Armadillo

[FishDFly]

We use to sneak up on them and grab them by the tail for entertainment. Sometimes we would chase them and if they made partially into their hole they would arch their back and dig their claws into the dirt and it was impossible to pull them out. Until we learned the trick, lift tail and insert a crooked small stick, they will turn loose very quickly. If you pitch them into a lake, 50% will swim out like a dog and 50% will sink like a rock. After a bit they will come walking out. Looked kind of like Jurassic Park.

Brother and his fraternity brothers had been "armadillo hunting" and were drinking beer and BBQing them.
Told them they carried leprosy. Quickly there was a rush to town for chicken and ribs.

They get a pass on my place.

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

I've never had it. I can assure you that when I do taste it the first time it will be DELICIOUS, because I will be dying of starvation.

I wonder though, could you roast them in the shell?

They get shot on sight around here. Between them and the feral hogs, they can destroy a good hayfield almost overnight. Those little burrowing buggers will ruin building foundations as well.

 

[rpatmuck]

I live in Texas and have lots of armadillos! I had a friend invite us over for fried rattlesnake but didn't say it was snake. I saw the ribs as the snake was just sliced crossways. He thought it a fine joke. Wife did not. Later I made a stew out of a big armadillow and invited him over. He enjoyed the stew and ask how I made it. I took him out back and showed him the shell. I will say though the stew was very good!

 

[FishDFly]

I've never had it. I can assure you that when I do taste it the first time it will be DELICIOUS, because I will be dying of starvation.

I wonder though, could you roast them in the shell?

They get shot on sight around here. Between them and the feral hogs, they can destroy a good hayfield almost overnight. Those little burrowing bastards will ruin building foundations as well.

For a long time I quit coming here to read because of the profanity. I see it is still here for no good reason.

I told the Web Lady I would not be a Supporting Member because of it.

Adios

 

[Piquant]

I lived in South Louisiana all my life and I don’t know of anyone who eats possums or armadillos. I know we get a bum rap that we eat anything that won’t eat us first. That’s not true, we just know how to survive.

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

Armadillo is a great survival food, tasty, nutritious, easy to clean, easy to kill. The meat looks and tastes like rich pork.

How does one go about cleaning an armadillo?

Walked up and kicked the carcass; about a dozen possums came scrambling out!

My dads possum story is close to the same. He was a kid, and one of the sharecroppers on the place, named Hence, decided to go get a possum one night. He gave dad a burlap sack and he took the gas lantern and a stick. They arrived upon the same scene you describe, and it was my dads job to hold the sack at the south end of that carcass while Hence beat the ribs with the stick.

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

For a long time I quit coming here to read because of the profanity. I see it is still here for no good reason.

I told the Web Lady I would not be a Supporting Member because of it.

Adios

I do apologize, didn't mean to offend anyone.

Maybe they could set it up to say fish poo instead.

Point taken though. I will watch watch it.

 

[Ninering62]

I wouldn’t call them “harmless”.
They can completely destroy a large, beautiful lawn in one night just rooting for insects.
In my yard, I kill them every time I get a chance. I don’t eat them either.

I’m 100% with you there. When my brother lived in Oklahoma they were a terribly destructive nuisance & they destroyed he yard over & over & over. He killed every one he saw.
Since moving to Fl I completely understand & I get to see the massive amount of damage they do on the property here. I’ve trapped them, I still trap them, & I enjoy shooting every single one I see. I have not tried eating them as of yet. I’ve been very skeptical about eating them & the fact that then can carry leprosy is a big deterrent from messing with them

 

[Wncman]

I was yakking with a friend who trapped 37 armadillos over the past year on her farm in Missouri and the topic of 'dillo as table fare came up. Apparently it was on more than one American table as "Hoover Hog" during the Depression and is alleged to taste like high-quality pork. I have since heard from three fellas who have personally eaten it and all agreed it was excellent. I kinda like the critters so am in no hurry to dispatch one, but it is interesting to know.
https://armadillo-online.org/food.h...los,traditional ingredient in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Barbarossa (movie) it was mentions as table fare.
Down south it’s been called Possum on the half shell

 

[TarponStalker]

I've cleaned and eaten several armadillos. They are very good. Similar to pork but they have both white and dark meat. For such a small animal, they have a ton of meat on them. Especially the hind legs. Living in the south of course I deep fried them but I know some that grill/BBQ them. I made sure it was done before I ate the meat because I also heard they carry either Brucellosis or Trichinosis. I don't recall which.

