Hunting Rabbits (edit, Hares) in the Snow?

Mad-Don said:
Hares smares rabbits when I'm hunting our big JACKS here I just look for lumps out in middle of field or in the ditches along untravelled roads. Sneaky boogers will hide anywhere just have to whistle loudly when they're running and they will stop for a picture???
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I remember this scenario many times on grassy or semi arid Southern Saskatchewan. They get right to the edge of their home territory and give that one last look back while standing still, to see what the danger is. This is when they most often received a 222 Remington bullet to the head from my 788.
 
Whish I could share the fun. Unfortunatly we have 60acres and its backed by 500 and bordered by 50 and 100. We are good friends to our neighbours and they don't mind us hunting their property....but there isn't a bloody track or trail from any animal on the properties.....except the ocasional vole tunnel in the snow. The bloody coyotes ate every deer,turkey, partridge and rabbit there was...then they too left for better hunting grounds. I can't belive it. I thought wild animals only took what they needed to survive and didn't hunt to extinction. What a lie we have been led to belive. Sad thing is that our MNU only allows 1 wolf OR coyote to be taken per year and only IF you get a tag.
 
I lived in Petawawa for a few years. Found it a bit easier to find huntable ruffed grouse versus hares. Just too many wolves hanging about IMO. And this was 1988. The very last year of the Ontario wolf bounty program. I know this because I got a cheque from the township office clerk for $35 and it was recorded on their books.
 
Hello ironsighter - Enjoyed reading this thread. It's been a number of years and you've come a long way since you started. :) Glad to see that you are getting out there. Do you chase birds too?

Regards,
 
Brutus said:
I lived in Petawawa for a few years. Found it a bit easier to find huntable ruffed grouse versus hares. Just too many wolves hanging about IMO. And this was 1988. The very last year of the Ontario wolf bounty program. I know this because I got a cheque from the township office clerk for $35 and it was recorded on their books.
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Brutus. This is just too wierd. That's 2 places that we have both lived (Cold Lake and Petawawa). Weirder yet, I was in Petawawa from '85 to '89. Although I didn't do any hunting there. Too busy chasing girls.
 
Ahsan Ahmed said:
Hello ironsighter - Enjoyed reading this thread. It's been a number of years and you've come a long way since you started. :) Glad to see that you are getting out there. Do you chase birds too?

Regards,
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Ahsan! Hello!

Yes, I chase birds as well. Plenty of grouse in my area. I take them whenever I can throughout the fall when I am out looking for larger game.

(if anyone is wondering, Ahsan gave me plenty of advice and sold me some equipment when I got started hunting back in Ontario)

All the best to you, Ahsan.
 
FLHTCUI said:
I stumbled across this method of gutting those waskally wabbits and thought about starting a thread .
But, them thought what the hell maybe of some use to those that hunt rabbits.
Thoughts on this method?

http://www.sportingshootermag.com.au/news/video-how-to-gut-rabbits-the-easy-way
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I saw that video a while ago and so I tried it on snowshoe hares.

Long story short, don't bother doing this unless you like sh!t all over your hares, hands, boots, and whatever else is nearby. Once was enough for me.

Genetics create anatomical differences which produce different results from one species to the next... apparently. [barf]
 
That's interesting Flhtcui but my instinct tells me this gentleman is using a true rabbit species for this trick.

Snowshoehares and jackrabbits more often found in much colder Canada do not give up so easily.

I think this would probably work just fine with the Nutall's (American cottontail) which is sometimes found in southern parts of Canada or the swamp rabbit found only in the American states.

My opinion only sir.

Cheers....
 
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Well ironsighter, i never said it was going to work ,lol, but thought I would pass it along .
I came back to add that one will still have to remove the lungs etc when they got home ...
Anyways, thanks for the update and good story ... Freezer Filler the pie looks delicious...do have kids and did you explain the rabbit(hare) picture on the crust?
Rob
 
FLHTCUI said:
Well ironsighter, i never said it was going to work ,lol, but thought I would pass it along .
I came back to add that one will still have to remove the lungs etc when they got home ...
Anyways, thanks for the update and good story ... Freezer Filler the pie looks delicious...do have kids and did you explain the rabbit(hare) picture on the crust?
Rob
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LOL

Yes, I have two daughters. They and their mother are all aware where the meat comes from. One of my daughters even joins me...

