I once watched my brother-in-law kick an armadillo far enough and high enough to score a field goal from the 15 yard line.

We were bow hunting and stalking through open mixed timber in a wildlife management area. We were about thirty or forty yards apart. He would move up slowly about twenty yards and stop. Then I would move up and stop as we both scanned the terrain in every direction. Well, that half grown armadillo was meandering along and stopped right in front of Mike's right foot. We laughed so hard that we knew we'd have to cover another quarter mile before we had any chance of seeing a deer.

Aww man that was just mean. Poor little guy was minding his own business and the next thing he knew, he was flyiing through the air with the greatest of ease. I assume his landing however was something less than a perfect 10.

Armadillos are the roaches of the forest. It's not possible to be mean enough to them. Even coyotes look down on them.

Roaches of the forest? I would have thought of them like possum on a 1/2 shell!

A number of scientific studies have linked armadillos and leprosy in the Southern U.S. and Mexico. I don't fool with them. I can think of only a few four legged Southern creatures I haven't eaten - coyote, bobcat, fox and armadillo.

I hunt from the ground (usually against a holly tree trunk) and have been amazed how close various critters have come to me. I have had squirrels and birds come within an arm’s reach of me many times. It’s like they can’t see me or have no idea that I’m alive. A fox upwind from me trotted right past me, just 5 feet to my right. A doeling also came within 10 feet of me, saw me, and was staring eye to eye with me for a good minute or so (we may have bonded), but was just carelessly chewing on…whatever she was eating. She just continued to nibble around like there was no threat, just…moseying about. After she had passed me and I could see her full rear, I was very unhappy to discover that she had been shot in the leg that morning. I wrestled for a good bit on whether or not to shoot her (appeared to be a buckshot wound, and thought it she might pull thru it), and at the last possible moment before she went out of view, decided to put her down. That really sucked. I guess because I had such a close encounter with her, decided to let her go, and after that fact had to shoot her. I was pretty ticked when the POS that shot her came rumbling thru, looking for her.

Never seen an armadillo.

Once when I was fly fishing a creek. I was sitting on a rock in the middle of the creek eating my lunch. An otter came scurrying out of the brush and dove into a small pool just 10 feet up from me. It dove a few times, and finally came up with a fish. Then is scurried off.

I was frozen still watching it. It never knew I was there. Pretty cool.