on flat terrain. (Not sprinting, but over distance.)

How much time are you talkin', here?

And have you ever tried to tire out a herd of antelope, or buffalo, in open country? How about a bighorn sheep in the southwestern desert? You'd die before the sheep tires out, that's for damn sure, in our desert heat without water anywhere, going up and down near-vertical rocky slopes.

I'm betting that the way we have succeeded as hunters is intelligence, tool use and teamwork, combined with our complex communication ability that make our pack hunting more effective and our roles in the pack more specialized than other species.

I don't think that canines, for example, have a chat and say, "Well, Thrug is smart and has really good eyesight, but he can't run worth crap. Post him on top of the hill and let him use flags to signal the others. Moowoowoo is a great runner, but he's dumb as a stump. Let him do the chasing, where Thrug tells him to. And Fmurfle is really big, strong and fast, but can't run for very long. Have Thrug tell him where to wait, and he can pounce on the animal as it runs from Moowoowoo."

Humans, absolutely. Wolves, which are pack hunters extraordinaire, still don't have this level of intelligence, reason, communication, or specialization.

 

[JShirley]

It can take a while. You'll notice the best distance runners are from Africa, with its many grazing animals and flat plains.

 

[ArmedBear]

Actually, nearly half of the distance races in the world are won by humans from a tiny part of East Africa, with a population of 1.5 million. 20% are won by humans from a smaller part of that part, with a total population of 500,000. They have 70-75% slow twitch fibers, and they are not good at, say, sprint racing or powerlifting.

West Africa, on the other hand, produces world-class sprinters, not endurance racers.

So you can't even generalize about Africa.

And some parts of Central Europe produce world-class powerlifters, but not Boston Marathon winners or Olympic sprinters.

Only some human populations are optimized for what you're talking about; it doesn't matter how fit an individual may be, as there are differences in what "fit" means.

Hence, I still think that, on the whole, the factors I listed above are what have made us successful. The Inuit, for example, needed to be clever survivalists, fishermen and hunters; they didn't need the endurance to run down plains game over long periods. Put a Kenyan in Alaska, and he wouldn't last a year without modern technology -- ditto if you put an Inuit in Kenya.

 

[MCgunner]

2. Endurance. Man can run down ANY land animal over time. A fit human can run down any of the grazing animals on flat terrain. (Not sprinting, but over distance.)

Speak for yourself I can't even run an Armadillo down anymore. ROFL! I'm still pretty danged fast on a TZ250, though.

 

[JShirley]

I certainly agree with your statement

I'm betting that the way we have succeeded as hunters is intelligence, tool use and teamwork, combined with our complex communication ability that make our pack hunting more effective and our roles in the pack more specialized than other species.

I do recall seeing a film of San track a giraffe for three days until they caught up to and killed him, but I'll accept your point that specialization for region is a likely result of evolution.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

We generally see 'em on the road next to a possum here in Arkansas. We figure they're star-crossed lovers whose parents (having something like good sense) wouldn't let them marry and they committed suicide together.

 

[Art Eatman]

I luv thred drif'.

The Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico would run and walk deer in relays until the deer finally quit. For some idea of their endurance, they visit back and forth across canyons--some of which are said to be as deep as our Grand Canyon.

A non-smoker in good shape in fairly open and hilly country can ruin a mule deer's day, but it does take some understanding of a deer's behavior. When spooked, mulie bucks run uphill and upwind. So, spook the deer up and over the mountain, but circle around on the contour. Go toward where he's most likely to be and spook him back the other way, returning via the contour. At some point in this rodeo, Ol' Bucky stands there with his tongue hanging out. So do you. I was quite satisfied to take my father's word for all this happiness...

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico would run and walk deer in relays until the deer finally quit.

Men in general, have more endurance than most animals. During the War with Mexico, Alexander Doniphan set out from Missouri to capture Sante Fe. There, his army split, part of them going into northern Mexico to join other American forces there, the other part west to capture California.

It was one of the epic marches of all time -- and the infantry beat the cavalry to Sacremento by two weeks.

 

[stevereno1]

"Are they good?" I hope you don't mean in the eating of armadillo! If not, then yes!, thay are good to hunt and shoot.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Well, that's certainly sounds true, doesn't it? By "culture", do you mean "tool-using"?

No, I mean culture which encompasses the whole variety of facets by which humans adapt to nature. For examples, tools, complex communications, clothing, medicine, shared knowledge, etc. We enhance our ability to survive in the environment by artificial means (culture).

As far as tools go, several animals use tools and some even fabricate tools, but hominids and now humans are the only ones to use tools to make tools. You won't find a crow sharpening a stick with a rock so that the pointy end of the stick can be used to stab some other object. You won't find a chimpanzee fabricating a spear even though they will use rocks as weapons.

Man DOES have some natural advantages:

1. We are pack animals. Working in concert we can take on virtually anything even with simple tools.

That is culture.

2. Endurance. Man can run down ANY land animal over time. A fit human can run down any of the grazing animals on flat terrain. (Not sprinting, but over distance.)

I have seen the video of Louis Leakey running down, killing and tearing apart a small artiodactyl, all without tools, but I would not claim that humans can run down ANY land animal. I don't see humans outlasting bison, pronhorn, moose, etc.

3. The biggie: intelligence.

Yep, humans do have intelligence, some anyway. So do many other primates, elephants, cetaceans, and even some birds. They don't build houses, engage in free market economies, etc., however.

 

[leathermanwave]

engage in free market economies, etc., however.

The economy's current state does not indicate intelligence.

 

[qajaq59]

The economy's current state does not indicate intelligence.

You beat me to it.....

 

[Master of Arms]

I kill nothing that I`m not prepared to eat so I guess I`ll sit this one out.