Mainely Outdoors: Cold weather yields hot hare hunting

Mother Nature and Jack Frost certainly made their presence felt throughout Aroostook County to welcome in the New Year. Being designated the coldest spot in the nation at 26 degrees below zero is seldom a welcome accolade. Despite nearly two weeks of sub-zero temperatures and brutal wind chill, a few dyed-in-the-wool outdoorsmen (read as crazy) still went ice fishing and rabbit hunting!
Snowshoe hare hunting got off to a very early start this season as the Crown of Maine received snow Nov. 1 and it stayed. While most local sportsmen sought whitetails with moderate success, rabbit hunters enjoyed unparalleled gunning since most of their quarry still maintained their brown fur on a white snow background. For a short while the hunters actually maintained a bit of an advantage.
Snowshoe rabbits true taxonomy refers to them as varying hare; a name that comes from the fact that their fur changes (varies) in color from brown to white, and then back, to match the season and provide camouflage depending on local ground cover. As experienced rabbit hunters will testify, spotting a snow white bunny sitting still on a blanket of snow provides a true challenge. For this reason, a lot of avid hare hunters use beagles or other small hounds to sniff out and stir the camo-ed quarry into movement.
Each of the two styles of rabbit hunting; using dogs or stop and go still-hunting offer their own challenges and rewards. Unless the beagle or basset hound is a family pet as well as a hunting companion, it’s expensive and time consuming to own a dog just to hunt rabbits half a dozen times a season. If you’re out after bunnies a couple of times weekly, that’s a different story.
Dogs will save a lot of trekking through the snow, hard work on snowshoes when the white stuff is soft and deep. Hounds locate rabbits by smell, push them from cover and then chase them around until they push back by waiting shooters presenting a fast moving target. Most sportsmen who use dogs prefer a shotgun since the rabbits bound past at lightning speed seldom presenting a stationary shot.
Current hare hunting conditions for outdoorsmen who still-hunt alone or even with a partner or two, are prime. Snow cover remains minimal so no snowshoes are needed and it’s fairly soft and quiet in brushy covers. On top of easy walking and stalking conditions, there are multitudes of snowshoe hare this winter. Even during the bitter cold of early January my friends and I were spotting between five and 10 rabbits during each hour-and-a-half to two-hour outing.
The trick to “walking up rabbits” is to use your eyes more than your feet. When traveling through likely brush and fir cover where tracks, trails, droppings and nibbled tree bark is prevalent, take half a dozen steps, then stop and just survey the area for at least a couple of minutes. Don’t attempt to see an entire rabbit, look for a twitching nose or ear, a glistening dark eye or a shape of a line or form that doesn’t fit. Have your gun ready because while a rabbit may hold steady when it thinks it’s hidden, after a minute or so it often gets nervous and makes a break.
For stalking and still-hunting many avid hare hunters prefer to carry a small bore rifle like the faithful old .22. A few sports are turning to the .17 or .22 magnum. The small caliber with a 4X scope allows head shots on stationary, partially hidden rabbits and far less meat damage than a scattergun. If the hare makes a dash for safety however, the shot becomes notably more difficult. That’s the reason I change the odds by carrying my old Stevens .22 mag. –20 gauge over/under combo gun. Just a quick flip of the switch and I can select a load to match the situation.
There’s no doubt Aroostook will get more snow cover and while that won’t stop determined rabbit hunters, it will slow us down and make travel more difficult. When March finally arrives with longer days, warmer weather and less snow, as well as mating season for varying hare, the hunting will improve all the way around. Until then, get out soon and often while snow cover remains light and rabbits plentiful.
Regardless of where you live in the Crown of Maine, there’s a woodlot, power line, field hedge row or second growth field offering rabbit habitat within 15 minutes of your house. A pre-work outing for an hour or two puts shooters in the woods when hare get active to start their day. Dress in layers, take along a two- or four-legged hunting buddy and enjoy one of Aroostook’s exciting cold weather pastimes. If things go well, a tasty reward will be a steaming bowl of rabbit stew or crispy fried rabbit. Good luck by the way, your quarry actually has four rabbit feet!