Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Discuss all of the great hunting opportunities in Minnesota

Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby Molasses on Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:28 pm

Just how far north in this state does one have to go to stand a realistic chance of a successful hunt for said big bunnies?
Molasses
 
Posts: 234 [View]
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:11 pm
Location: Anoka

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby photogpat on Mon Jan 07, 2013 12:42 pm

I saw one up by Longville over New Years. We regularly see them up there...just not while hunting them!
Nothing to see here. Continue swimming.
User avatar
photogpat
 
Posts: 3701 [View]
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:01 pm
Location: Securely barricaded

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby Molasses on Mon Jan 07, 2013 1:44 pm

photogpat wrote:I saw one up by Longville over New Years. We regularly see them up there...just not while hunting them!


Heh. Well, that's why it's called hunting and not just "getting". Speaking for myself I know I always do a lot of hunting for what little I get when I head out. :lol:
It recently hit me that having grown up a couple hundred miles south of the Metro, I don't believe that I've ever even SEEN a showshoe hare in the woods. I've brought home scores of gray and fox squirrels and a handful of cottontails (mostly back in my teen years), but I thought it might be neat to at least try and get a snowshoe this season. If nothing else, it'd be a chance to get skunked chasing yet another critter and on new ground.
Molasses
 
Posts: 234 [View]
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:11 pm
Location: Anoka

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby photogpat on Mon Jan 07, 2013 1:55 pm

We "see" them most often in the early Spring when there's brown showing in the woods. They're usually still white, and stick out pretty well. This time of year, they're white on a white background....harder to see.

Mine was in a brush pile...I was jumping on one side while my dog was frantically trying to dig the sucker out from the other -- ran right out between dog's legs (I think)...thereby not giving me a shot. We tried tracking it for a bit, but gave up since it just kept running off ahead of us.
Nothing to see here. Continue swimming.
User avatar
photogpat
 
Posts: 3701 [View]
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:01 pm
Location: Securely barricaded

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby smurfman on Mon Jan 07, 2013 5:53 pm

Northern Pine county is about as far south as one can reasonably expect to see snowshoes. Go from the southern edge of Nemadji State Forest west to about Brainaird and then northwest to the Canadian border. Even inside this region there will be large areas without snowshoes as the habitat is wrong. Around deer season is a good time to look for them as they are turning white about then and theyc an show up pretty good if the snow hasn't fallen and are not all that tough to see even if there is snow as theya re not completely white.

I tend to find snowshoes in lowland areas which would appear to be like tundra except for some spruces and tamaracks. If there is a clear cut nearby you should find hares. I seldom hunt hares these days but I do see them pretty regularly at our cabin and when I am hunting grouse further north. Unlike rabbits, hares seldom den up under ground and one will generally fund them in shallow depressions called forms. As they are generally on top of the snow, the best bet is to move slowly and look for the black of their eye or ear tips. Look under low hanging spruce or firs and into semi-dense tangles of branches and dead falls.

I used to take nieces and nephews out after these critters back when they were younger. I had a setter which would point fur and it made for fun shooting for them. I haven't been out after them in the several years since that dog died.
smurfman
 
Posts: 975 [View]
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 1:43 pm

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby yukonjasper on Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:02 pm

Lots of areas on the Iron Range have Snowshoes - that's up there and probably further than you want to go, but they are plentiful.

Lots of fun and lots of great memories.
Deo Adjuvante Non Timendum - (with the help of God there is nothing to be afraid of)
Spectamur Agendo - (We are proven by our actions)
Non Ducor, Duco - (I am not led, I lead)
NRA Life Member
User avatar
yukonjasper
 
Posts: 5823 [View]
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2008 3:31 pm
Location: eagan

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby gearguy10 on Mon Jan 07, 2013 7:48 pm

I deer hunt off the Brimson road north of Duluth and see them all the time. I saw a nice Lynx the second weekend who was probably enjoying the fact that the snowshoes were already half white and it hadn't snowed yet. Easy pickens.
"Do you think my mind is maturing late, or simply rotted early?" - Ogden Nash
User avatar
gearguy10
 
