Who dug these holes in my pasture?

[Stan R]

I have some similar and told they were wabbits? No idea

[Hills of Texas]

Are there no tracks in all that dirt?

[Triple 7]

armadillo with a sore right foot

[walker1983]

I have some prairie dogs on my place. They do alot of digging that looks like that

[Ætheling]

Turtles

[ThisLadyHunts]

I have a hole very similar to that on my property. It is in the middle of a 25 acre open field. Curious as well.

Same here. There are about seven of these holes, all on rises in an open pasture. If they're badgers, I'd hate to eradicate them as they're useful for controlling rodents and, in particular, they like to eat snakes. That said, their holes appear to be deep and cavernous and, in my opinion, would pose a problem for any cow who steps in/on it, particularly after it's abandoned.

Anyway, I've learned more now about badgers from various TPW online sources than I ever cared to know, I just need to find out who made these holes. Think I'll take the advice of another on this post who recommended mounting a game cam on a steak and observing.

[ThisLadyHunts]

Are there no tracks in all that dirt?

No tracks observed but we've experienced several episodes of light rain in our area which makes observation difficult, particularly in sandy terrain. However, the gentleman who lives on the place took some pics of the mounds yesterday and noticed coyote tracks, but these appeared to be "stalking" and/or "pacing" tracks rather than ingress/egress.

[ByronB]

Game cam and a concrete stake.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This^^^^^. You find out very quickly what animal dug that hole with a game camera placed there. Let us know what you find.

[Hills of Texas]

Coyotes love fresh dug earth, so track checking it out are no surprise. Badgers will often dig a new hole every few nights. They will move around a lot. I’d bet, this time of year its coyotes denning up with young. The holes looks tall and kinda narrow.

[justletmein]

I'm of no actual use but I'll guess Coyote because I have a dog that digs similar looking style. Definitely slap a game cam on it.

[doghouse]

Red Fox would be my guess.

[60 Deluxe]

We have badgers on our place and have been seeing this type of hole since the badgers showed up. The hole is perhaps eight to ten inches wide and slopes down at perhaps a forty-five degree angle. I have several spots with these holes around the place. Often there will be about eight to twelve holes in a forty or fifty foot area. We also have ground squirrels on the east side of the place. Their holes do not slope the same and are not as large. I had a game cam set up on a cluster of holes just east of the house. I didn't get any pictures in a week so pulled the camera. It is easy to tell if the holes are being used as the unused ones will have twigs and grass blown in that is visible. The active holes are kept clean and often have damp earth just inside the hole or on the surface outside the hole.

[Hogmauler]

Cherry bomb or smoke him out

[RifleBowPistol]

Probably coyote, they should have pups that are just about ready to leave the den on their own.

I have found one coyote den years ago, I put up a camera on it and got some very interesting pictures. Took many years to find the den, but I finally found it. I was surprised how many adult coyotes, were hanging around the den, that spring. Never actually got pictures of the pups. There would be four to five adults around the entrance, the times, they triggered the camera. That den had two or three entrances, within a ten ft. area.

[wytex]

Badgers have a rounder hole and don't throw the dirt quite as far, they mound it by the opening. That looks like coyote to me also with the elongated hole.
Armadillos also have a more round hole.