The ‘Dillo War Is ON!!!

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Ezana4CE

Ezana4CE

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Jan 15, 2021
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Texas, United States
Just walked up on this and grabbed Lelya. I’d just put her in the truck. I rushed it, I got excited, I know I did, but I know I hit one multiple times. One shot sent them scurrying, but they couldn’t all get into the burrow at once. 
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I’m looking for blood or a body. I was waking up on them guessing my holds at 10-15 yards. I let off about 6 shots. 2-3 I heard connect. 


Here’s the burrow entrance. 
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It looks a LOT worse in person. 
 
Dogs cornered one in my back porch. Took 4 or 5 hits from a 22LR pistol to finally stop the critter. They are VERY tough!
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@cootertwo I see. I know I hit the first broadside from about 25-30 yards while braced against a vehicle. Then they ran. As they funneled into the burrow, one sat atop the mound of dirt that they plowed up at the entrance. I shot at it about 3 times from 20-15 yards out, I was walking toward them and stopped before firing. I hit it once, maybe twice before it went into the hole. I didn’t find a drop of blood. I covered the burrow with dirt and looked for a second hole. I don’t know when they’re coming out of that burrow, but I want them. 
 
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I’ve shot a bunch of them at night and they almost always run away. It is hard to hit them in the head since they are constantly moving, unless they are digging. They will jump pretty high in the air after you shoot them sometimes. We have them all over the place, tearing up people’s yards.
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@AncientSword What’d you hit em with? It was difficult to try for a head shot because they were digging shallow holes and eating and I wasn’t confident in taking one. I took the broadside shot because I didn’t want to miss and hit a structure. I figured because they were young I might be able to pick two off. I could only see small parts of their heads in the grass. When they heard the first pellet hit the first one they got the hell on. I think I shot one on top of the mound waiting to re-enter the burrow. Then I covered the burrow, went to get a garden hose, and tried to flood them out. They didn’t come out after 10 minutes of that so I filled in the burrow with the dirt they pushed out. I suspect some will die in there. Let’s see if they dig their way out. 
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I’ve shot them with .25’s and .30’s. I’m pretty sure they run off and die. They are prolific diggers. My dad used to shoot them at night with .22 shorts, in our yard when I was a kid. He had a mag light taped to his barrel so he could see.
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Thanks. Done the night shooting on them in years past. That first shot today hit with a nice 💥smack💥

It didn’t sound like the “knock” of a skull shot, but I could tell I hit something solid. I guess that’s the amor. Once I started shooting I went on autopilot. Two pellets left in the mag when they all made it back in. I figure if they don’t dig themselves out tonight then they may not be coming out. 


If I had been thinking I would have positioned myself between the dillos and the burrow. I was so taken aback by them being out in broad daylight and with me on the phone carrying on a Mother’s Day conversation. I was so pissed when I saw them, I ended the call and started shooting from where I loaded the gun. 
 
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I checked the burrow entrance about an hour ago. No sign of them digging back out, at least not in that spot.

@TerryE1 I seriously think you can handle them with your Taipan Mutant. These looked young dillos and maybe a mother (the one on top). Be thankful that y'all don't have to deal with the type of damage that they do. The burrow was so deep that after about six to seven 5 gal buckets of water plus ten minutes of running the garden hose down into the burrow I didn't see any water pooling or backing up into the neck of the entrance. There was A LOT of dirt piled up around the entrance. I tried to capture it in a picture, but they dug into the ground in the middle of some shrubs so its really difficult to gauge the height of the mound and depth of it in a photo. Hopefully that burrow is now a tomb. I cant figure why at least two aren't trying to dig their way out. I mean I could tell that three of them were youngins, but some sort of survival instinct must kick in at some point.
 
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Not sure if this will kill them but at least it’s effective in finding other exists. I would throw couple of road flares in the borrow then seal it off, if there are other exists smoke would come out. small rodents usually get killed by the smoke but doesn’t always work on bigger critters or ground is more permeable but worth a try.


Also put wifi cameras and live traps close by. I’m with hairy armpit hippies on this one, guns aren’t the answer here if you really want them gone….. unless you prefer frustration! 😂 
 
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Not sure if this will kill them but at least it’s effective in finding other exists. I would throw couple of road flares in the borrow then seal it off, if there are other exists smoke would come out. small rodents usually get killed by the smoke but doesn’t always work on bigger critters or ground is more permeable but worth a try.


Also put wifi cameras and live traps close by. I’m with hairy armpit hippies on this one, guns aren’t the answer here if you really want them gone….. unless you prefer frustration!
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@qball I'm not throwing road flares down there. Suffocating them seems a bit harsh and isn't my style. I checked to see if water was coming out yesterday after inserting the garden hose and didn’t find any. I've got an idea of some other things to try. I grabbed a camera to monitor their activity. When I find the live trap I'll set one out with a board along side to guide one in. I don't think more than one will make it in before the trapdoor is tripped.The trapped animal will be head shot to be dispatched as humanely as possible. I still intend to shoot a couple as trapping all of them isn't feasible.

To be clear, I wasn't trying to drown them yesterday, I wanted to flush them out of the hole and kill them as they emerged. I sealed the burrow to see how they'd come out. I knew the ones that weren't shot would likely dig back out which is why I didn't pour concrete in there. That would have caused them to dig another exit hole elsewhere causing more damage around the house. If you compare before and after photos, the exit hole is not in the exact same spot. Before they dug the entrance around a small pvc pipe. The new hole is closer towards the trunk of the bush. Considering that they dug back out in proximity to the way that they entered suggests that it's the only way in and out of this particular burrow. I have a strong suspicion that these burrows are constructed to withstand flooding. Considering that they like to burrow around structures and A/C units when it rains, runoff flows into their burrows and they survive. As many of you know it rains hard and heavy in these parts, especially in a thunderstorm. I think this explains why the burrow didn't appear to fill up when I tried flushing them out. I still wonder if all of them made it out. I'm hoping one or two bled out and died in the burrow. The camera footage will tell the tale.



One side is going to get tired of the other side. Camera is up and I lightly back filled the entrance. Let’s see what happens now. 
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