Today started off fairly slowly, and then at 1:30, I had a prairie dog pop his head and then body out of a burrow right below my tower. I was afraid to move to much, for fear of scaring him. He looked around, and stared directly at me a few times. I was so excited, especially since I had had no dogs at my tower yesterday. As soon as he went down, I set a trap to catch him....
I started a surround, which is exactly what it sounds like. For this particular surround, I had four traps side-by-side (open at just one end) and directly across from the opening of the burrow. The remaining traps were kept closed, and used as blockers for the would-be escapee. These are stacked two high to discourage jumping/climbing over. Apparently this does happen to some extent, as John told us that last year, one dog had to be trapped nine times before he was actually caught, as he kept climbing the traps.
As soon as the surround is completed, the closest burrows are plugged with orange cones to discourage escapes out another entrance. This doesn't always work either, as the dogs are completely resourceful, and will gnaw through cones if necessary. With the stage set, I was ready to go...
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