This article is reprinted here for the reading pleasure of the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny as authorized by the author.
This article appeared in the
May 2021 Volume 35 No. 9
issue
of
From the World Headquarters of the Big Woods Hare Hunters
of the Allegheny
Conservation on the Allegheny
Another Season on the Allegheny
written and photographed
by
Joe Ewing
High HareMan
Big Woods Hare
Hunters of the Allegheny
An
elusive and majestic snowshoe hare poses for the camera on the opening day of
the
2020-2021
Pennsylvania hare season.
On this the first day of the six-day 2020-2021 Pennsylvania snowshoe hare season, it’s 11 degrees above zero as the beagles scramble off the tailgate. A four-inch overnight snow is clinging to everything making visibility low. The highly camouflaged snowshoe hare will have the advantage today. The beagles are divided into two packs and already have two hares started. My long-time hare hunting sidekick, Andy and I, are hunting on Collins Pines Company property adjoining the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). The area is a several year-old regenerating clear-cut.
Hours pass with the hare making circle
after circle and I am unable to spot Mr. Hare. It’s come close but he’s too stealthy
and sneaky for me. Like I said, the hare has the advantage. The five beagles
joined forces hours ago. The loose snow is hindering the hound work. Each one
of the five hounds is vying for the lead which only slows them down. The snow and
the scent are being scattered by the lead hound so not one of them can really command
the track. Psycho Sid found the line on one check and ran it pretty well until
the pack caught up. Andy’s Emma did the same another time. Emma and Sid are
litter mates originating at James Creek Beagles in Huntingdon County,
Pennsylvania. Both show tremendous desire to hunt and chase with a deep seeded need
to lead the pack.
Remember the old saying: “The view never changes if you’re not the lead dog.”
As I climb the steep hillside the fresh
snow makes it difficult to get adequate footing in the rocky terrain. As I
climb ever upward, I notice the hare has been through several times running the
same track over and over. The thicket is filled with dog and hare tracks. If I
expect to see this snowshoe hare it will depend on pure luck.
Like many members of the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny I don’t carry a gun. Along with many members of the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny I don’t kill snowshoe hare on the Allegheny. I might show one to someone if they really need a trophy to hang on their wall but we’ll go to the northern counties where the hares are slightly more plentiful. We’ll abide by the “one-hour-rule”, the “one-miss-rule” and the “two-hour-time-limit”.
We kill a few hares in Maine and the Adirondacks; however, Maine is an entirely different story. The Maine woods are full of snowshoe hares which isn’t nearly the case in Pennsylvania. The mountains of north-central Maine are a hare hunters paradise. The Forks and the mountains above the Kennebec River are great places to hunt snowshoe hare.
I’ve hunted the Allegheny High Plateau of Western Pennsylvania for over six decades. The plateau is home to rugged terrain and dense forests. Visitors to the Allegheny call these hills “mountains”, however, the Allegheny Plateau is a table land or high plain. During the last ice age, the glacier leveled the land. Over the last hundreds of thousands of years ancient streams and rivers cut deep valleys into the landscape.
The traditional season for snowshoe hare in Pennsylvania is the 6 days between Christmas and New Year’s. Late December weather is normally mild and snowless. Many years there is very little snow-cover during the season making it tough on the hare and easy on the hunters. Today is different than most opening days with 4 inches of fresh snow and frigid temperatures. Beautiful hare hunting weather.
The beagles are headed my way. I check my Garmin® Alfa® 100® which indicates the hounds are on a collision course with my stand. Minutes pass and suddenly, movement, is it the hare? It is the hare and it comes to a stop only a few feet from me. I can see him moving his ears, listening. He’s listening for danger in his path with one ear concentrating on the dogs while the other ear turns to search like radar. It probably can hear the slight whirl of the camera. I can see it twitching his nose. I can see the twinkle in one dark eye. Like the whitetail, the snowshoe rabbit relies on its acute hearing, sight and smell to warn of danger. It doesn’t seem worried about my presence as he’s more concerned with the beagles. Much to my delight Mr. Hare or is it Ms. Hare is modelling for the camera. Finally, after all this time the ultimate pay off, a sighting of a majestic snowshoe hare with photo and video. As curfew is called on today’s activities all is well. The opening day has been a beauty. There are five more days of the season left.