Posts: 293 [View]
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2010 6:52 pm
Location: Oakdale, MN

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby Molasses on Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:15 pm

Thanks for the tips and ideas, folks. I'm going to be spending part of the remainder of the evening looking at maps and such to try and determine just where I want to go, and if things work out, I'll head up nort' tomorrow for a day's hunting.
Molasses
 
Posts: 234 [View]
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:11 pm
Location: Anoka

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby SAM on Thu Jan 10, 2013 8:07 am

Tons of snowshoes on the western border of Mn. and just into N.D. Ortonville to Fargo.
STAYIN' ALIVE DPS/BCA Approved Instructor Organization
NRA Instructor-Pistol-HFS-PPIH
NRA CRSO
N.D. Concealed and Dangerous Weapons Test Administrator
Mn. FAS Instructor
CSI P2C Instructor
Federal Law Enforcement Safety Act of 2004 Trainer
User avatar
SAM
 
Posts: 1262 [View]
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2009 9:42 pm
Location: Right smack-dab in the middle of deer f---ing heaven

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby smurfman on Thu Jan 10, 2013 12:49 pm

SAM wrote:Tons of snowshoes on the western border of Mn. and just into N.D. Ortonville to Fargo.


I haven't seen any snowshoes in that area but I have shot a fair number of jackrabbits along that stretch of country. Jacks are hares, just like snowshoes, but they do not taste nearly as good. Also, unless young, jacks tend to be a lot chewier. I hope jacks are increasing, I know a couple people with greyhounds who would love to put their dogs on them.
smurfman
 
Posts: 975 [View]
Joined: Sat Jun 12, 2010 1:43 pm

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby SSBotanyBay on Thu Jan 10, 2013 2:43 pm

I shot one last week up near Baudette but I doubt that you want to travel that far for 'em. I have to admit, successful hare hunts can get addicting.
"There is nothing more uncommon than common sense."---Thomas Chalmers
User avatar
SSBotanyBay
 
Posts: 263 [View]
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 2:30 pm
Location: Redwood Falls

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby Molasses on Thu Jan 10, 2013 8:30 pm

SSBotanyBay wrote:I shot one last week up near Baudette but I doubt that you want to travel that far for 'em. I have to admit, successful hare hunts can get addicting.


I didn't travel that far this time, but I didn't see anything. Well, there were tracks. No tracks fresh enough to have bunnies standing in them.
I did drag the exhaust on the wagon hard enough in the snow at the pullout I parked in to separate a joint in the pipe and got to listen to a much more macho sound all the way home than that vehicle normally makes. I'm hoping that's one part of the experience that doesn't become addicting. However, now that I've started, I'll likely keep trying until I at least see one of these mythical creatures.
Molasses
 
Posts: 234 [View]
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 8:11 pm
Location: Anoka

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby Rem700 on Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:46 pm

Beagles
“The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.”
Thomas Jefferson

If your not behind our troops please stand infront of them.
User avatar
Rem700
 
Posts: 2359 [View]
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:29 pm
Location: Blaine

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby bensdad on Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:19 pm

Grouse hunting in the Grand Rapids area, I used to cherish the days when the snowshoes would change before the snow arrived. Any small cal. rifle with a scope could net a handful of them in one afternoon. They stick out like sore thumbs in the clear cuts, under smaller pine stands and even in the poplar stands.
I got nothin'
bensdad
 
Posts: 2113 [View]
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:07 pm
Location: Lakeville

Re: Snowshoe Hares...wheres?

Postby Ivan45 on Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:48 pm

I almost stepped on one in woods near Deerwood about a month ago. Surprised the hell outta me...
User avatar
Ivan45
 
Posts: 235 [View]
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2011 1:32 pm
Location: Coon Rapids, Minnesota

Next

Return to Hunting

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests

cron