(photos from a few pages back)

My daughter's first hare kill:
first_hare.jpg


My daughter skinning one:
skinning_hare.jpg
 
Digging up bones here today. Rabbit (or hare) bones to be exact!

Now that deer season is over it got me back to thinking about getting out for a walk this weekend. I'm hoping the snow stays away for a bit, last year we had snow pretty well before they turned white, so it was a bad year for it.

So far it's been mild enough that any of the white stuff that has come hasn't stayed, so I'm hoping for good luck this weekend. Has anyone else made the switch yet from big game to rabbits yet this season?
 
Out here in my area of BC the numbers are way down this year, from what I have seen. I noticed this down-cycle starting last year, but this year it just plummeted. Places where I used to see ridiculous amounts of hares, I haven't seen many at all. I think I only counted 2 hares throughout the entire fall season that I saw along FSRs while hunting deer, moose, bear, grouse, etc. Normally in the mornings and evenings I would see all kinds of them.

It'll be interesting to see what my usual winter spots are like. I'm not worried, though, as it was a great year for deer and bear at our house. :)
 
ironsighter said:
Out here in my area of BC the numbers are way down this year, from what I have seen. I noticed this down-cycle starting last year, but this year it just plummeted. Places where I used to see ridiculous amounts of hares, I haven't seen many at all. I think I only counted 2 hares throughout the entire fall season that I saw along FSRs while hunting deer, moose, bear, grouse, etc. Normally in the mornings and evenings I would see all kinds of them.

It'll be interesting to see what my usual winter spots are like. I'm not worried, though, as it was a great year for deer and bear at our house. :)
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This year has been a great year for grouse numbers around here. I'm not sure if it has any impact/correlation to hares, but I would think that they would both do well under similar weather conditions. Our last winter was pretty mild, even the deer did well.
 
dand883 said:
This year has been a great year for grouse numbers around here. I'm not sure if it has any impact/correlation to hares, but I would think that they would both do well under similar weather conditions. Our last winter was pretty mild, even the deer did well.
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The mild weather should have helped populations but I have only seen 1 rabbit since September, but a lot of foxes and coyotes in king's and southern queen's county.
 
dand883 said:
This year has been a great year for grouse numbers around here. I'm not sure if it has any impact/correlation to hares, but I would think that they would both do well under similar weather conditions. Our last winter was pretty mild, even the deer did well.
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Grouse were plentiful out here this year, too (as they always seem to be). I don't think the two are correlated. The hare population cycles are driven by predator numbers (which also go in cycles). There are going to be a lot of bobcat and lynx that will starve this winter, from what I can tell. Within a year or two the hare population will rebound and continue to increase over a few years, then the predators will rebound and have some good years - which will cause another hare population crash, etc. They say it is a 7-10 year cycle (from what I have read).

I'm going to hit my regular spots this weekend and verify my evaluation. During the good times (2-4 years ago) these are spots that I could easily get from 7 to 10 hares in a few hours. Last year I was lucky to get 3 or 4 in the same amount of time. I suspect this year they will be few and far between.
 
Jim870 said:
The mild weather should have helped populations but I have only seen 1 rabbit since September, but a lot of foxes and coyotes in king's and southern queen's county.
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Yep. Predators. Out here its lynx and bobcat. Same thing. It's all a cycle.
 
Jim870 said:
The mild weather should have helped populations but I have only seen 1 rabbit since September, but a lot of foxes and coyotes in king's and southern queen's county.
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I've got one trail camera that I haven't seen a deer on all summer, but I've had tons of pictures of rabbits. There's either a rabbit highway right in front of it, or one rabbit travels back and forth an awful lot in that same spot.
 
I had a nice snowshoe in my sights at 15 feet away on Sunday...an easy no questions asked kill I thought then Pft.....My single shot Little badger was clogged with the bullet half way down my barrel, not sure what happened besides bullet dud and bad luck. The way deer season went im not surprised with my luck. I may get out again next weekend to see if his luck has ran out and mine is back to normal. I have a feeling there is no predators around so they are a bit lazy and not too skidish. now if the city would allow me to take rabbits in my back yard I could likely start a business lol. I literately have 5 to 10 in my yard nightly. little buggers ate my ceder saplings last year (since replanted). I have plans for them this year, let me tell you ;) I wont be replanting a second time.
 
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