catch and release

Yesterday I inadvertently cornered a small groundhog in the compost bins. He made the mistake of running into the center one when he was scurrying downhill across the yard away from me. I stood back and watched as he tried to get through the fencing on the three sides that were fenced, then got brave enough to come back out and run around the end of the bins and down the hill.

Then I set a trap for him at his hole and put some nice lettuce inside.

This morning the trap was empty.

This afternoon when we got home there was a disconsolate groundhog in the trap standing on shreds of lettuce. I carried him down to the driveway and when I set him down he emptied his bladder. Thank the gods he decided to do that on the driveway and not in the car. We took him across town and released him in some trees right near the edge of a field. Once he realized the door was open he was out like a shot, bounding downslope and into the nearest cover.

I hope he does well for himself, well away from anything I'm trying to grow.