Hunting Hares - I Need Lessons

[Smokepole]

Not sure what I did wrong.  I busted my hump and bucked the snow.  Saw tracks all over the place, but no hares.  It was a great day outside, but if somebody wants to throw a few tips my way, I'm all ears!

[wadu1]

Smokepole, You don't look like a Lab guy but more of a Beagle, that bread would really help you find bunnies'. you should have had your tinderbox in your pack with flint, steel and char no need to get dirty foraging for fat wood.  

[Smokepole]

I bet those beagles would really get the job done.  But this is my 6th Lab, so I'm afraid I'm hooked on them.  She's a bird dog at heart.  Yup I had my fire kit with me with garwood and waxed paper.  But how do you pass up a good stump?  I live in fatwood heaven.

Unfortunately, I suck at rabbit hunting!

[jrebel]

I wish I could help but I know very little about rabbit hunting as a whole.  I will say that when I find a spot that has rabbits (usually by complete chance and while driving), they are there year after year and in large quantities.  Most of the area's I have found have very heavy alder tangle mess of crap on the side of an old road or trail.  Those wascally wabbits don't like to be in the open for long. 

[KFhunter]

I ain't had much luck either this year, remember back in the day we'd shoot em with bows, but this year they either got smarter or there's just not enough of em.

One short little road we named "rabbit road" we'd see a dozen or more, and usually get 3-4 each time.


They gotta be pretty thick to hunt em and get a few in the pack.


Watching your vid, I'd drive around looking for 'orders of magnitude' more tracks.

[Smokepole]

Solid advice.  The only hares I've shot was while deer hunting.  I'll try thicker cover with more sign next time.

[Skyvalhunter]

Any day out there is better than a day at work!!!

[Smokepole]

Any day out there is better than a day at work!!!

Yes sir!  It was a great day.  So quiet you could hear the snowflakes hit the ground. 

[jackelope]

I can't say I've ever hunted snowshoes, but cottontail hunting is pretty big business where I grew up. If we didn't have hounds available, we used to just find brush piles or thickets and jump hunt them. Pretty much always had a couple of us. One to beat the brush and one to shoot.  We'd get a few. Beagles are way more effective, and crap tons of fun.

[KFhunter]

Trick to hares is getting them before they jump, unless dogs of course.

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[Smokepole]

Trick to hares is getting them before they jump, unless dogs of course.

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KFhunter, the only hares I've ever taken were standing motionless.  That's what I was hoping to run into with my .22.  A couple years ago while mushroom picking, I stepped on a snowshoe hare hiding in a bush.  I actually stepped on the bush and he got trapped by the branches.  He hopped about 20 feet then sat there for the longest time.  Apparently, it's not that easy during hunting season!

I was hesitant to use my dog to flush them.  Just got her dialed in for grouse, and I want it to stick.  I think she would retrieve one without letting it go to her head.  But chasing them could screw her up, I think. 

[KFhunter]

We had labs, fantastic in the blind and fetched any grouse you put down.

And hell on rabbits, actually catch a few we didn't shoot and brought them to us.

If you get a dog on rabbits they'll still hunt feather, but they won't ever turn off rabbit.

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[RobinHoodlum]

Good for you for getting out and extending the hunting season!

My experience with hares is exactly as Jebel advised. I practically lived on them, for two field seasons up in Canada in the mid 1990s. Had a dalmation at the time that I trained to bust brush around pothole ponds. I stayed put either at a high point or open area and shot with a .22 when they thought they were in safe spot from the dog.

Depending on how you want your dog to work upland birds (e.g. flushing within shot range), you may not want to encourage chasing rabbits. I'm not an expert however and every dog and situation is different.

[CastleRocker]

There isn't many things more fun than hunting Cottontails with a beagle!  A good friend of mine had a beagle named "Dumas" that was awesome.  Still have my old side by side 410 that I used.  We'd just walk down the two track roads, and the dog would chase them in a big circle.  We'd get ready when we heard the dog dog coming, and the bunnies would go smoking across in front of us.  We spent a lot of our hay money on shells, because we missed a LOT!  Sure do miss that sound of a good beagle running rabbits.

[KFhunter]

My Britts aren't getting much grouse action, veeery tempted to run em on hares.

THAT would be a hoot, they're so fast.

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