Eureka – one less muskrat

Today – my first muskrat … caught in the trap I’d been focusing on, set on a hole to the den on the SW side of the pond.  I’d reset it yesterday, pushing it down firmly into the mud in front of that entrance.

And at noon today, when I went down to the pond, there was a muskrat caught in the trap – it’s butt sticking out of the hole.  Obviously caught as it was entering the den through that hole.

Do not know how the muskrat came to be outside of the den, as they are nocturnal.  So it was likely inside a den when I set the trap around noon yesterday.

So, either there are other holes I haven’t found yet for this den, or it was using both dens (there’s one in the NW corner, and this one in the SW side) and moving from one to the other.

Excuse me for not providing a pic.