Getting the shell off is not terribly hard as it's connected to the meat by a fatty layer. You can use a knife or a small hatchet. The hard part is getting that tough skin off of them. You really need to wash them very well before you start because the belly is hairy and usually covered with dirt. Not very appetizing.

However, I've been hesitant to eat them, since I've been hearing more and more about them carrying Leprosy. We used to see a lot more of them both in Florida and Georgia but I'm not seeing as many as I used to. I wonder if disease is killing them or coyotes.
I've lost a few arrows because of Armadillos. Once shot they run down into gopher hole's busting the arrow shaft.

 

[2001guns]

I was yakking with a friend who trapped 37 armadillos over the past year on her farm in Missouri and the topic of 'dillo as table fare came up. Apparently it was on more than one American table as "Hoover Hog" during the Depression and is alleged to taste like high-quality pork. I have since heard from three fellas who have personally eaten it and all agreed it was excellent. I kinda like the critters so am in no hurry to dispatch one, but it is interesting to know.
https://armadillo-online.org/food.h...los,traditional ingredient in Oaxaca, Mexico.

This image is armadillos barbecuing at the beach in New Smyrna Beach FL circa 1970. At the time we hadn't heard that they carry leprosy. We drank beer and ate dillys till all was gone.
They destroy our yard like little hogs. Please tell us how they trapped 37 of em. My bride won't let me shoot em anymore. I catch all I can and drop them off at city hall after dark.
Uncle Vic called them Hoover chickens

 

[northernThaiguy]

I was at a missions "jungle camp" out on the Duda Ranch in central Florida in the mid '70's, and we found the little critters easy to catch and kill, and quite tasty when cooked! We would run up behind one and kick it - it would curl up to protect itself, but just lay there on the ground. That gave us time to catch up to it and club it to kill it. We loved to kill those and find a small palmetto that we could chop the heart out of, and cook them together. Very tasty!

I haven't heard about the leprosy part, but any time you have armadillos and "kissing bugs" in the same area, they are vectors for Chagas disease, which is quite nasty. Dead and cooked, I think they are just vectors for a nice hot meal!

Here in Missouri, we've been getting both of them for several years now - seem to be working their way north from Texas.

 

[GBG]

Oldwood, in parts of the South, it was apparently possum.

Plus, as has been mentioned squirrel and rabbit. My paternal family were such poor sharecroppers that my old man said it wasn't until he joined the Army that he found out there had been a Great Depression. Next, in the late 1940's thru the 1950's, Southern Railway Fuel closed all their coal mines because trains were switching to diesel.

For 15+ years my grandfather fed a family of 3 to 4 by farming "rocky top" land and using a Sears 22 cal gallery special (22 shorts only) rimfire rifle. He said shorts were 15 cents and LRs were 25 cents a box when he bought the gun. My grandmother cooked so much squirrel, rabbit and opossum that decades later the smell of any one cooking would make her sick.

I never saw an armadillo until the 1990s. In addition to lawns and gardens, they undermine patios and house/barn foundations. I kill them and feed them to the turtles in the river.

 

[Coinneach]

In SW Pa. where I grew up , it was ground hogs. Neighbors ate them , everybody on hard times in coal country dined on them. In northern W.Va. , it was coons , nature took care of folks on hard times , when the mines shut down.

Here in Australia when I was a boy we made pocket money trapping Rabbits, skinning and cleaning them for the local trade.
My grandad told me that most of Australia lived on Rabbits during the great depression, at least country and bush folk can feed themselves one way or another. Anyone else hearing the whispers that soon enough its going to happen again.......

