TROUBLE IN PARADISE

presents

 

From the World Headquarters

of the

Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Written and Photographed

by

Joe Ewing

High HareMan

Of the

Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

This article was first printed in the
July 2019 issues of
american beagler
magazine
and the
THE RABBIT HUNTER
magazine
and the
October 2019 issue
of the
HOUNDS and HUNTING
magazine.

The article is reprinted here for your reading pleasure and is authorized by the author.

My favorite subject is the very elusive, exceptionally majestic, and extremely omnipotent snowshoe hare. My favorite activity involves beagles and beagling. Combine the two hares and beagles, and I’ve discovered my pastime. Place my pastime in my most beloved place on Earth, and I have realized my passion. Chasing snowshoe hare in the dead of winter on the Allegheny while listening to the hounds in full cry with their glorious music ringing from mountainside to mountainside is an activity I challenge anyone to beat. Pursuing the elusive snowshoe hare with beagles on the Allegheny has bestowed upon me untold hours of extreme enjoyment, absolute pleasure, and unlimited adventure.

My mission is to inform as many people as possible of the sheer magnificence of the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus). I describe the snowshoe hare as “magnificent” because they are impressively beautiful and spectacularly difficult to hunt. I call the hare “elusive” because they are extremely difficult to find in Pennsylvania and unquestionably evasive. Being both unconquerable and invincible, the snowshoe hare can only be described as “omnipotent”.

There is trouble in paradise. Hard times for the magnificent snowshoe hare and other small game animals like ruffed grouse and eastern cottontail rabbits are here, now, on the Allegheny, and no one is doing anything about it. In 2012, after hearing from a few hunting-incapacitated and game-disabled road-hunters unable to locate the elusive hare, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) excessively dramatized the situation by reducing the hunting season to three days and by restricting the hunting in three wildlife management units (WMU) located in the Poconos.

In a feeble attempt to get a supposed handle on the hare population problem across the state, the PGC hired a snowshoe hare biologist along with experts (students) from Penn State University (PSU). The results of the two-year-long study; "…the loss of acceptable habitat, from development and forest maturation and fragmentation has been plaguing hares for decades. Where good habitat can be found in their range, you'll find hares.", said Calvin DuBrock, director of the PGC’s Bureau of Wildlife Management. The most revealing words in DuBrock’s statement were “forest maturation and fragmentation.” 

Veteran deep-woods Pennsylvania snowshoe hare hunters instinctively understood the problems without studies, biologists, or doctoral students. The study made not one smidgeon of a mention of the threat or damage from the overpopulation of whitetail deer. The solution from the PGC was to “manage” the problem. The hare season is back where it was before 2012, the snowshoe hare biologists are long gone, the doctoral students have moved along to more pressing matters, and the snowshoe hare and other small game species are on their own.

Sometimes called the snowshoe rabbit or varying hare, the hare is one of Pennsylvania’s rarest and most elusive game animals. Ninety-nine percent of Pennsylvania’s population has never seen a hare in the wild. Many of the population have never heard the term “snowshoe hare” and don’t know this splendid animal even exists. The Allegheny National Forest (ANF) Headquarters in Marienville, PA, thoughtlessly or purposely neglects to include the snowshoe hare in their display of mounted animals native to the ANF.

Pennsylvania is at the southernmost fringe of the hare’s range. Snowshoe hares are predominantly found in parts of the Allegheny Mountains, the high plateaus of the northwest, the Pocono Mountains to the east, and, yes, the Allegheny National Forest. Snowshoe hares thrive in the high plateau swamps, clear-cuts, evergreen plantations, and laurel bottoms of the Allegheny High Plateau, where the snowpack persists throughout the winter.

Snowshoe hares are boundless in awesomeness although small in size, standing about 8 or 9 inches at the shoulder, weighing in at 3 to 5 pounds, and around 21 inches in length. At 5 inches, the hare’s hind feet are incredibly huge in comparison to their overall size. The hind feet are covered with thick hair allowing the snowshoe hare to attain speeds of up to 30 miles an hour (40 feet per second) even in deep snow, stop on a dime, and turn 90 degrees in midair. Snowshoe hares will run for hours in front of a pack of beagles. The varying hare knows there is no dog alive he can’t outrun.

Hunting snowshoe hare on the Allegheny is a far cry from hunting hare in most other places in North America. Maine is blessed with huge numbers of hare covers virtually impenetrable by man or hound, which explains why snowshoe hare are numerous in the state. Hare hunting on the Allegheny is more like big game hunting and a far cry from Maine’s hare populations. On the Allegheny, the cover is sparse, and the hare is few. The hunter seldom finds more than a few hares in any cover. I’ve personally discovered when a cover is shot out, the area may never repopulate.

The snowshoe hare’s name comes from their large, 5½ inch hind feet which keeps them “afloat” in the deepest of snow.

A little history. Pennsylvania's forests were completely obliterated in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The forests were completely destroyed. Not a twig was left standing. However, the ground was filled with millions upon millions of dormant seeds, ready to sprout. As the forests began naturally regenerating, the thick brush was exactly what the snowshoe hare needed for nesting and escape cover. The hare, as well as other wildlife populations, boomed.

