Back in the late eighties when I was still in high school I lived in the country just outside of Junction, TX. We had 'dillos galore. I used to live for deer season and I had a pet handload for my .30-'06 that used a 150 grn. spitzer boattail running very hot. It was certain death to whitetails.
Well, as anyone will tell you a high school age boy isn't always the sharpest thinker. One late summer afternoon I looked out in our 2 acre front lawn and about 75 yards out was a big armadillo. It seemed like a perfect target and I had never shot one with anything bigger than a .410. So I set up on the front porch, put the crosshairs right on the poor bugger and touched off a round. Two things happened...1) the armadillo just sort of blew up. It absorbed almost all of the energy and there was not much need for a shovel to carry him off. I just found a few pieces and some blood. 2) my folks front porch was rock on the sides and had a large concrete patio that did nothing to absorb the sound. I lost my hearing for a few minutes and the ringing lasted for many hours. Pure stupidity on my part. I had never had such pain in my ears before or since.
We never made much of a dent in the population, but it was fun to shoot them. When wounded they do not care where they are running, they just run all out. Armadillos will bounce off of a rock wall when they hit it at a full run.
