The day started off with a call from one of my game wardens.

We have a problem:

Nine pronghorn trapped in a giant tinaja. Presumably having jumped in to drink from the pool of rainwater in the bottom, these poor critters discovered there is no way out, no matter how hard they they try.

This is not the first time this has happened. Last time it took five of us most of a day to wrestle the one buck down, hogtie him, and push him up a ladder to freedom.

That isn't going to work with nine. Not without getting somebody hurt or killed in the melee.

The good news is, they have plenty of water.

More good news is, they were found quickly, before they became weak from the absence of any forage in the deep stony pit.

The bad news is, there is no easy way to get them out. The walls are just too high, and too steep.

So most of the day was spent installing Plan A.

Tomorrow morning I will drive out and see if any of them figured out what to do with that ramp. One buck and a doe were staring at it, especially after they watched me scramble up it to the top. They may figure it out. But it is steep, and metallically noisy.

If they don't figure it out, well...

There is a Plan B. And a Plan C, for that matter.