 

[Coinneach]

Jaeger, yes, they are vectors for Hansen's disease, but carefully cleaned and fully cooked the meat presents no risk of transmission. Also, keep in mind that 95 percent of humans are immune to the leprosy bacterium. It's probably biologically safer eating 'dillo than feral hog!
Oldwood, in parts of the South, it was apparently possum. Listen to Burl Ives' lyrics:

Now thats a treat, havent heard Burl Ives since I was a kid. Thank you sir.

 

[Coinneach]

Armadillo is a great survival food, tasty, nutritious, easy to clean, easy to kill. The meat looks and tastes like rich pork.

Wash your hands well after de-shelling the carcass, and be sure to cook thoroughly; no rare meat.

Possum, for me, is much too greasy to enjoy.

Funny possum story: My ex-wife loved cats; when we went our ways, she had 24 inside cats and 24 outside cats. And with all the catfood out back on the patio, neighboring possums knew where to come for a free meal.

Well, one of the baby possums got left behind one night, so she put it into the bathtub with some old towels, and fed it right there. She called me when she had taken care of the baby for about 6 weeks, and said that the baby was growling and hissing at her, what should she do?

Told her to carefully pick it up in one of the towels, take it outside, and turn it loose!


Never thought much of eating the pesky marsupials after finding a dead cow in the back pasture. Walked up and kicked the carcass; about a dozen possums came scrambling out! Adult possums have 52 shiny, sharp teeth that are covered in the goop from eating anything they can find.

"My ex-wife loved cats; when we went our ways, she had 24 inside cats and 24 outside cats."

You married an over the top Cat lady......Man you deserve a Presidential citation !

 

[Coinneach]

I was yakking with a friend who trapped 37 armadillos over the past year on her farm in Missouri and the topic of 'dillo as table fare came up. Apparently it was on more than one American table as "Hoover Hog" during the Depression and is alleged to taste like high-quality pork. I have since heard from three fellas who have personally eaten it and all agreed it was excellent. I kinda like the critters so am in no hurry to dispatch one, but it is interesting to know.
https://armadillo-online.org/food.h...los,traditional ingredient in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Thanks for starting this thread I really do enjoy the resultant replies, the reminiscing is good God knows we need it nowadays.

 

[Marplot]

I've never had it. I can assure you that when I do taste it the first time it will be DELICIOUS, because I will be dying of starvation.

I wonder though, could you roast them in the shell?

They get shot on sight around here. Between them and the feral hogs, they can destroy a good hayfield almost overnight. Those little burrowing buggers will ruin building foundations as well.

They really can burrow! Friend had her garden destroyed! I might visit her with one of my flintlocks needing target practice!

But possums are ok in my book. My wife and I had some as inside pets. Never bit us. Even used a litter box and roamed our home like silent cats. Ate everything we fed them.

 

[Coinneach]

When I moved to the Ozarks I tried my hand at trapping the local wildlife.
I had trapped beaver and snared a rabbit or two growing up in New Mexico
But had never tried coon, Bob cat and such as run around here.
Killed a opossum and cut it up to bate my traps
Nothing came near, except a crow
I never trapped a bird before.
Caught bobcat and coon on chicken guts, Fox, Bobcat and mink on cat food. Never trapped a coyote, but nothing seemed to be interested in opossum meat

Anyone ever considered using a Cat Lady as bait to trap Mountain Lions and Bobcats ?
It kinda appeals to me.

 

[Coinneach]

For a long time I quit coming here to read because of the profanity. I see it is still here for no good reason.

I told the Web Lady I would not be a Supporting Member because of it.

Adios

Dont ever bother coming to Australia then, the big bad "B" word is very commonly used over here; more often than not as a term of affection.

I served in 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR, earned as US Presidential Citation for their part in fighting to a standstill the Chinese invasion at Kapyong in Korea), they earned the title "Old Faithful" and are the only unit in the world that has the formally approved right to sing "We're a pack of Bastards" (direct quote so surely acceptable here) whenever we/ they march off formal parades; even when royalty is present.
We Veterans of 3RAR are known as, and refer to each other as "Old Bastards".

Its just a word, an acceptable word in the English language.