Question for the snowshoe hare and rabbit hunters.

Butcherbill

Butcherbill

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Finally having some luck getting on the snowshoe hare in an area locally and I was curious what others are doing to carry their rabbits after you shoot them. I don’t have much room in my pack as I carry more of a day pack, so I ended up carrying it in my one hand while I was snowshoeing around. I got one each day so it worked but I’d like to have a better way, if I had come across more I wouldn’t have my .22 in my hands and ready to shoot.

So what do you guys do when you have multiple rabbits to carry around, was thinking of grabbing one of my wife’s cloth shopping bags. It would be quieter and not shiny compared to a plastic bag. I have a jacket with a game pocket in the back but it’s been +10 to +15 and way too warm to wear a jacket, plus the one I head shot bled for awhile. I guess I could bring a bigger pack but that defeats the purpose of a day pack for me, I like to travel lighter if I can and my pack has everything I need in it for anything I hunt.
 
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Like any game animal that is going to be eaten, clean it as soon as possible after killing. Doesn't take long for small game, and much less to tote around with you, also.
Then I just pack it in a plastic grocery bag lined canvas packsack.
 
I only hunt snowshoes earlier in winter, as around here they taste bad late season. So the crows are not yet back from migration, and the temps are always below freezing. I field dress at the kill site, skin on, then hang them (at the kill site) using string with noose, head down to bleed out, on a conifer tree branch, out of the sun, out of sight and out of reach of predators. At end of the hunt, I retrace my path and collect the hares, each wrapped in paper towel and in a plastic bag, packed out in a small backpack. This avoids lugging them around until the walk back. Fishers are primarily nocturnal, and I have never had any issues with predation prior to my walk back.
 
Buck_Up said:
I only hunt snowshoes earlier in winter, as around here they taste bad late season. So the crows are not yet back from migration, and the temps are always below freezing. I field dress at the kill site, skin on, then hang them (at the kill site) using string with noose, head down to bleed out, on a conifer tree branch, out of the sun, out of sight and out of reach of predators. At end of the hunt, I retrace my path and collect the hares, each wrapped in paper towel and in a plastic bag, packed out in a small backpack. This avoids lugging them around until the walk back. Fishers are primarily nocturnal, and I have never had any issues with predation prior to my walk back.
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Canada Jays (Whiskeyjacks) will make short work of them, if left unattended.
 
Blood-proof shoulder bags, with a wide comfortable strap... I bring two bags, once there are two in a bag, I usually hang it on a branch for the return trip... hares often bleed alot, especially if you are using a .22 rather than a shotgun... I don't like carrying them in a vest.
 
I bought a game strap at CT this year, its a neoprene strap with 4 little straps with rings on each end. The little straps make nice little nooses to go around the critters neck and you can wear it over your shoulder or just carry it in your hand. Works great on squirrels, haven't tried in on rabbits yet.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, will give me something to think about. I do have a set of web gear with shoulder straps attached to a belt with a couple pouches I could use, or I might be able to reconfigure my pack to free up some room.

trebor2880 said:
Canada Jays (Whiskeyjacks) will make short work of them, if left unattended.
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Yeah we have whiskeyjacks and ravens up where I am so I would have to hang them in a sac if I was going to do it.

hoytcanon said:
Blood-proof shoulder bags, with a wide comfortable strap... I bring two bags, once there are two in a bag, I usually hang it on a branch for the return trip... hares often bleed alot, especially if you are using a .22 rather than a shotgun... I don't like carrying them in a vest.
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I’l Have to look for something like that, sounds about perfect. The one I headshot bled for along time, so I would prefer to not have it in my main daypack. Finally making up for my dismal grouse performance with the .22 lol.

Gillshot said:
I bought a game strap at CT this year, its a neoprene strap with 4 little straps with rings on each end. The little straps make nice little nooses to go around the critters neck and you can wear it over your shoulder or just carry it in your hand. Works great on squirrels, haven't tried in on rabbits yet.
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I’ll have to check that out as well, the one I got yesterday was neck shot and didn’t bleed much. If I had got more than one I thought about making a sling with some paracord I have in my pack.
 
