They are active all day here, more after dark, but still a lot of them out during the day. We are also littered with ground squirrels and most badger holes are not to deep. It seems they don't have to put a lot of effort into their dig, no quick lunch move to the next hole. And that is where we usually catch them. Last year there was a tournament that I believe had 12 two man teams, it was 7am until 3pm one day,I believe 53 badgers were taken and dogs of any kind were NOT allowed. So with these numbers without dogs you can only imagine the numbers that could be taken with dogs.