Well, that would explain a miss my boss made back when--he looked dead on to me, but there was a heavy tuft of tough grass, and he was shooting a .410
@steve white - rarely do they return to “exactly” the same place they started - but I’ve only hunted snowshoes with Beagles 15-20 times and not the expert others might be that live with & hunt snowshoes much more often. I’ve used my beagles and often with a Guides Beagles and they run “big” compared to a cottontail - sometimes lining out for well over 1/2 mile before they turn. The strategy I’ve seen used is aided by GPS tracking collars on the dogs (because they are well out of “hearing” distance) ——- look at the direction the hare is headed and adjust your position as needed to be close to where you expect the hare to pass by. Also, if you run certain covers often - the hares may have preferred terrain, covers they use often and if you’ve hunted an area before you tend to know where they are likely to pass by. Snowshoe hare are the “big game” of rabbit hunting ie: like Elk are to Deer.
@Wyfox - Great photos and those will mean more to you as every year goes by…
@steve white - I’ve never hunted Beagles in an area where Wolves reside but have read several accounts of Beagles being killed by Wolves while running hares in the upper P in Michigan and also I think Minnesota. I also know the breeder of my Beagles in Northern Maine lost one of his beagles to a Coyote while running hare in Maine. He was Guiding men on a snowshoe hare hunt and one of the hunters shot at a coyote, the coyote just ran off and they assumed it was a “miss”. They didn’t know the coyote had been hit and hid in thick cover a few hundred yards away… A few minutes later as the beagle was running a hare, the beagle came close to where the coyote took cover and as it passed the coyote jumped out and got a few “bites” into the beagle before the coyote ran off. The Beagle had deep cuts to it’s neck and bled out before they could get the dog to a vet—— a very rare type of attack.
Thank you, but I meant land leeches which get under the rabbit's skin. Ugly things. Where I was raised everybody called them wolves, don't know why.
We used to run into rabbits and squirrels with wolves, actually bot fly larvae if I remember correctly. We would rarely hunt them until after a couple of freezes and that seemed to help but you would occasionally find a scar on a rabbit or squirrel where they had one in the past.
And as others have mentioned, loss of habitat. We grew up hunting the same farms my dad trapped since he was in the 3rd grade. All but one of those farms is now a development.
@Tubby, that’s a very generous offer and although most members are likely only “traveling” for Big Game hunts —- good rabbit or Hare hunting is worth-a-trip and especially if you’re a rabbit hunter. I moved 7 years ago and looked for a home on property that contained a good rabbit populations —— found many 25 - 100 acres with decent home and good Deer hunting but ZERO that had a huntable rabbit population. I now have a house on 50 acres surrounded by another 600+ acres of woods and some marsh, plenty of deer, some bear, turkey but almost No rabbits.
@dgr416 - Snowshoe Hares Never get to 10lb - ——.4lbs would be a big one and 5 lbs would be a “trophy”. I would think the Hares you saw in Alaska are Arctic Hares (larger than snowshoes). When I hunted Spring griz in Alaska (200 miles WNW of Anchorage) I saw hare tracks many times but never saw a hare. I would’ve liked to have taken some of those big hares
They were huge in delta junction I had to get 22 cci stingers to kill them with one shot .I tried 22 lr hp would take 3 shots in lungs they were super tough .I use to parboil them then smoke them and they were yummy out of that pasture .The ones in the timber tasted like turpintine I left them alone .
@Est.1970 - while I’ve used a 12ga it is certainly not needed and I prefer 20ga or 16 ga. Regarding choke - NONE, for every rabbit I’ve shot over 20 yards I’ve killed 10 under 15 yrds. A cylinder or skeet choke w/7 1/2 shot kills cottontails out to 25-30 yrds, I used the same chokes for snowshoe hares but switch to #6 shot size. Putting too much thought into choke & shot size for rabbits is unnecessary but sometimes hunters can’t help it. Whatever you are comfortable with, confident with - use it. What is more important is gun “fit” because most shots at rabbits require a quick gun mount and fast shot - they are usually in thick cover, if Not using dogs they jump out unexpectedly from underfoot…have a shotgun that “fits” and shoots where you look. Any gauge works - any shot size works - high brass loads are Never needed but “Blast away” if you like…. Have fun - they are a Great small game animal to hunt a excellent table fare.
I’ve got very little experience shooting them with a 12 never had a lot of use for one out side of migratory birds and gave that up when I particularly tore my trapezoid at work. What little I did use a 12 was a Remington spartan / c.i.l. 402 basically a Brazilian single shot as for choke it had been ruptured when I got it so I chop sawed it off at 19 inches.
6 shot, 2-3/4”, improved cylinder