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UPDATE on RHDV2 If you’ve been glancing at these
pages at all you may have glimpsed my pontificating about Rabbit
Hemorrhagic Disease-2 otherwise known as RHDV2. RHDV2 struck wild rabbit populations in
the U.S. for the first time in 2020. The disease has proven to be
devastating to wild rabbits in the SW U.S. The disease has not been
detected in Pennsylvania, yet. Because of the disease’s
possible devastating impacts to our rabbit and hare population the
Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) is gearing up for the potential fight
should it show up here. Me and the PGC are not only concerned about the
future of rabbit and hare hunting but the impact on the ecosystems. There
are many facts I do not have room to share in this space plus I’ve already
written about many of them in past articles (see November 2020 issue). I
want to mention here the “prevention plan” PA is undertaking. The PGC has started field studies
investigating rabbit and hare genetics to help understand how native
populations traverse PA’s mountains, rivers and other obstacles to help
predict movement of the disease across the state if it reaches here. Here are some
preventative measures from the PGC. ·
Observing multiple dead hares or rabbits in the same location is the
first sign of an RHDV2 outbreak. Do not touch them. Report
your finding to the PGC. ·
Do not trap and/or transfer wild rabbits or release wild rabbits from
other locations into your area. ·
Do not harvest, handle or move sick looking rabbits or hares. Report
cases to the PGC. ·
Do not leave harvested rabbit entrails in your hunting grounds. ·
Wear disposable gloves when contacting wild rabbits and disinfect any
surfaces or equipment that may have contacted the animals and wash your
hunting clothes, vests, gloves and boots. ·
Ensure domestic rabbits and their waste do not come into contact with
wild rabbits or hares. Also, if your beagle club buys domestic rabbits, please be careful. Buy only
from reputable dealers. In September 2020, the PA Department
of Agriculture issued an interstate/international quarantine order for RHDV2.
The order outlined the need for an interstate health certificate for all
live domestic rabbits being shipped to the state. It also suspended importation
of domestic rabbits from areas where RHDV2 has been diagnosed in the
past 12 months. The article was found in the January 2021 issue of the Pennsylvania Game News written by Joe Kosack. |
 |
My long-time hunting companion, Andy, on the Allegheny during the opening day of the 2020-2021 Pennsylvania snowshoe hare season.
Snowshoe hare are difficult to
find in PA even on a good day. Not only is the elusive snowshoe hare an escape
artist it’s an evasion specialist. You may take your best beagles to a cover
where you know hare exist but they are nowhere to be found today. Hunting hare
in prime cover and habitat can be frustrating and disappointing. A good pack of
hare hounds is a necessity. For unknown reasons, the hares may go on strike and
refuse to run. The same hare which ran for miles last week refuses to run today
even though the hounds have kicked it out time after time. There are days when
the beagles even seem to go on strike. A hunting buddy used the words, “bad
snow.” We always wish for fresh tracking snow. It’s for these reasons I
hesitate to invite anyone to go hare hunting as a successful hare hunt is
extremely difficult to produce.
There are many factors to be
learned, understood and misunderstood about snowshoe hare. Like most, I never
had the opportunity take “Animal Behavior 101” in conjunction with my degree
from the college of hard knocks. I gained that knowledge through years of
hunting. To be a successful rabbit and hare hunter I’ve been forced to learn snowshoe
hare, cottontail and beagle behavior the hard way. I’ve read endless amounts of
articles and books, however these examples only got me started. Over the last
more than half century, I’ve been well schooled on every hunt. On every outing
I’ve observed how nature works. Witnessing the magnificent snowshoe hare
outsmart the beagle by use of its inherited instincts, watching it bound
through the woods without making a single sound or see it glide across the
snowpack at unfathomable speeds is not only captivating but gives an insight
into snowshoe hare behavior and has made me a better hunter. These observations
would be impossible if I shot every hare on sight.
Above, James Creek Beagles Emma.
Below, Little Toby Creek Muzette Mountain Music
 |
Another elusive snowshoe hare poses for the camera during the
2020-2021 season.
Recently, I was asked, “The habitat where
you're running your dogs and finding these hares appears very different from
where I hunt in the Adirondacks, basically, I see virtually no conifers. Do you
feel that the snowshoe hares are in some way adapting to a more open
environment than perhaps in other areas? Certainly, the food is there, but what
about sleeping cover?”
I answered with the following: there are no covers on the Allegheny with naturally regenerating stands of cedar, fir or spruce like you find in the Adirondacks. Once in a while we'll find a thick stand of regenerating hemlock but not often. We do find patches of mountain laurel holding hare. We used to hunt the spruce plantations planted by the CCC boys and WPA back in the 1920s and 30s. In May of 1985 a devastating tornado system hit the Allegheny National Forest which made some great natural hare cover for 20 years. These plantations and blowdowns are now over grown with no sunlight entering. There is no understory because if anything did grow the over-crowed deer herd would eat it. The ground is a barren wasteland. Snowshoe hare hold in the clear-cuts made by private landowners and timber companies who make some great hare cover which the hare seem to like. If the timbermen leave tops and logs there is nesting cover. The ANF does not clear-cut due to pressure form tree hugging groups. On occasion we find a blowdown where the ANF has not salvaged the trees and there will be hare holding there.
Social media, confidential informants, rumor and innuendo indicate the 2020-2021 Pennsylvania snowshoe hare season was successful for many especially across the northern counties of PA. I believe hunting plays a very insignificant role in the survival of snowshoe hare in Pennsylvania. Forget about global warming or climate change, escape and nesting cover play the ultimate role in the continued existence of the majestic snowshoe hare on the Allegheny. It’s all about the beagles and it’s all about the majestic and beautiful snowshoe hare.
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