...more commonly known as a snowshoe or varying hare. Went to my cabin in N.VT to give it a try. Season goes until end of March so I'll be checking out other areas but started at this private timberland open to the public as it is nearby.

Saw some sign here during rifle season but not as much as the past few years so looks like the population is on the downward end of the cycle. Snow cover was perfect: 6-8" of powder with about an inch added the day before which will highlight the freshest tracks made during the night. Temp was around 30 F., cloudy and dead calm.

The plan was to hunt the thick cedar, fir and spruce that completely surrounds a pond. East shore the first day and West the second. Approaching the outside of the cover at the NE end of the pond I came across the first single fresh track crossing the logging road heading in a straight line toward the pond so hopefully to its daytime lair.

Here you can barely see the track at the bottom center and the type of cover it and I will be heading through.

As it approaches the thickest cover at the pond edge it bypassed a set of coyote tracks heading into cover from off of the pond. The coyote track is just a bit older and has the latest inch of fluff in it.

The hare leaped over the horizontal log above and disappeared into this thicket of cedar, logs and boulders.

After checking the perimeter and finding no exit I wished it good health and snapped a picture of my Bear/Sage and Tribute 1816 XX75 against this old cedar root that is part of this thicket.

Score that Hare 1, Krag 0.

Looking forward to more. Loved hunting hares in northern NY but haven't done it in several years. Hunted cotton tails around home but the coyotes and hawks have them pretty well thinned out now.

Percy

neat-O

gonna be hard to see for sure

Took a close up of the small game tip: a Sauders field point with "Adder". I reversed the Adder to give it more of a sharp talon effect (sure feels like it will do more damage with sharp edges pointed forward rather than back) but believe it was designed to go the other way.

Same here, Krag. We don't really have them in S NH where I live. But I was hunting with goldenridges of eternal memory years ago. I had a nice shot at one but missed.

Memories.

I think of George often.

Jawge

Then I took a couple pictures across the pond of the West side I'll be hunting the next day.

Good luck, looking forward to more

... and of a bobcat track coming in from across the pond. Looks like an old coyote track on the left. Other hunters vying for success here too!

During the rifle season taking a lunch break in a thicket with lots of hare tracks about a half mile from here I saw something white move against the snow about 20yds out and 10 minutes later a white black-tip tailed weasel ran down a log about 5 yds away back to that spot. They are known to be rabbit hunters also.

Thanks for taking us along. Looks like a good time for sure.

With that I stillhunted through cover just in from the shoreline looking for a hare or at least more fresh sign. Didn't have to go far to come to this feeding area from the previous night.

Nice hunt Joe. If I’m not on the ice I’m on hares this time of year also.

And what the adjacent cover looks like.

In a thread from the archives one of the contributors quoted his dad as saying "it takes a lot of tracks to make a rabbit" so all the above could have been just a single or a couple hares.

What I'm looking for in here is a dime-size black eye and maybe a couple black tipped ears if the opening is big enough for those to show.

Can anyone spot it?

Well I couldn't either......and didn't see any the rest of the afternoon. Did have tired eyes that night from all the looking and dreams of seeing and getting a shot the next day. Day one was fun nonetheless and the woods a winter wonderland.

I did come across this scene made by a beaver. It came out of the barely visible hole in the ice below the stumps at the top, maneuvered around a bit, made a deposit on the snow, and went back into the water. Depressions from the tail were visible, if not clear in this picture. There was no other beaver sign in the area and no evidence of a beaver house on this pond. There are a couple small active beaver ponds about a half mile and a couple ridges away.

The next day had same snow, temperature and calm wind conditions but with sun and partly cloudy skies.

I cut off of the same logging road angling through the woods toward the NW corner of the pond and soon came upon feeding activity.

This is the cover just beyond the activity and then the woods opened up a bit with many possible hiding places but checking them found no fresh tracks leading to any.

Moving on I came upon another active area.

Scouring the area led to this opening in snow covered brush with tracks leading to it but stomping it didn't produce the anticipated outcome. Finding a hare is looking to be tough in this neck of the woods.

Between this point and the pond is just too thick to hunt or navigate through.

Thanks for sharing looks like you had a very nice day.

Working around it I was able to get to the shoreline to take a couple pictures of the opposite shore hunted the day before.

I did continue hunting just outside of the heavy cover and saw sign of where they were leaving it to feed and where coyote and bobcat tracks converged heading toward the pond.

As dusk approached I backtracked through the active areas hoping to catch one leaving cover to feed but that didn't produce any sightings. It's just too thick to hunt effectively and even with all the predators around I'd bet there are hares dying of old age in that cover.

Krag, ive been turning the , as we used to call them , turkey stoppers around for the exact reason that u mentioned,, beautiful up there. Good luck

Krag, I'm really enjoying this, thanks for allowing us to join you!

Good thread. Down here in our part of Pa. we don't have snowshoe hares, so we are limited to cottontails. Always thought it would be a blast to hunt those hares in the snow. Finding a sitting cottontail in a heavy weed patch is a challenge for me.

I’m looking forward to seeing a SnowShoe Hare here soon, good luck

thanks for taking us along! TLM

Find where several runways are visible and set up like you would to hunt deer. They start moving just before dark just like deer.

I went on a few more hunts for snowshoe hares with a couple of them on snowshoes due to increased snow depth since the first hunt. Two turned out to be questionable attempts but I had bow in hand so I was bowhunting.

