Victory! Hopefully.

I made the last entry at 2:18. Just an hour later and things have surely changed. After making the posting I was sitting in the den reading and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something run across the backyard. At first I thought it was a cat that has been running loose around here. I got up, went into the backyard, around the side of the house, and as I turned the corner I heard something in the trap trying to get out. I thought it was the cat. Nope, it was Mr. Groundhog. He was chewing on the side trying to get out. Whoopeee!! I got him!! I almost did a victory dance. I took a couple pics, then loaded him into the truck and drove a little more than a mile, over a bridge and a river, so it is more difficult for him to make an attempt to get back here. I stopped on the side of the road, put the trap on the ground and popped open one end. Out he went. He stopped, looked back, and then kept going. It is finally over. Or is it?

I get back home, go around the house where I was going to take down the stuff I used for the "channel" to guide him into the trap, and I noticed that the hole was open again. In my joy in seeing him in the trap I didn't take notice as to whether it was there before. What I don't understand is how he could have made it through the trap to dig it out, then back through the trap into the yard, and then back into the trap where I finally caught him. Is it possible that there is another groundhog that dug it out while I was relocating the first one? Oh boy. I filled in the hole again and will again do the monitoring routine. Maybe I should have tagged the relocated one in case he does make it back here.