# Snowshoe Hares?



## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Hey guys, I've decided to make it a goal this year to bag a few snowshoe hares. I've killed plenty of cottontails and jacks in my day but never a snowshoe! I've seen their tracks in the thick pines in the winter, but I've never actually seen a live one on the ground. My plan is to wait for a sunny morning after a storm and try to track them in the fresh snow, hopefully catching them sunning out in the open. I've got a scoped .22 that I set up with hunting snowshoes in mind, I'm planning to glass ahead of me and try to catch them sitting. Anybody have any advice on hunting them or stories that they want to share?


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## InvaderZim (Sep 7, 2007)

Leave the .22 at home. Bring a small, swingable, shotgun if possible.

You've almost got the right idea. Wait until a good snow, head out the next morning and track 'em. You'll likely be in the thick stuff...pines and blowdowns...close cover, not the best place for the .22.

You'll will most likely fush them up underfoot (harder to see than you might think) and then just make your shots count and be safe.

Like most forms of cavy, they are nocturnal (by and large) so they aren't usually out during the day, and **** sure not in the open.

Good luck and have fun.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

While I never hunted snowshoes while I lived in Utah I have hunted them a lot here in Colorado. As was said expect to find them in the thick stuff or right on the edge of it. Look for their eyes when they are sitting still. Little black dots where they don't belong. I have never had a problem taking them with my .22. It just takes a little time and energy to figure out what you are doing.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Thanks for the advice guys, now all we need is some good tracking snow!


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## yfzduner450 (Dec 28, 2009)

Not to hi-jack the thread but i've seen more snowshoe hares this year then ever before. I've never really put time into looking for them but this year for some reason i've noticed quite a few.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Good luck Pumpgunner! I havent ever hunted snow shoes, but every time I kick one up they surprise me by how big they are. Its like a small dog!


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Bax, you might be shooting the "other" hare we have in Utah. I think they are the White Tail hare. They are really big and live generally at lower elevations and in more open country. The little "snowshoe" hare normally lives in the higher elevations in heavy cover/pines etc. Both turn white in the winter. The big White Tail is a running son-of-a-gun but the little Showshoe normally just scurries from bush to bush trying to go undetected. You can make it through a winter with a couple White Tails and a bag of rice.  
How about some of you old timers telling us about the WhiteTail group hunts of the past. I have read that during the Great Depression groups of hunters would go on organized "meat" hunts. My dad tells of bringing literally dump trucks full of them and dumping them in Liberty Park(Salt Lake City) for anyone that wanted/needed meat for their families.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Now you have me wondering BP what I see. The last one I saw was up by Smith and Morehouse while hunting with Chaser. It was pretty darn big and bright white too. I tried to get a shot off on him, but every time I saw him, he would disappear just as quickly into the underbrush. 

I dont know what the elevation is there, but I would consider it to be a bit higher.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

BPturkeys said:


> My dad tells of bringing literally dump trucks full of them and dumping them in Liberty Park(Salt Lake City) for anyone that wanted/needed meat for their families.


I've heard of this too, sad to think that if you proposed this as a solution in tough times these days people would think that you were crazy. It's funny to me that people treat jacks like vermin these days when neither the Indians or the pioneers ever would have made it without them. 
I have shot and eaten a few of the huge white jacks, they are indeed GIANT! The first one I shot and brought home my wife accused me drinking at the bar all afternoon and shooting a poodle on the way home. :twisted: 
I can't wait to go after the snowshoes, thanks again guys for the advice.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

I remember Leaky getting BBQ'ed last year for wanting to bring some whitetailed jacks home to eat. But when I was a kid, we used to eat them too.

The type of habitat you seen your rabbit in Bax will tell you if it was a snowshoe hare or a whitetailed jack rabbit. Whitetailed jacks live in the high sagebrush steppes while snowshoes prefer the thick conifer forests. I've seen whitetailed jacks as high as 8,000 ft and snowshoes as low as 5,000 ft, so the type of habitat you seen it in is more telling than the elevation.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

I have seen them while hunting pine hens in thickets of pines and brush, just assumed they were snow shoes. But they were pretty darn big!


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## Wind In His Hair (Dec 31, 2009)

My brother has a jackalope mount made from a white tailed jackrabbit I shot near Evanston. It's a big sucker, and in the white phase. 

I'd like to hunt some showshoe. I've seen quite a few in my lifetime, but never went out with the sole purpose of hunting them. I've always told myself if I saw one while grouse hunting I would shoot it, but I haven't had the opportunity. I would like to see how they taste.


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## guner (Sep 25, 2007)

ahhh Like Chicken ?! :lol:


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

A .22 handgun is my favorite for snowshoes. The 12 oz Smith & Wesson 317 aluminum revolver shown here, is a good one. The little gun is my "buddy" when I rifle hunt for deer and elk.

Here's a mature snowshoe, third week of October:


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Goob, you just disproved what I thought was a snow shoe. The ones I saw had longer ears.
Good to have this forum around. I learn new things all the time!

Ps- nice pics!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Bax* said:


> Goob, you just disproved what I thought was a snow shoe. The ones I saw had longer ears.
> Good to have this forum around. I learn new things all the time!
> 
> Ps- nice pics!


We need to go on a hike Bax**


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

wyogoob said:


> We need to go on a hike Bax**


Agreed! You really point out interesting things that I have yet to learn on my own. I would really enjoy it! (The way I was taught to hunt was to drive really slow down the road and drink a six-pack of beer until you found something. Then use the truck to prop your gun up and shoot. Drive to the dead animal and throw it in the back of the truck. Needless to say, I'm re-teaching myself).


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Bax* said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> > We need to go on a hike Bax**
> ...


Come to Evingston any weekend. Bring snow shoes, .22, pocket knife, black coffee, Chaser, and a smile.

I need help doing Pygmy Rabbit Survey.


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## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Sounds like fun! I need to buy snow shoes (probably Chaser too).

Who do you do the survey for?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Bax* said:


> Sounds like fun! I need to buy snow shoes (probably Chaser too).
> 
> Who do you do the survey for?


Naw, that's OK; no snowshoes needed for cottontails or pygmies.

I turn in sightings of plants and animals that are on a "watch list" to the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database at the University of Wyoming http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/wyndd/

.....and the WY Game and Fish........if I can find the time.


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## Wind In His Hair (Dec 31, 2009)

guner said:


> ahhh Like Chicken ?! :lol:


Yeah, but original or extra crispy? :lol:


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## Bo0YaA (Sep 29, 2008)

Wow, like Bax, I had no idea about the whitetail jack. I shot what I thought was a snowshoe hare about 20 years ago while elk hunting outside of Richfield. This thing had real long ears and huge long rear feet. In the picture I had of it I'm holding it by the ears near chest level and the feet are only hanging about 10 inches off the ground and I'm 6'3. It was a big old bunny and for all these years I thought it was a snowshoe lol. Was real good eatin I remember that.


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## 2litl2l8 (Jan 16, 2008)

Have any of you eaten black tailed jackrabbit. I have hunted them alot and they seem to have a lot of meat on them, that is compaired to other things that we spend all day hunting only to end up with 1lb of meat (doves). Anyway, I have often thought about trying to eat one and was looking for some input.


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## shwiggaman (Sep 20, 2010)

according to what iv been told about 90% of the population can eat jack rabbits but its fatal to the 10% who cant. The catch is u dont know if your allergic to it until u eat it and by then its to late. At least thats what iv been told


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