I knew of a thick softwood patch of cover that had snowshoe activity the last time I was up there that I wanted to check out. Probably would have made sense to try it earlier since it is quite a hike in and higher in elevation which typically has deeper snow as the season progresses.

As the sun was setting the evening before I took this view from near the cabin which includes where I had planned to go - the low point on the ridge just below the right end of the cloud hanging above the left side of the basin. The path up there is a logging road approach from the other side that starts well below the ridgeline.

It was snowing when I left the cabin and the view above was obscured in clouds. It was about a 15 minute ride to the start of the logging road which also serves as a hiking trail to the summit of Bald Mt, the highest point in the area. So part of the way was packed down a bit from other snowshoeing activity which made it easier going but then the trail verred right and I was on my own breaking through up to the basin.

Took a heart rate rest about a half hour into the trek at this point looking back down the trail.

Saw a biggun out in the yard this evening....

At least you saw one....do they make Judo tips big enough for those?

I like it. My kids (in their 40's) still talk about the green dinosaur I made for them.

Shrugging along I came to around a bend and over a rise and saw these fresh tracks. Fresh as in right now. It was a young moose coming down toward me that either heard the crunching or smelled me as the wind was at my back. It backtracked a few stepped and took a left back into the woods. It had come out from that side less than 50yds up the road. Wish I had actually seen it.

It took about an hour to get to the beginning of the basin and all uphill. In this view the point I want to get to is the skylined spruce at the center that just became visible as the snow stopped while I rested.

At this point I was questioning the sanity of this plan. I could probably get there but then what?There's no cell service up here and this is my first jaunt with snowshoes this year and it's going to be a long way back. I had already picked a spot for my final resting place up on this ridge but I'm not ready just yet and the plan is for someone else to carry me up here.

So I reluctantly decided to turn back and finish out the day taking a stand by the pond in the first hunt above hoping to catch one heading out to feed.

This is looking back down from the edge of the basin. The lowest point visible is where the moose came out onto the road.

This is another view from the same rest spot looking down the trail now that the snow has cleared out. The pond from the above hunt is below the hump now visible beyond the trail opening.

But I don't have to hike all the way there. Just backtrack down to the car and take a break and then a short ride around the corner to the trail heading into the pond.

Near the bottom of this logging road I saw these deer tracks that crossed the road while I was up above.

The walk about halfway to the pond area is along another hiking trail that is partially packed from cross country skiing and snowshoeing but where I'm going off of that trail is too thick with a lot of blowdowns to snowshoe so I switched those out for insulated rubber boots that will take a bit of chugging through over knee deep snow but once I take a stand I'll stay put until dusk and backtrack out to the trail again.

As this was going to be only about two hours total I decided to go light and only took the bow and tube quiver leaving everything else at the car. I took a stand against a maple tree that had the top fork of this deadfall wedged against it. This is the same picture from the above hunt and is located between the two activity areas pictured above and adjacent to some thick cover. But imagine the snow is now covering that log.

Once I got to the stand I pulled the hood of my grey Asbell Pathfinder over the bucket hat, hung the tube quiver and Black Bear/Sage with nocked arrow on a shoulder high stub, tucked both hands into the front pouch pocket and leaned against the maple doing my best imitation of a stump waiting for the sun to head down and the hares to start moving. There was a fresh track a few yards in front and another just behind me crossing over the snow between the log end and the upright section so I could hope one would decide to come by again.

Movement was limited to searching with eyes and slowly turning side to side inside the hood for more range looking for any white on white movement and wondering if I would actually hear one coming if not within sight. All I heard was a raven croaking overhead and the beating of its wings as it passed over the treetops, then only the wind barely moving spruce limbs weighed down with snow.

I didn't want to move any to check the time but could tell the sun was getting lower by the increasing reflection of orange clouds on the snow. Then I heard the raven coming by again and wondered what it has been eating out here and if I'll be able to leave something for it and if it would even find any before some other scavenger. But I'm getting ahead of myself - I haven't seen a hare yet.

As it got beyond dusk I had to check the time to start back before legal hunting ends. I took a final look around and seeing nothing started out on the backtrail still searching in all directions until I got back on the packed trail. By the time I got to the car it was almost dark and I was soaked from climbing over snow packed logs and trudging through everything white.

On the short ride back to the cabin I was reflecting on the day thinking how waiting on stand for the prospect of a hare coming within range could be as exciting as deer hunting but it was at the moment and guess that is what keeps us out there. I was also thinking about the possibilities for the next day and getting about a half mile from the cabin when in a flash I see a deer's head right at the headlight and banging along passenger door. Can't believe a deer just ran into me! Expecting the worse I backed up but there was nothing but a set of tracks coming over the snowbank and another set leaping back over and gone. At the cabin I got out a light and there was no dent and just road dirt brushed off and a dozen or so white hairs scattered along the door so hopefully just a glancing blow and no serious injuries. An odd and anxious end to good day in the outdoors.

thanks JOE, a pretty place, the area around you there.

Snowshoe Hares are mostly in the upper tier of Pennsylvania. Cottontails only around where I live. Hunting snowshoe hares with a bow would be fun.

Yea I seen a few in Schuylkill county Pa when I would be hunting turkeys that's awesome to see them

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