Possums and dilla’s!

Spurchaser

Spurchaser

Well-known member
No pics but man what fun! My older son borrowed a 10/22 from me a few weeks ago and put a cheaper AGM they had laying around on it. He’s been going out at night padding his quail predator numbers.
He text yesterday evening to see if CJ and I wanted to tag along and of course we jumped at the opportunity.
We met about 9ish and left out on his Ranger about 9:30pm or so. My son and his buddy were in the front seats and CJ and I in the back. He hooked his phone to his scope and his buddy scanned with the rifle. I hooked my scanner up to my phone and CJ watched the phone while I scanned.
We didn’t see anything but rabbits the first hour or so, but then we started spotting nest raiders. We ended up with 13 possums and 12 armadillos. CJ shot 3 possums and 5 armadillos and I just got on the gun once for a pair of dillo’s.
We called it quits about 0115, but CJ never quit talking about it our entire ride home. The boy woke up talking about it, lol. To say it was fun is an understatement. Sorry no pics, but who really wants to see possums and dilla’s lol!
 
Every time I hear of armadillos I am reminded of the 1960's; I was stationed at Ft. Polk and had a free Saturday to see if I could find a hog or a deer on post. Sitting in the piney woods behind my 1903A3 watching birds when I thought I might have heard a hog rustling about in the pine needles behind me. Turned slowly, only to see an armadillo. Well I had heard that armadillo were good eating (I had not heard that they carried Leprosy at that time), so decided to find out and shot it with the Chief's special.
After picking it up, I soon realized there were no zippers on it and wondered how best to tackle the cleaning job, when I remembered our company mess Sgt, had been raised on a ranch near Three Rivers, Tx. :unsure: Bet he knows how to clean an armadillo! (Pete and his wife had the trailer lot next to ours off post and had become pretty good friends.)
Drove back to see if Pete was in the mess hall, hoping to get some guidance, and sure enough he did better than that. He said if I left it with him, he would take care of it and cook it for me the next day. All I had to do was ask him when I came through the chow line for lunch. WOW, what a deal.
Well, next day, I was all geared up for a bit of armadillo as I picked up my tray and when I spotted my friend behind the counter, I asked about the armadillo. He replied,"shhhhhh! as he looked around, came over and told me, quietly, I had the armadillo in the oven, when a Major walked in and said he was here to inspect the mess hall! 😲

First thing he did was open the oven door, and there sits the feckless armadillo. (I always picture a small critter lying on it's back with all 4 legs pointing skyward, about now). He asked, rather loudly, I was lead to believe, "Sgt., what in the hell is this!?" What else was there to say, but, "Armadillo, sir", to which the officer told him to get that thing out of the kitchen in no uncertain terms. I was not given any further details as to how the inspection turned out, but was pretty sure that it meant I was not going to get to sample my armadillo, and stated something to that effect. Pete smiled, looked around very carefully before lifting one of the stainless pans on the steam table and retrieved a piece of armadillo which he had scarfed away for me.

All I can say is that it would probably have been pretty tasty if it had not dried out pretty badly on the steam table, tasting a bit like pork, as I recall.
 
The stories above bring back stories told by my Dad who was born 1914. He said people of that era referred to armadillos as "hoover hogs" as President Herbert Hoover came into office in 1928 and the the stock market crashed a little later which ushered in the Great Depression era. Dad said that by around 1935 there was virtually no wild game to be had in this area of Oklahoma, no fur, no feathers. Times were very hard and able bodied men took any kind of work available for barter or cash. Ten hour day would generate 3 to 5 dollars depending on who the employer was. He said nothing was off the menu and people were glad to have any meat available, if you could even find any. He told of the generosity of folks and their concern for the welfare of neighbors and people shared most everything. Things sure have changed.
 
Spurchaser said:
No pics but man what fun! My older son borrowed a 10/22 from me a few weeks ago and put a cheaper AGM they had laying around on it. He’s been going out at night padding his quail predator numbers.
He text yesterday evening to see if CJ and I wanted to tag along and of course we jumped at the opportunity.
We met about 9ish and left out on his Ranger about 9:30pm or so. My son and his buddy were in the front seats and CJ and I in the back. He hooked his phone to his scope and his buddy scanned with the rifle. I hooked my scanner up to my phone and CJ watched the phone while I scanned.
We didn’t see anything but rabbits the first hour or so, but then we started spotting nest raiders. We ended up with 13 possums and 12 armadillos. CJ shot 3 possums and 5 armadillos and I just got on the gun once for a pair of dillo’s.
We called it quits about 0115, but CJ never quit talking about it our entire ride home. The boy woke up talking about it, lol. To say it was fun is an understatement. Sorry no pics, but who really wants to see possums and dilla’s lol!
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Awesome man! Will be some cool experiences for you all to look back on positively.
 
I have a Rattler 384 V1 but I don't think it will fit on my Marlin 60. I did have it on my BO pistol. Little much for rats. Haven't seen any rats at the ranch anyway.
 
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