I normally carry one by the feet until I get another. Then I stop and field dress both of them, then bag them and put them in my pack. One place we hunt we parallel the road for a long ways, there when we get one we walk the 50 or 100 yards to the road then bury them in the snow so the ravens don’t find em. Drive through on the way in, work the downhill side of the road one way, then the uphill side, pick up the carcasses on the drive out, stop at a pull out and dress em all.
 
As a kid on the farm, when hunting the back 40 (not a long hike through the swamp and woods), just used some twine around the back legs and looped on my my belt, so that they hung from my hip, two or three per side, and cleaned them when I got back to the house. Since it was usually colder and with snow on the ground, would just rub snow on the fur to clean it of blood and would stay pretty clean.
 
We all wear game vests down here, anyone that hunts small game seriously.
I don’t even understand how this is a question.
The game straps are a joke, bring one of those out to get a laugh.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
We all wear game vests down here, anyone that hunts small game seriously.
I don’t even understand how this is a question.
The game straps are a joke, bring one of those out to get a laugh.
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What don’t you understand? I’m wearing a pack so a game vest isn’t all the usable in my situation, southern Ontario is a lot different than the mountains of BC where I hunt snowshoe hare.
 
BlackRam said:
As a kid on the farm, when hunting the back 40 (not a long hike through the swamp and woods), just used some twine around the back legs and looped on my my belt, so that they hung from my hip, two or three per side, and cleaned them when I got back to the house. Since it was usually colder and with snow on the ground, would just rub snow on the fur to clean it of blood and would stay pretty clean.
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Exactly what I do.
 
trebor2880 said:
Canada Jays (Whiskeyjacks) will make short work of them, if left unattended.
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I don't think even whiskey jacks will touch a late-season snowshoe hare.

Back when my kids were young, we had one of those years when there was a late November thaw. The rabbits had turned white, but the snow was gone, and it was a year when they were plentiful. We got around 20 one day. I cleaned them all. For the next week, I couldn't get rid of the stink (it may have been psychological) no matter how often I washed, changed or showered. It was years before I could eat another rabbit.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
We all wear game vests down here, anyone that hunts small game seriously.
I don’t even understand how this is a question.
The game straps are a joke, bring one of those out to get a laugh.
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Yeah... you are shooting little itty bitty cottontails, that would be the day I walk around with half a dozen bloody snowshoe hares in my vest... the vest is for upland birds, the blood proof shoulder bags are for squirrels and hares.
 
We shoot Jack Rabbits, Cottontails, Pheasant, Grouse, Woodcock, Squirrel. They all go in the game vest.
I do carry Snowshoe hare in my vest as well.
I’ve never even heard of a shoulder bag for game, and I wouldn’t be using one with a shotgun in hand while trying to maneuver through thickets.
The vest is what I use and highly recommend to all small game hunters. They do make them for rabbit hunters as well, check out Okie Dog supply and there clothing line MULE.
We don’t use the game straps because they are hard to walk with animals banging off your leg and the dogs will chew at the game.
The shoulder bags, never heard of them, sounds like a purse.
 
Mount Sweetness said:
We shoot Jack Rabbits, Cottontails, Pheasant, Grouse, Woodcock, Squirrel. They all go in the game vest.
I do carry Snowshoe hare in my vest as well.
I’ve never even heard of a shoulder bag for game, and I wouldn’t be using one with a shotgun in hand while trying to maneuver through thickets.
The vest is what I use and highly recommend to all small game hunters. They do make them for rabbit hunters as well, check out Okie Dog supply and there clothing line MULE.
We don’t use the game straps because they are hard to walk with animals banging off your leg and the dogs will chew at the game.
The shoulder bags, never heard of them, sounds like a purse.
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The blood proof shoulder bags rotate behind your back and allow you to weave through thick brush, and then to stash the bag when it gets heavy for pick up later... I have been using them for 40+ years... I carry the bags in my vest until needed... I use game straps for ducks when hunting out of a blind, pending transport to the boat, but for upland game they are a pain, and for rabbits and hares you will just get soaked in blood and banged up... you want to call them a "Bunny Purse" that is fine with me... they are undoubtedly the best option for hauling hares... maybe you don't shoot half a dozen hares on an outing down there? No way you are comfortably lugging around half a dozen hares or jacks in a vest.
 
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