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Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« on: January 20, 2020, 05:53:00 PM »
According to a member of the grounds staff at my home club, the normal spraying for grubs was missed this past year.  Consequently, the course is being savaged by armadillos most every night.  I've been playing golf in Texas widely since 1978 and the amount of damage to the course is exponentially higher than anything I have ever seen (only once have I witnessed something worse, but it was done by wild hogs and limited to an acre or so).


Our superintendent sprayed something shortly after the damage started, but apparently the little bastards liked the stuff because they have kept at it for months with no rest.  Maintenance is not doing anything in response other than mowing over the damage, perhaps waiting for the food source to be depleted.  Any good suggestions?  Might this be nature's way of aerating the fairways?

JMEvensky

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2020, 08:25:27 PM »
Organize a Gary P. Nunn concert at a course down the road?

Mike Hendren

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #2 on: January 20, 2020, 08:33:55 PM »
Lou, I assume you speak of possums on the half shell. If so I can quickly assemble an eradication dream team. My squad gigs frogs as well.


T for Texas. T for Tennessee.



Bogey
Two Corinthians walk into a bar ....

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2020, 08:20:52 AM »
Lou.
Build a wall. A wall around the entire course. A great wall. A fantastic wall. The best wall that’s ever been built.
F.
The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Jeff Loh

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2020, 10:07:38 AM »
Marty
Funniest. Post. Ever!!

MCirba

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2020, 11:19:29 AM »
*
« Last Edit: January 21, 2020, 12:39:51 PM by MCirba »
"Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent" - Calvin Coolidge

https://cobbscreek.org/

Terry Lavin

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2020, 11:46:12 AM »
Drive around the course loudly playing "London Homesick Blues" by Jerry Jeff Walker, a.k.a. "I wanna go home with the Armadillos."  Then the armadillos will go home with you and leave the golf course alone.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  H.L. Mencken

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2020, 12:20:24 PM »
Yea, always a problem when armadillos from "shithole countries" invade your course instead of Norwegian ones....

Buck Wolter

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2020, 12:23:58 PM »
Maybe you should start an Armadillo Atlas -- the way you described them they sound like better company
Those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience -- CS Lewis

SL_Solow

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2020, 12:25:36 PM »
Lou,  I will not pile on given my distaste for political comment on this forum regardless of whether it agrees with my predilections.  We don't have any of the pests you mention in the northern climes but we do have skunks and raccoons.  If we neglect spraying or if the spraying is ineffective, we get the same problems with those animals digging for grubs.  No real good solution as hunting is prohibited.  We have tried surface applications of substances designed to repel the animals but the results have been less than spectacular.  I don't know if there is a repellent specific to armadillos

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2020, 12:40:17 PM »
I did a quick google check and castor oil seems to be the consensus pick if your getting them around the house.  Don't know how feasible this is on a large scale thou...

Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #11 on: January 21, 2020, 04:11:17 PM »
Well, I was hoping for one or three useful suggestions from the many experienced superintendents who lurk on this site.  But this has not been a total waste- I now know who Gary P. Nunn is and have been amused by the somewhat uninspired attempts at humor.


Our superintendent is blessed with having earned a great reputation over many years among his peers, the membership, and most important, his boss, the owner.  Our situation is such that at many other places, he might be shown the door.


Just this morning one of his more experienced employees told me that they've tried spraying chemicals to encourage the critters to leave, but they seem to be outsmarting their efforts by moving and digging on another part of the course.  And when the effects wear out, they simply return.


Trapping apparently has not worked.  I did some digging on the internet prior to starting this thread and found a variety of short term, small area recommendations- cayenne pepper, predator urine, various oils.  There are professionals who claim results, but these likely involve lethal means at night, which would likely pose problems with some surrounding homeowners.


Nevertheless, I suggested a late night roundup with a Calcutta, 18 three-man teams, infrared and night-vision equipment, nets, baseball bats, one crossbow per team, $100 bounty/'dillo out of the maintenance budget, followed a few days after the eradication with a chili cook-off, adult beverages, country music and the awards ceremony.  Too much liability, I suppose.

