Okay, the obvious answer is there was a pull-out, but the mystery to me is that the DP was still standing upright in the ground. The trap had been triggered and there is a nice chunk of fur still in the trap as you can see in the images below, but the trap had not been pulled out of the ground. I would have expected an animal caught well enough to tear out that chunk of fur would have at least needed to pull the DP out of the ground in the process of freeing itself from the trap.

Or maybe this is normal. This is my first season of trapping, after all. I'm curious what you think.

Squirrel and something ate it

I had been thinking maybe a mouse, as I already caught a mouse in a DP earlier this season, but a squirrel would make sense, too.

But then, if some critter came along and pulled the mouse/squirrel out of the DP, I would still have expected them to pull the DP out of the ground in the process.

Thats what it looks like to me also

How hard is ur ground frozen

Looks like squirrel fur to me too

It was warmer today but it was below freezing through yesterday. The ground around this trap is a bit firm but I had no trouble pulling the trap out with my hand.

Could have been a hawk or an owl ate your baby without upsetting the trap.

Weasel stole your squirrel.

Looks like mouse fur to me. I'd say a bird probably ate it.

I see rabbit fur but never heard of a rabbit getting in a DP

Mouse/rat/squirrel makes more sense

We caught our bait thief a couple days ago. A mouse like this wouldn’t last too long laying here, free snack for any predator walking or flying.

Yeah, I've caught a couple of mice this season too. It's too bad that I don't have coyote permissions; these would make great coyote bait.