Credit: Courtesy Pennsylvania State Archives

The "Pennsylvania Desert," Tioga County, PA, circa 1920

White-tailed deer emerged as one of the greatest threats to Pennsylvania’s forests in the twentieth century. Pennsylvania’s deer population exploded, devastating the state’s forests. Escape cover, nesting cover, and food sources became severely limited for the snowshoe hare as well as ruffed grouse, woodcock, cottontail, turkey, and many non-game species, including songbirds.

My story: In the 1980s and 1990s, my beagling buddies and I hunted for and shamefully killed what few snowshoes hare we could find in the sizable clear-cuts and mature spruce plantations the CCC and WPA boys planted during the 1920s and 1930s. The National Forest and state forest were erecting fenced deer exclosures to protect vegetation from deer browsing. We were confident a hare would be inside when we spotted a wire fence. The many hares we ran inside the fences would play with the hounds by exiting the wire, running a few yards, and then entering back through the fence, impeding the hounds with every exit and entrance. Regularly, I was compelled to increase the size of the holes in the wire so the beagles could reenter. Our desire to kill this awe-inspiring, beagle-challenging little animals seemed to wane. Chasing these awesome running creatures with beagles became more challenging than killing them.

  

In the 1980s, the public fell in love with big trees, and “clear-cutting” became a dirty word. The Pennsylvania Department of Forest and Waters and the U.S. Forest Service stopped cutting trees on public land primarily due to pressure from well-funded, well-organized environmental groups. Contrary to proven science and common sense, these “environmentalists” believed they were helping out wildlife. Well-funded environmental groups tied the U. S. Forest Service up in court for almost ten years. Hardly a tree was harvested in the ANF during that period. As the forests matured, the forest floor became barren wastelands. The forest floor was devoid of green vegetation small animals needed for survival. The very animals the well-intentioned public wanted to protect vanished.

On the evening of May 31, 1985, multiple violent and deadly F4 tornados raged through eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania into Canada. Nearly one mile wide, one tornado tore through the Allegheny National Forest. Millions of board feet of timber were flattened in the Marienville ranger district alone. The tornado ripped a path of total devastation 29 miles long.

In the years following this natural disturbance, the tornado’s path began to heal itself and regenerate naturally. The natural reforestation created many great snowshoe hare covers. For the next twenty years, nature gave adequate nesting and escape cover for countless small creatures, including snowshoe hare. Then we started chasing the elusive snowshoe hare with beagles all winter.

Today, the ANF has chosen selective cutting over clear-cutting. Natural disturbances like fire and wind cannot be depended upon to create hare habitats.  The debate between foresters and conservationists rages on, resulting in over-maturing forests and forest mismanagement. Too many deer competing for the same food as snowshoe hare, cottontail rabbits, and ruffed grouse have combined to restrict the small game population. Snowshoe hare hang in covers long past their prime. Relatively few new covers are being made, and snowshoe hare are picky.

In the March 2018 issue of the Pennsylvania Game News (PGN), the official publication of the PGC, an article titled “Too Much Old Forest” with the subtitle reading, “The future of hunting is rooted in younger forestland” was presented. The sub-subtitle reads, “Many hunters find comfort and familiarity in older stands of Penn’s Woods. But they’d likely find more deer [it’s all about deer in PA] and opportunities in younger forests that provide more cover and varied foods. The canopy and ferns of older stands limit understory development and opportunities for wildlife. But the Game Commission and its partners are working to provide wildlife a better mix of forest age classes.”

The article openly admitted the PGC has been mismanaging commission-owned forests for a long time. In a prior article, Kosack (writer of the PGN article) acknowledged the PGC has been more interested in timber production than wildlife, a very interesting statement from the organization mandated to protect our wildlife. The title of the article said it all with nothing more to be articulated. If the article was genuine it was good news for snowshoe hare and other small game.

In the opinion of the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny, the majestic snowshoe hare and all small wildlife should be granted more respect from our state and national wildlife officials. Snowshoe hare and other small game, like ruffed grouse, wild turkey, rabbits, and non-game species, are entitled to a higher standing than they presently enjoy. We understand deer is king; however, it will be a sad day when the forests are completely void of all small creatures.

The bottom line: snowshoe hare and all small game numbers go up when trees go down. Our public forest lands are in desperate need of improved management. More trees need cut. Selective cutting does not work. Trees are a crop that requires harvesting. Clear-cutting small patches of timber every few years creates a mixed-age forest, just what the snowshoe need. We must let our public officials know what we expect and what the snowshoe hare and other small game animals need and deserve. It’s time we get serious about small game. Enough said? Hardly. The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny have only just begun.

Private timber companies clear-cut hundreds of acres of forest every year. But is it enough?

Fresh clear-cut in the summer of 2015

Same clear-cut as above in the summer of 2017.

Hunting in a clear-cut on the high plateau.

John Griffith commented on Facebook.com-- I just wanted to say that I just read your article in the July issue of Rabbit Hunter magazine. I must say that it was a great article! I am 31 years old and enjoy hunting for snowshoe hares as well as ruffed grouse. I fear that hunting for these majestic creatures could become a thing of the past, if our game commission does not change its philosophy. For far too long our forests have been managed for dollars instead of animals. If our game commission gave half the time and money that they have devoted to deer and elk we would be in a much better position. I applaud you for speaking the truth and I agree with your mind set 100%. It was refreshing to read