David_Elvins

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #12 on: January 21, 2020, 04:29:47 PM »
,18 three-man teams, infrared and night-vision equipment, nets, baseball bats, one crossbow per team, $100 bounty/'dillo out of the maintenance budget, followed a few days after the eradication with a chili cook-off, adult beverages, country music and the awards ceremony.  Too much liability, I suppose.


Enough with the Mexican jokes.  ;D
Ask not what GolfClubAtlas can do for you; ask what you can do for GolfClubAtlas.

David Wuthrich

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #13 on: January 21, 2020, 05:03:17 PM »
Lou,
I'm sure I can get a three man team from Houston to play in your event.  We have some pretty good shooters down here! ;D

Pete_Pittock

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #14 on: January 21, 2020, 08:49:17 PM »
import coyotes, a natural enemy

Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #15 on: January 22, 2020, 11:44:35 AM »
David,


I was once invited to a pig hunt near Houston.  The only provisal was that only handguns and knives would be allowed.  Dogs and night vision equipment provided.  I passed.


Pete,


We have an abundance of coyotes and some bobcats on and around the course.  The former seem to take a special delight in reminding us of their presence by leaving deposits on tees and cart paths.  I've seen as many as five coyotes at one time frolicking but a couple hundred yards ahead in the rough.  They pretty much have wiped-out the rabbit population on the course.  Perhaps they have formed a non-aggression pact with the armadillos.  The coyotes probably have plentiful easier prey- cracking the shells and getting splinters between their teeth are probably too much bother.

MClutterbuck

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #16 on: January 22, 2020, 12:19:53 PM »
Ranches in Argentina spray Thiram or Pepper based products to avoid armadillos from eating into their grain silobags.

Marty Bonnar

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #17 on: January 22, 2020, 02:27:07 PM »
The White River runs dark through the heart of the Town,
Washed the people coal-black from the hole in the ground.

Don Mahaffey

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #18 on: January 23, 2020, 08:12:34 AM »
There are some very inexpensive insecticides like Acephate that will knock back the grubs, termites, and ants the dillos feed on. Chances are some of the damage you are seeing (more than you think I'd wager) is coming from Skunks as well.


For whatever reason, some years are worse than others and it seems no matter what you do the critters are there. Lou, you've been to WP so I'm sure its not a surprise to you that we dealt with this on an almost daily basis.


I put a $5 bounty on them and my guys caught hundreds without the use of firearms. They sort of played soccer with them until the ball didn't move anymore. They can have up to 8 babies. so like rabbits, once out of control, watch out.


And...get off the mower, tamp it down, and damage isn't really all that terrible.

Lou_Duran

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re: Suggestions on ridding a golf course of armadillos
« Reply #19 on: January 23, 2020, 03:42:52 PM »
Thanks Don.  I have asked if skunks are part of the problem and the maintenance guys say it is armadillos.  For what it's worth, I did see a skunk walking in the natives about a month ago, and a few months back, a young armadillo was farting around by one of the tees during the middle of the morning without caring about our presence.  Both were firsts in my nearly 10 years at the club.


We had considerable new damage again last night after a heavy day of rain.  They seem to concentrate on the high points of the fairways.  The damage is manageable during the growing season, but after many months and a lot of rain, the fairways are looking bad and playing worse.


I've mentioned a bounty program, but I get the impression that they're just waiting things out until it is time again to spray for grubs.  He has been mowing and removing straw after each rain, but there is nothing left under the heavily dug areas.  I'm sure that he'll do a large tine aeration mid-spring and perhaps sand some of the worse areas.  My guess it that we'll have good fairways again by June/July if the weather stays warm.  I suspect that most members roll the ball anyways- an unwritten rule appears to be that if the carts are on the paths, it is lift, clean and place.  And under the new rules, you can always drop from an animal hole anyways.


I wish you were running our club.  At the same time, I wouldn't wish it on you. 

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