6 Simple Snowshoe Hare Hunting Tips
1. Scouting for Snowshoe Hares
Prior to going on a hunt for snowshoe hares, you need to check the area to see if they are still there. Look for overhead cover in the undergrowth.
Snowshoe hares protect themselves from aerial predators by feeding on undergrowth and using the sky as cover. Tracks, trails, and droppings should always be visible to you.
Additionally, scouting assists you in selecting the best firearm to use. A shotgun is better for hunting in dense cover, while a rifle may be better in sparse, relatively open areas.
I prefer a choked 20-gauge shotgun that can punch upland loads through denser cover with a shotgun. In terms of a rifle, a.22 with a scope is great for shooting, but open sights will also work, especially in extremely cold weather when hares tend to stay put longer.
2. Flushing ‘Em Out
Drives are used to clear brushy areas of snowshoe hares. Let one hunter slow down and stop walking through the brushy area. This routine should be repeated in a few seconds.
Your movement will make the snowshoe hares in the brush nervous if they are present.
They will leap and run when they sense danger because they can’t stand your actions. The other hunters will be positioned and keeping an eye on where they anticipate the hares will run.
3. Using Dogs to Hunt
You can hunt snowshoe hares with dogs. The dogs will follow the hares until you and your team can eliminate them by picking up their scent.
The hares will be restrained by skilled trailing dogs, allowing you and your team to capture them when they attempt to flee.
A Visual Guide of the Whole Process
4. Lookout for Their Eyes
Snowshoe hares’ black marble-like eyes are a favorite target for hunters, especially after a snowfall.
When you first start looking for the black eyes, it can be so obvious that you end up finding the black marble eyes in the brush after a snowfall.
In a similar vein, their ear tips are black. After a snowfall, you can also start looking for the black ear tips in the brush, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you start to see them.
5. Being Patient
The key is to move slowly, take long pauses, and keep your shotgun ready, both of which will frighten the nearby rabbits and send them flying.
Buds, twigs, and bark of woody shrubs and tender saplings like aspen, willow, birch, maple, sumac, and alder are what snowshoes eat only at night.
They will also consume the needles of conifers like spruce, cedar, hemlock, and fir. Varying hares, in contrast to real rabbits, do not flee under pressure into underground burrows.
They are concealed by overhead blowdowns and the low-lying branches of young evergreen trees, which conceal them during daylight, in shallow depressions or “forms” in the snow.
It’s very similar to hunting cottontails in this way. Their best defense is to remain motionless, but when they are startled, snowshoes run away from danger using their long, powerful hind legs so be very patient for them to come out for you to be able to have a clear target.
6. Target Fresh Snow Fall
Go hunting early in the morning when it has snowed the night before. Follow any tracks you find in the snow. If the tracks continue into thick vegetation, you’ve probably found a place where snowshoe hares sleep.
You should also check on The Ultimate Guide to Hunting Snowshoe Hares to learn more tips on how to hunt for these little fellas!
