Armadillos

[Gobbler-one]

I've been trapping pretty hard for the past two weeks targeting nest predators on my turkey lease. I also happen to manage this property for timber production for the land owner. In years past it was a rare thing to see an armadillo, but as of late it appears as though we are overran with them. We've been shooting them on site and the numbers are adding up. My question, are armadillos nest predators? I've been getting conflicting opinions locally and trying to get some clarity on the matter. I do know that we had a larger population of turkeys on the property 10 years ago and very few armadillos. As the population of turkeys shrank the armadillos population exploded. This could be coincidental because I know we had other contributing factors to the turkey decline as well. A lack of prescribed burning after timber thinning's resulted in a thicker understory making it more predator friendly. We had several years of low poult survival due to bad weather. During this time frame I have seen fall flocks that numbered 20 to 30 birds then dwindle to sightings now of 6 to 12 in a group. Measures have been taken to correct and improve habitat and trapping to help reduce predator population for the past three years. All this with the goal of protecting nest and enhancing poult survival.
This property is just shy of 2000 acres. Traps are targeting opossum, coons, bobcats, and coyotes with much success. I'm just not sure how much of a problem the armadillos are on nest predation if in fact they are a problem. Any insight or first hand accounts would be helpful.

[Turkeybutt]

They will go after eggs of birds based on what I read and that would be enough for me to try and get them off the property or weed them out as best i could.
Armadillos eat a lot of different types of foods, but they seem to prefer foods that they dig for. Grubs, earthworms, and other ground-dwelling insects are some of their favorites.
In addition, armadillos will eat many other types of insects, such as grasshoppers, termites, and wasps. They also like all kinds of spiders, snails, beetles, ants, and even scorpions.
Armadillos have a very broad diet. Though their favorite foods are worms and other types of insects, they will also eat a wide variety of other small animals and plant materials. Aside from insects, some other foods they like to eat include small reptiles, mushrooms, fruits, veggies, seeds and other plant matter, eggs of birds and reptiles, and even carrion or decaying flesh of dead animals.

[Howie g]

Our Dillo population fluctuates here in my region ms/ La . Some years they are everywhere, but they are down it seems now .  Although they are a useless animal imo , I don't think they hurt the turkeys .

[Shiloh]

Same as Howie.  They do provide a ton of nighttime fun for my kids!!  They always wanna ride around and shoot dillers!!

[Tail Feathers]

Yes, armadillos will eat turkey eggs.  And since they are constantly roaming and looking for food, take 'em out.

[Sixes]

They are aggravating as all get out. On my lease, we were covered with them for a few years, then they disappeared and now they have made a return.

One interesting thing that I noticed and would be curious if anyone else has noticed this, but with a high population of armadillos, our fire ants disappeared, when the armadillo population went down and then slowly disappeared, the fire ant population, once again flourished.

Now I don't like armadillos, but I despise fire ants, so now, I am more apt to give them a pass.

It got so bad that for a couple of years, I would bring a .22 Magnum to my stand and shoot armadillos while waiting for prime time.

[Old Timer]

Are they edible?

[silvestris]

I understand that they carry Leprosy.

[runngun]

Possum on the half shell!!!

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[Wigsplitter]

One bobcat or coyote or coon kill more turkeys or eat more eggs than 1000 armadillos

[roberthyman14]

Yes they are edible. Yes I have ate 1.   They are actually very tasty.  Rubber gloves to clean them. 2 pure white meat backstraps.  We fried them like porkchops.  Got them to 165* minimum. Tasted pretty good.  Like mentioned they eat grubs and rooms.  So they aint nasty. We hosed ours off to get the excess dirt off of him.  Started on the belly and popped the shell off.

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[Howie g]

One bobcat or coyote or coon kill more turkeys or eat more eggs than 1000 armadillos

This ^^^

[the Ward]

I understand that they carry Leprosy.

Ugh! Glad we don't have any of those critters in these parts.

[Cowboy]

I understand that they carry Leprosy.

True. I've heard that as well

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[Howie g]

Funny dilla story ... some years back while hunting squirrels on opening morn of season on some ms public that borders my house . I was on my way back home with a vest full of squirrels when I ran into a guy coming down a logging road at a fast pace . We struck up a conversation, and while we where talking I noticed his vest moving !  I had to ask , what's moving in your game vest ?? , he replied, man , I'm not sure ? And then pulled out a still kicking armadillo! Then he asked did I know what it was ?  I lst asked where he was from , and he said New Orleans La . I replied , it's a armadillo.  He said he had never seen one ... I went on home and got away from him .