Snowshoe Hare Hunting Techniques
FINDING HARE HABITAT: The first step to hunting snowshoe hares is to locate a place where hares live. Hares can unusually be found at high elevations in groves of spruce trees, cedar swamps, or any place that has thick low level confer trees. Finding places such as this can be tedious and difficult, since they may be far between. What we suggest is using “Google Maps” online to find these types of areas. Not only can you find swamps and dark groves of confer trees, but you can also identify areas of State land by using the basic map. We use this frequently to locate hunting areas where we have never been. (Note) Even with the perfect habitat, snowshoes still may not be present, so we suggest hunting them in the snow to see tracks. Apart from this, hunting in the winter allows the hunter to see the hares more easily since the tree cover is minimal.
CHASING HARES: After placing your dogs in a prime hare area, they should be able to find the hares in the densest areas. Hares typically run large loops attempting to out run the dogs rather than fool them on the track or hole up. This makes for a great chase. As long as your dogs are fast enough to keep the hares on the run, your dogs should have no problem bringing them around. We frequently chase hares over a half mile away, so don’t get worried if your dog gets out of hearing distance. HUNTING HARES: Occasionally, hares will not run to the place they were jumped, so you may have to adjust where you wait. Hares are also very sensitive to movement and noise. Therefore, you need to stay as quiet and hidden as possible. When hunting with other people, communication is critical. Since the hares’ circles can be so large, we recommend that your hunting partners all have walky-talkies to have a more coordinated attack. |
Links for Snowshoe HuntingBeagle Boys' Tips |