Hunting Rabbits (edit, Hares) in the Snow?

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dand883

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The normal course that my hunting year usually runs is early season birds, then deer, then if i'm lucky a few rabbits (snowshoe hare) in between them turning white and it snowing, but this year i keep wanting to get out even though they are all probably near impossible to see and wanted to know if anyone had any success finding them in the snow?
My normal routine is walk through swampy/alders/small pines and look for white things in a green/brown landscape, and even then it's not as easy as it looks, so if anyone had some tips to successfully finding them in the snow it would be great to get out a few more times before the season ends.
 
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Look for movement. Eyes and nose remain dark as do ear tips...and even a white rabbit casts a shadow.
Sillouetted against distant grey/brown/ green trees they stand out so a low veiwing angle helps....as does a friend with a good sniffer (dog)

Cotton tails don't change colors in winter either. Only snowshoe HARES do, which technically aren't rabbits
 
Hates, not rabbits here. I was recently corrected using improper terminology as well.

Like ciphery said, watch for movement, I keep my eyes peeled without really focusing on anything, and can quickly pickup movement. Find a good spot and push around it with a few friends. I've gotten a couple so far this year. Prefer the 22, Find it cleaner than blasting with a shotgun. If your in the moncton area, shoot me a pm and maybe we can try and plan a morning.
 
ciphery said:
Look for movement. Eyes and nose remain dark as do ear tips...and even a white rabbit casts a shadow.
Sillouetted against distant grey/brown/ green trees they stand out so a low veiwing angle helps....as does a friend with a good sniffer (dog)

Cotton tails don't change colors in winter either. Only snowshoe HARES do, which technically aren't rabbits
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I guess i should clarify, locally in NB we only have "varying hare", which would be snowshoe hare, but we call them rabbits.

I would love a friend with a good sniffer to take out, but i've been told by the higher power that it's not happening.

Do they change where they frequent with the snow, or are the same alder/pine/brushy areas still the place to be?
 
gallen270 said:
Hates, not rabbits here. I was recently corrected using improper terminology as well.

Like ciphery said, watch for movement, I keep my eyes peeled without really focusing on anything, and can quickly pickup movement. Find a good spot and push around it with a few friends. I've gotten a couple so far this year. Prefer the 22, Find it cleaner than blasting with a shotgun. If your in the moncton area, shoot me a pm and maybe we can try and plan a morning.
Click to expand...

I'm a little too far for a quick morning hunt, thanks for the offer though.

I have mostly been using my old single shot 20ga. It seems to be what i pick up any time there's a chance or crashing through trees and such and just try to aim a little farther forward for the head.
 
Well, I am a hell of a long ways away from you so I know nothing of snowshoe hare habitat in your area, but having murdered over 70 of them so far this season (mostly in snow) I can offer a bit of advice.

1. If there are tracks, there are hares. Just keep working those same areas, because some days you see none, and some days they seem to be everywhere.

2. Walk slowly 5 steps. Stop. Look around, everywhere - even behind you. Crouch down. Look more. Repeat.

3. Have an image of a snowshoe hare in your mind's eye.

4. Look at the bases of trees, near logs or brush piles, etc.

5. Work "border areas" where swaths of small coniferous trees border deciduous stands.

6. If there is lots of predator sign, move on to a new area. The hares will be on high alert. The best areas have stupid, lazy hares.

I use a .22WMR, which allows me to take them from considerable distances. I don't get to snap-shoot them on the run, but I find it more fun to stalk the little buggers. They rarely run very far and I know their patterns well enough to short-cut them.

Best of luck. Great eating, they are!
 
Now you're talking my language!

I use my beagle now, but I used to do a lot of still-hunting with a .22 for snowshoe hares. I call them the "Little Big Game" because its like hunting for deer, but on a smaller scale. All good advice above and, yes, its that black marble eye or the brown along the ears that gives them away. They love to sit under the tents made by the bottom branches of evergreens that touch the snow. Go slow, stop a lot and look far, near and everywhere in between. I've shot them at 30 yards and at 2 yards! The other great thing is that when flushed by a person they usually don't run far. Track a flushed hare as carefully as you would a lion and you just might get a 2nd or 3rd chance.
 
Well hopefully the weather will cooperate and i will be able to get out to try finding a few in the snow, being -20 plus windchill doesn't inspire me to get outside.

Being able to see their tracks should help, because before i was just wandering around relying mostly on luck to see them, so i can at least find out for sure what areas they are in.
 
Yes. It is way more fun and interesting to hunt them in the snow. Get some snowshoes and wear the right clothing and you'll have no trouble keeping warm, even at a slow pace.

As far as tracking the flushed ones goes, all you need to know is that they usually only go between 15 and 30 yards and then they jot left or right and sit tight behind something. In my experience, in my area, they go left 8 times out of 10. I have no idea why, but I've learned to count on them going left. When they hear that you are still on their trail, they usually hop cautiously in that same direction in an effort to eventually circle back to where they came from. This is something else I have learned to count on.

Knowing all this makes it easier to "cut them off at the pass", so to speak. I usually proceed in the general direction they went for a few paces, then start veering to the left as I continue. When I play it right, they have started to circle back around to my left and we end up face to face. Even when it doesn't work out perfectly, this strategy allows me to get different views beside/behind objects. Walking straight forward, one's view of the landscape doesn't change much with respect to the hares' possible hiding spots, but walking on a diagonal allows more perspective change - a more variable view in/around trees, logs, etc. Often this sideways movement is all that is needed to reveal them. I use this technique even when I am standing still; moving my torso from side-to-side, up and down, to change the position of my head and hence my perspective. So many times this has been just enough for me to spot an ear, an eye, or a shape/shadow. If I don't "head them off at the pass" or notice them hiding somewhere as I walk diagonally left, then I either see them bolt again or they are sitting right beside me, hiding "in plain sight".

The thing to keep in mind during this whole game is "always be looking for other hares". Just because you saw one hop behind that tree 20 yards away doesn't mean that is the only hare in the area. Also, if you shoot one 30 yards away keep hunting while you are on your way to pick him up. I can't count how many times I have shot a second one on the way to collect a dead one.

Still, remember that there are good days, average days and bad days. If you get skunked 3 or 4 times in an area, go back 3 or 4 more times.
 
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BTW, best of luck to you, and please keep posting about your hare hunting trips.

We are few and far between, us hare hunters, so I am always excited to hear/see about others enjoying it.
 
Hahahaa. I've had the same thought a few times. I need to find some insulated latex gloves for those times.

Here are a few shots of my harey adventures over the past couple of seasons:

A good day:
almost_limit.jpg


August bag limit:
august_limit.jpg


My daughter's first hare kill:
first_hare.jpg


A couple of winter bag limits:

limit-1.jpg

limit-2.jpg


My daughter skinning one:
skinning_hare.jpg


A nice big hare:
big_hare.jpg


Meat:
meat.jpg


Pie:
pie.jpg
 
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When I lived in Alberta I used to love hunting hares (jackrabbits) in the winter. I used 22 shorts in a Remington Speedmaster semi with the superb iron sights they come with. The shorts were great, plenty of bullet for a rabbit but much less noise that a 22 LR ; tended not to scare away all the jackrabbits for miles.

I miss it. Mmmm Jack stew.
 
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Dan, this was one of those rare years where they were white and the woods weren't. Up until the 27th down here in Moncton was about the best time to chase them. To use an old Cape Breton expression, they stode out like Cauliflowers in the Coal Bin.
 
i think i will have to add this to my list of things to hunt and eat. Sounds like great time. I will have to scout the woods behind my house.
 
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