collapse

Advertisement


Author Topic: San Juan Island Hares?  (Read 1621 times)

Offline Goshawk

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Oct 2011
  • Posts: 533
  • Location: Lewis County
San Juan Island Hares?
« on: March 24, 2020, 06:54:28 AM »
It's been a very, very long time since I've heard anything about the hare hunting on the San Juan Islands.  Does that still exist or did they finally get wiped out?  Back in the late 60's the neighborhood "guys" would pack up for a weekend then come home with coolers full of cleaned hares.  One trip usually lasted a year for us. One year my dad brought one injured back home for a pet. It recovered but was never remotely tameable.   
You'll never get a Big'un if you keep shooting Little'un's.

Offline bhawley76

  • Political & Covid-19 Topics
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Longhunter
  • *****
  • Join Date: Oct 2013
  • Posts: 915
  • Location: curlew wa
Re: San Juan Island Hares?
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2020, 07:41:14 AM »
The last time I was there the fox population I think had the rabbit population in check.

Offline luvmystang67

  • Past Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Oct 2010
  • Posts: 2222
  • Location: Coeur d'Alene
Re: San Juan Island Hares?
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2020, 07:53:44 AM »
This is my home.

When I was a kid (90s) we had MANY rabbits running around.  My first memories of shooting are sitting with data and an old single shot .22 and popping rabbits like it was a shooting gallery.  He said at the time it was nothing like his childhood (late 60s), but that it was still pretty fun and I know they were plentiful.

By the mid 90s they were in rapid decline, not due to fox.  Must have been some kind of disease.  I never saw a fox up there until probably 2000ish.  All of a sudden there were black fox everywhere.  Someone certainly brought them in, but nobody ever spoke of it.

Now days the population is normal.  It is higher out at American camp, but the days of thousands of rabbits running around San Juan Valley are over.  We see an occasional rabbit here or there, but nothing like the days you speak of.  Occasionally in the early 2000s a nearby neighbor would buy us shells and we'd take out 50 in a weekend (spurts of the good ol days), but I have no idea where you'd find that now as even then it was extremely rare.

They were a ton of fun for target practice though, never cared for eating them too much at the time.




Offline HUNTINCOUPLE

  • Lost Somewhere on the Praire of Klickitat Co. Chasing The Elusive BENCHLEG DEERS.
  • Non-Hunting Topics
  • Trade Count: (+1)
  • Old Salt
  • ******
  • Join Date: Jan 2009
  • Posts: 8082
  • Location: Lyle WA, 98635
  • Yep, my avatar is from my front porch. #2835
Re: San Juan Island Hares?
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2020, 08:02:33 AM »
Funny story my old man said during the 60's they would ride in the back up pick up truck with salmon nets catching them alive.  Stuff them in cages and take them home alive.  :chuckle:
Slap some bacon on a biscut and lets go, were burrnin daylight!

Most peoples health is a decision not a condition?

Kill your television!  ICEMAN SAID TO!

Life Member of Hunting  Washington  Forum.

Time in the woods is more important than timing the moon.

Offline luvmystang67

  • Past Sponsor
  • Trade Count: (+4)
  • Sourdough
  • *****
  • Join Date: Oct 2010
  • Posts: 2222
  • Location: Coeur d'Alene
Re: San Juan Island Hares?
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2020, 08:21:51 AM »
Funny story my old man said during the 60's they would ride in the back up pick up truck with salmon nets catching them alive.  Stuff them in cages and take them home alive.  :chuckle:

Dad always had a "rabbit car".  Sounded like they chopped off the back of a station wagon to effectively make a truck bed, they apparently turned the exhaust manifolds upside down and ran them up out of the hood.  They put a bunch of cages on the back and had a cantilevered spring type seat where the netter would sit.  Said they could catch 100 per hour every night of the week if they wanted.  They'd sell them for $1 live, $2 cleaned to people who didn't get enough on their hunting trip (or who sat in the bar and needed to produce some rabbits by the time they left for home).

I caught the tail end of this.  If the grass was about 6"-12" high, they'd freeze in the spotlight and you could toss a net over them.

Good times...

 


* Advertisement

* Recent Topics

Hunting Dog Memorial by Henrydog
[Today at 07:06:30 PM]


Pairs by nwwanderer
[Today at 07:02:59 PM]


Springer 2024 Columbia River by Blacklab
[Today at 06:50:06 PM]


Holster for FNS 40C by bb76
[Today at 06:37:56 PM]


Let’s see your best Washington bull by Ridgeratt
[Today at 06:34:07 PM]


World Record Archery Blacktail by Karl Blanchard
[Today at 06:20:52 PM]


Let’s see your best Washington buck by bearpaw
[Today at 05:27:26 PM]


Bangers and mash by elkrack
[Today at 04:32:06 PM]


Fishing with kids in Wenatchee by elkhunter00
[Today at 04:12:45 PM]


Wenatchee Hydro Park Fishing by Jake Dogfish
[Today at 03:40:17 PM]


Owners of Ireland Farms Dogs by ASHQUACK
[Today at 12:24:39 PM]


1x scopes vs open sights by andersonjk4
[Today at 09:23:28 AM]


2024 sheds…..let’s see em’ by NOCK NOCK
[Today at 07:59:18 AM]


Grande Ronde by WSU
[Today at 07:27:36 AM]


Fishing Line by birdshooter1189
[Today at 06:37:36 AM]

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal