ANOTHER WINTER ON THE ALLEGHENY by Joe Ewing

The following article appeared in BETTER BEAGLING MAGAZINE, July 2017 issue and in THE RABBIT HUNTER MAGAZINE, June 2017 issue.  The article is reprinted here with permission of the author.

From Western Pennsylvania,

the World Headquarters of

The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

and the desk of the High HareMan,

ANOTHER WINTER ON THE ALLEGHENY

by

Joe Ewing

The six day 2016-2017 Pennsylvania Snowshoe Hare Season came to a successful conclusion for the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny on Saturday, December 31^st, 2016.  It was a grand day to be in the great outdoors and on the Allegheny.  The sweet smell of freedom permeated the fresh clean air of the Alleghenies.  Kaz, Captain of the Big Woods Hare Hunters, daughter Autumn, along with Andy and the High HareMan were greeted on the Allegheny with temperatures of 22 degrees and a light breeze.  Snow cover of only two inches made the scenting and running conditions perfect for the seven beagles.

High HareMan's word processor.

Conditions were not favorable for good hare hunting during the first five days of the 2016-2017 regular Pennsylvania varying hare season. Confidential informants, rumor and innuendo made known few hares were harvested on the Allegheny.  According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s “game-take” survey “estimated” hare hunter numbers and estimated harvests have been declining every year for a long time.  In the year 2002 estimate, there were 1369 hares harvested by 3818 Pennsylvania hare hunters.  In 2015 estimate, the numbers totaled 738 hares harvested by 3434 hunters.    These estimated numbers seem suspiciously high to this reporter.   Personally, I’m sticking to rumor and innuendo.  Not long ago, while hunting hare on the Allegheny, packs of hounds could be heard in the distance singing their praises to the omnipotent snowshoe hare.  Pickup trucks loaded with hounds and hunters were easily recognized as they made their way to their favorite hare cover.  These days, in the big woods, the bawls of hare hounds have been obvious by their absence.     

On this last day of the season action commenced for the Big Woods Hare Hunters within seconds of the tailgate dropping.  The pack of seven beagles had a hare up and the chase was on for the next four hours.  Many "Tally Hos!" (sightings) were announced via two-way radio as the beagles did their work flawlessly.  The chase ended without explanation at about noon thirty.

Photo by J. Ewing

The majestic snowshoe hare makes his getaway on the Allegheny.

Captain Kaz and Autumn departed the big woods at lunch time.  Andy and the High HareMan continued hunting south toward the famous Tionesta (creek) for another half mile.  Kipper began working a cold track and, as usual, it wouldn’t be long until the hounds had another hot hare going.   The hare ran into a formerly fenced area and gave the hounds the slip almost immediately.  Sammie bounced the hare or one like it and the chase continued on with several more sightings and "Tally Hos!".   This hare was running short circles and the High HareMan should’ve had more photos but the hare outsmarted the cameraman several times.

The hounds suffered a breakdown with Sammie telling me the chase was over. With Kipper, Sammie and Nellie on the leash Tiggan and Aero kicked the hare once more and the chase was on again.  The hare was spotted crossing a lease road.   As curfew approached Aero and Tiggan were intercepted and leashed.   Another eight hours of nonstop racing.  The last day of the 2016-2017 season turned out to be an extraordinary day.

Photo by J. Ewing

Hare hounds lined out on the Allegheny.

Saturday, January 7, 2017 The Extreme Season Opens

Andy and I along with six hounds ventured onto the Allegheny to officially open the 2017 extreme season.  The air was chilly and breezy.  The extreme season is that time of year after the regular hare season and during extreme weather conditions in January, February and March.  In this reporter’s humble opinion these are the conditions which make for the most productive and enjoyable chasing on the Allegheny.

The hounds were released at 8:53 am.  Hare sign was everywhere in the fresh snow cover.  Soon the Allegheny was ringing with the sounds of beautiful beagle music.  At 3:17 PM I was loading hounds into the pickup with Andy leading the remaining beagles in shortly thereafter.  I was compelled to write in the book, “seven hours and change nonstop.  The awesome hounds did an awesome job.”

Photo by J. Ewing

The majestic snowshoe hare listens for the hounds during a chase on the Allegheny.

Saturday, January 14, 2017—Too Much Brown on the High Plateau!

Today turned out to be a bust!  The elusive snowshoe hare was even more elusive with the complete absence of a snow-pack.  The brown forest floor proved to be void of a white hare interested in taking the hounds on a chase.  Even though the woods were full of sign the seven hounds could not get a chase going.  At one point, it sounded like they might have a hot track going but all hopes were dashed.  We covered a lot of ground today.  What a turnaround from last week. 

Saturday, January 28^th, 2017—A Great Day on the Allegheny!

Another great winter day on the Allegheny in Elk County today as the hounds did a great job and a great time was had by all.  There may have been two chases going at times.

Wednesday, February 1, 2017  

Four members of the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny ventured forth onto the Allegheny in search of the illusive snowshoe hare.  The hunters were greeted on the high plateau by cold winds, sudden squalls and a deepening snow pack.  The snow-pack is now up to the running boards on the dog truck.

Friday, February 3, 2017 No Luck.

Four Big Woods Hare Hunters ventured forth into a knee-deep snow-pack today. The illusive hare would not cooperate today.  The hounds did some cold-trailing and bawled around.

Saturday, February 4, 2017 Time for a new strategy.

Eleven degrees above zero, four BWHHs and nine beagles on the high plateau today.  Snowshoes were used by all the hunters but not necessary.  It took two hours before the hounds found the illusive snowshoe hare in the laurel patch.  Round and round the laurel patch the hare and beagles ran.  The magnificent hare refused to leave the patch. 

Photo by J. Ewing

Whoops! Who are these people?

After three hours, with the area completely tracked-up, the deep snow and thick jungle like conditions taking its toll, the big woods became quiet.  The hounds were done.  Andy theorized there may have been more than one snowshoe hare in the patch.  Once more, another great day on the Allegheny.

Monday Feb. 6, 2017

Today’s hunt for the illusive snowshoe hare was not as spirited as last Saturday's. We did see sign.  A good thing.  The beagles could not find the illusive hare.

Saturday, February 11, 2017, A Great Day of Hare Chasing and Hare Watching on the Allegheny.

With the atmospheric conditions calm and a wet snow-pack of only an inch or two the eight hounds pounded and hounded the majestic snowshoe hare for more than four hours non-stop over hill and dale.

Photo by J. Ewing

Little Toby Creek Areo in deep snow on the Allegheny.

Saturday March 4th, 2017

Today's snowshoe hare hunt was probably one of the best days of the extreme season.  It had been a few days since our last outing for hare due to warm weather.  All hunters enjoyed many sightings of the magnificent white rabbit with many a “Tally Ho!” being recorded along with photographic confirmation.

Photo by J. Ewing

Saturday, March 4, 2017 Hare.

Saturday, March 11th, 2017 A direct attack into the laurel.

What a glorious day to be on the Allegheny.  Two hunters and six beagles ventured into the Big Woods of the Allegheny.  The plan of attack: proceed directly into what is now called "Laurel Patch East".  After three hours of round and round the laurel patch it became obvious the illusive hare was not about to leave the patch. The hounds were increasingly unable to run the hare with any continuity due to the lack of fresh untracked snow.

Photo by J. Ewing

Andy places a “boot” on Tiggans sore foot.

Photo by J. Ewing

Mountain Laurel patch on the Allegheny

Moving some 600 yards to the west in search of a new hare to run, the hounds skillfully managed to dig one out of, what will hence forth be called, "Laurel Patch West" and the chase was on.  This new hare, the second of the day, ran directly to Laurel Patch East, already totally tracked up from the morning, resulting in frustrated hunters and stymied hounds.  There was not a snow flake left unturned.

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia).

Mountain Laurel is Pennsylvania’s official state flower.  Mountain laurel is one of America’s most beautiful native shrubs.   Laurel is native to the eastern United States from southern Maine to northern Florida and west to the Mississippi River.  Laurel, often found growing in large thickets, is naturally localized to rocky slopes and shaded mountainous areas.  In low, wet areas, it grows densely, but in dry uplands it has a sparser form.  In the Alleghenies, it grows as a shrub sized plant but can grow to tree size further south.  The round white and pink flowers have attracted travelers since the early days.  Sunday afternoon sightseers flock to Pennsylvania’s laurel fields in season to enjoy the beauty of the laurel much like the “leaf-peepers” in autumn.

     

 Wednesday, March 22, 2017. Last day of the extreme season.

Three veteran members of the Clearfield County Chapter of the Big Woods Hare Hunters ventured onto the Allegheny to hunt the illusive Lepus Americanus with the Captain, Mrs. Captain and the High HareMan.  The group of six hunters all witnessed the majestic and omnipotent snowshoe hare and returned home happy.

I’ll never tire of saying, “another great day on the Allegheny.”  Fantastic friends, great beagles and the majestic snowshoe hare make everyday a great day.

Photo by J. Ewing

Wilson’s Sammie on the hunt on the Allegheny.

The extreme season looks for all intent and purpose as being finished for the duration.  It was a fair to good year considering the Big Woods Hare Hunters did not always enjoy cooperating weather conditions.  We chased many illusive, magnificent and omnipotent hare and the beagles did a wonderful job.

The Big Woods Hare Hunters chased the illusive snowshoe hare and wary eastern cottontail on many more days than I have depicted here.  We enjoyed many great days of cottontail chasing at the “proving grounds” not to be confused with the training grounds.  The winter weather was hit and miss with winter weather and snow one day and then warm, spring-like weather the next.

Only Andy made the semi-annual trip to Maine in March.  He reports great weather for hare hunting and he enjoyed a great time.  The Big Woods Hare Hunters didn’t make their annual trip to Maryland to hunt cottontails with the bow hunters this February.  It seems the bow hunters have had enough for a while.

No animals, hare or beagle, (except for Tiggan’s foot) were injured in the production of this article.

Thanks to all members who helped bring absolute enjoyment of the great outdoors. Thanks to the beagles for their never give up attitude and a special thank you to the Creator of the universe for giving us a worthy adversary.

For complete in depth details of each and every hare, rabbit hunt and more check out facebook.com/BigWoodsHareHunter.

Photo by B.K. Ewing

The High HareMan enjoying the beautiful winter weather on the Allegheny.

Barbara and Kaz wait for the illusive snowshoe hare on the Allegheny.

Sometimes the High HareMan had to use the horn on the Allegheny.

Sometimes during the winter of 2017 we trained on cottontail at the proving grounds.

Many days there was no snow on the high plateau during the winter of 2017.  The rabbit must have gone into a pipe.

Many days there was no snow during the winter of 2017.  Here we are running cottontails at the proving grounds.

Andy makes a "boot" for Tiggan during a winter 2017 hunt on the Allegheny.

Pennsylvania Snowshoe Hare Make Front Page News!

The more you know.

Pennsylvania Snowshoe Hares Make Front Page News!

The following article is copied without permission from:

PENNSYLVANIA Outdoor News-August 18, 2017-

Pa. snowshoe hares are cool customers

by Jeff Mulhollem-Editor

University Park, Pa.--

Snowshoe hares in Pennsylvania, - at the southern end of the species' range - show adaptations in fur color and characteristics, behavior and metabolism, to enable them to survive in less wintry conditions than their far northern relatives, according to a team of researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

These evolved, organic survival strategies, they say, suggest snowshoe hares possess at least a limited ability to adjust to a warming climate.

Understanding adaptations of non-hibernating mammals to cope with extreme cold and snow - and then, the lack of those conditions - is important because climate-induced changes in winter temperatures and snow cover are predicted to become more pronounced in the future, noted team member Duane Diefenbach, adjunct professor of wildlife ecology.

Animals living in the Arctic and Boreal regions - especially those adapted to survive harsh winter - are particularly vulnerable because these regions are experiencing the greatest change in winter conditions, said Diefenbach, leader of Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State.

"Understanding how a species has adapted to the different winter temperatures experienced across their range can offer insight into how a species might respond to future changes in winter conditions," he said.

Striking examples of that variability were documented by Diefenbach's team in findings published online in the Canadian Journal of Zoology.

They compared winter coat characteristics and heat production of snowshoe hares in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains, Monroe County, to hares in Canada's Yukon, in the southwestern Kluane region to investigate how hares might respond to changing environmental conditions.  [for more information on the Yukon's Kluane Region see, HARE-RAISING ENCOUNTERS by Mark O'Donohue and Susan Stuart listed on this blog]

The study also investigated how hares in Pennsylvania altered movement rates and resting spot selection to cope with variable winter temperatures.

To accomplish the analysis, data from a study of Yukon snowshoe hares collected in 2007 by research team member Michael Sheriff, assistant professor of mammalogy and ecology, was contrasted with information collected from 70 Pennsylvania hares trapped in 2014-15 by lead researcher Laura Gigliotti.

Some were fitted with radio collars that monitored location, movement and animal temperatures.

A master's degree student in wildlife and fisheries science when the research was done, Gigliotti is now a doctoral degree student at Clemson University.

The researchers discovered that hares in Pennsylvania had shorter, less-dense and less-white winter coats than their northern counterparts, suggesting lower coat insulation.  Hares in the southern population had lower coat temperatures, indication that they produced less heat than those in northern population.

In addition, hares in Pennsylvania did not select resting spots that offered thermal advantages, instead selecting locations offering obstruction from predators.

Hare - movement rates were related to air temperature, with the smallest movements occurring at the lower and upper range of observed ambient temperatures - the animals did not move much in winter when it was very cold or very warm.

Snowshoe hares are ideal to investigate the potential for species to alter winter adaptations in response to climate change, explained Gigliotti, because unlike other small mammals the hibernate, group huddle, or use nests as means of coping with cold temperatures, hare remain active on the surface throughout winter.

And they are active at night when temperatures are typically the lowest.

"Snowshoe hares also have well-documented morphological and physiological adaptations to cope with winter, such as an increase in fur density -- in addition to their coat color change -- and a low metabolic rate," she said.  "Hares also have a broad geographic range, which permits comparison of winter adaptations from populations that experience very different conditions."

Pennsylvania hares were, on average, significantly larger than hares in the Yukon, Gigliotti pointed out, and to their surprise, researchers found specimens that did not completely molt, or change coloration from brown to white, in winter.

That development, of course, helps hares camouflage and elude predators in winters with scant snowfall.

"We trapped three hares in January  that were almost completely brown, and it's the first time that has been recorded in eastern North America," she said. "There are hare populations in the Cascades in Washington that don't molt completely, but that had not been documented elsewhere.

Researchers, right now, can only speculate over what time scale Pennsylvania snowshoe hares' adaptations to warmer winters have occurred, and the don't know, yet, whether genetic modifications are triggering the changes.  But, in tandem, the adaptations may allow hares to survive warming long term, Gigliotti hopes.

"Our results indicate that snowshoe hares may be able to adapt  to future climate conditions via changes in pelage characteristics, metabolism and behavior," said Gigliotti, "Unfortunately, we don' know if they can adapt as quickly as climate change is occurring."

The Pennsylvania Game Commission supported this research. 

A hare hunters perspective.

by The High HareMan

First, the High HareMan is not a creationist in the broad sense of the term. (Creationism is the religious belief that the universe and life originated "from specific acts of Divine creation," as opposed to the scientific conclusion that they came about through natural process.)

However, when it comes to the snowshoe hare, the High HareMan believes the varying hare or snowshoe hare (lepus Americanus) was designed by the Architect of the Universe or by The Creator hundreds of thousands or possibly millions of years ago and remains today, basically, just it was and has been for all those eons.  There is no “natural process” here.  The “process” by which the snowshoe hare changes color in winter was not created by evolution and Darwin had nothing to do with any of it.  The snowshoe hare could not have survived from the get-go if it were not for his white in winter. The process of changing color in winter was designed by The Creator.

Second, "Our results indicate that snowshoe hares may be able to adapt to future climate conditions via changes in pelage characteristics, metabolism and behavior," said Gigliotti, "Unfortunately, we don' know if they can adapt as quickly as climate change is occurring."

The High HareMan is a “climate change” denier.  I do not deny the possibility of global warming or climate change.  I deny the possibility that man, especially me personally, can do anything about it and the poor snowshoe hare cannot “adapt” to warming temperatures and lack of snow-cover.  In the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s own words: “Cold temperatures and ground color have nothing to do with the pelt's color change. It results totally from phototropism—in other words, it depends on light. As days get shorter in fall, for instance, a hare's eyes receive light for shorter and shorter periods; this stimulates the pituitary gland, located at the base of the brain. During molt, the pituitary shuts off pigment production in the new fur, which therefore grows in white. In spring, lengthening days trigger the reverse of this process,” so says the Pennsylvania Game Commission @ PGC > Education > Wildlife Notes Index > Snowshoe Hare.

I don’t see the length of the day changing any time soon.

Nowhere in the article or in the abstract of the study was there any mention of phototropism or photoperiodism.

Third, I can believe animals can vary in coat or fur (pelage) production from one climate to the next even though the animals are of the same species. Beaglers know that beagles living in the south or indoors will have less thickness in their coat (pelage) than those living in the far north.

“Hare - movement rates were related to air temperature, with the smallest movements occurring at the lower and upper range of observed ambient temperatures - the animals did not move much in winter when it was very cold or very warm.”

All hare hunters know the illusive snowshoe hare are very hard to find in winter when the weather conditions are warm with little snow.  On the other hand, we have found the colder the weather the more the hare will be on the move.

"We trapped three hares in January that were almost completely brown, and it's the first time that has been recorded in eastern North America," she said.

I would sooner believe there to be something deficient in the hare’s diet or something wrong with the hare’s the pituitary.

In conclusion: Global warming may come and go but the illusive and majestic, and, yes, omnipotent snowshoe hare will persist as it has for thousands or millions of years, The Creator willing.

   

Field & Stream Magazine Covers the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

Field & Stream Covers

Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

To read more about the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny click on the link below.
Click on the link below.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2014/03/march-snowshoes-rabbit-hunting-maine

HARE-RAISING ENCOUNTERS by Mark O’Donoghue and Susan Stuart

The following article was printed in

Natural History Magazine, February, 1993,

reprinted December 1996, Small Pack Option Magazine,

and then reprinted, with permission in,

Better Beagling Magazine, August 2017 issue and

The Rabbit Hunter Magazine, July 2017.
It is now reprinted here for your reading pleasure with permission from
 Mr. Charles Harris at Natural History Magazine.

On the Allegheny

from Joe Ewing, High HareMan of the

Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny.

Mr. & Mrs. J. Taylor

USO Sponsoring Member Since 2011

Hi Joe

While browsing through my notes, I found this interesting study and thought you could use it in your columns.

Those red squirrels are a menace and I use Ramis to solve my problems.

Enjoyed the chase.

Keep in touch.

Jim

Proud to Support our Troops

A while back I received this note from Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny charter member Jim Taylor of DuBois, PA.  A true sportsman, master hare and rabbit hunter, Mr. Taylor has mentored many hare hunters, including this reporter.

The article he relayed to me was one I sent to him back in 1997.  The twenty-year-old article which Jim saved all these years was a photocopy of a December 1996 Small Pack Option Magazine article which was reprinted from a February 1993 edition of Natural History Magazine. 

At the suggestion of Mr. Taylor, and by popular demand, I wish to share “HARE-RAISING ENCOUNTERS” with the readers of Better Beagling Magazine.  Some old-timers may recall reading the report.  I will be adding pictures from my archives and I hope everyone enjoys the story.

With permission from Mr. Charles Harris at Natural History Magazine, the Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny are proud to present…

HARE-RAISING ENCOUNTERS

                           by Mark O’Donoghue and Susan Stuart

From Natural History, February 1993, copyright © Natural History Magazine, Inc., 1993

The week-old snowshoe hare huddled motionless under the low branches of a small spruce.  All day, the baby hare, or leveret, had hidden in the same spot, its soft, molted brown fur rendering it almost invisible – but not completely.  Death came suddenly from the trees above.  In an instant – twice the size of the leveret – was upon it.  Despite its shrill screams and attempts to flee, the young hare was soon overpowered.  Responding to its cries, its mother rushed to the site, stomping her feet and clicking her teeth, but she arrived too late.  The squirrel scampered up a nearby spruce tree with its prize and stashed the carcass in the crook of two branches for later consumption.

Squirrels killing hares?  Squirrels have certainly been seen raiding bird nests, but we knew of no researchers who had noted squirrel predation of hares.

Our study of the ecology of juvenile snowshoe hares began in 1989, in Canada's Yukon Territory.  Our work was part of the Kluane Boreal Forest Ecosystem Project, a cooperative research effort of three Canadian universities, whose aim is to examine the structure of the vertebrate community in the coniferous forests of the north.  Our 125-square-mile study area was typical of boreal habitats found across a broad band of Canada, Alaska and Eurasia.  Spruce forest, broken occasionally by small natural clearings and aspen stands, dominated the landscape.  A patchy and often dense understory of willows and bog birch provided ideal cover for the hares.  Throughout the northern part of their range in Canada and Alaska, snowshoe hare demographics undergo dramatic fluctuations at fairly regular intervals.  These fluctuations are often referred to as the ten-year cycle because the hare populations reach very high densities (one to four hares per acre) every eight to eleven years, almost simultaneously across North America. Then, over the next few years, hare populations plummet.  They fall as low as about one hare per 200 acres and stay at that level for several years, after which the cycle begins again.

This cycle is central to the functioning of the boreal community.  As hare numbers rise and fall, so do the numbers of their predators, although predator numbers generally don't begin to decline until a year or so after the collapse of the hare population.  Other boreal herbivore populations, such as grouse and squirrels, may also be affected by changes both in predator numbers and in the amount of food available after hare browsing.

A Pennsylvania Boreal Forest.

Researchers vary in their explanations of why the hare cycle occurs - some support a predator-prey cycle, others cite a hare-vegetation interaction.  All major studies, however, have noted the same demographic changes in hare populations over the course of the cycle.  Whether in the Yukon, in Alberta, or in Minnesota, the survival rate of juveniles is the single most important factor responsible for increases or decreases in the hare population.  However, the rate of juvenile survival measured in previous studies was always of hares older than one month.  Younger hares were difficult to find in the field and did not enter the live-traps set by biologists.  The purpose of our research was to determine the survival rates of hares from birth through their first days and weeks and to investigate their ecology.

When we started research, our challenge was to locate some leverets.  Young hares are well camouflaged, and, unlike rabbits, which give birth in relatively conspicuous nests or burrows, hares are born in well concealed depressions, often under logs or shrubs.  To be certain of having animals to study, we placed pregnant female hares in individual pens for a few days before they were ready to give birth.  As soon as the hares were born, we removed the pens so that the mothers and young could move about freely.  We ear-tagged 850 babies in order to identify them.  And, to follow the young hares’ movements more closely, we glued tiny radio transmitters, weighing approximately one-twentieth of an ounce, to the fur between the shoulder blades of 254 of the 850 hares.  We followed the leverets around every day, noting as they grew how they fared during their first weeks of life.

Snowshoe hares are very prolific.  During the two summers of our study (which took place during the periods of high hare numbers), most of the females produced three litters, each with one to nine young.  A female averaged about twelve young per season.  Females usually mated again on the same day on which they gave birth, so the litters were spaced apart only by the snowshoes hare’s thirty-six-day gestation period.

We were able to watch the births of one litter quite closely.  Sitting up on her hind legs, the doe gave birth to six young, cleaned them, and fed them their first meal, all in about fifteen minutes.  She then moved away and did not associate with her litter again during the rest of the time that they were together in the pen, about ninety minutes.

Unlike rabbits, hares are born well developed.  They weigh approximately two ounces, are fully furred, and open their eyes within an hour of birth.  They also gain coordination quickly and are soon mobile enough to crawl into a huddle with their siblings.  Even before they were a day old, they can hop fast enough to make capturing them quite a challenge.

Most litters stayed together at the birth site for three to seven days.  The amount of maternal attention the young hares received during this period varied.  Although seldom coming close to their litters, some mothers stayed within 50 to 100 feet of their young for the entire day and vigorously chased away red squirrels, ground squirrels, and birds that wandered too near.  Other females stayed completely away from their litters during the daytime.

The red dot indicates Kluane Lake in Canada's Yukon Territory.

When the baby hares first ventured out from their birth sites, they generally moved ten to twenty feet away and hid under shrubs, leaves and logs.  Occasionally we found one or more hiding together, but most of the leverets remained alone in these concealed spots, even on the first day away from their siblings.

With the help of a colleague, Carita Bergman, we kept a round-the-clock watch at the birth sites of several mother hares to determine how and when their young were fed after their litters had broken up.  From these observations, and from following the radio tagged animals, we learned that in their first couple of weeks the leverets remained in the same hiding places, often more than 200 feet away from their birth sites and littermates, for more than a week.  During their first few weeks, we observed juveniles nursing once each day, shortly after twilight, which – in the long Yukon summer days – was usually between midnight and 1 a.m.

In two of the nursing sessions we observed, the mother hare hopped through the area in which her young were hidden, about 120 feet from their birth site and 90 feet from each other and made high chirping noise.  Then she appeared to leave the area.  The leverets moved from their hiding places and regrouped at the birth site, where their mother joined them 30 minutes later.  On four other occasion, the individual leverets gathered at their birth sites with no apparent solicitation from their mother.  Each time, when the mother arrived at the birth site, she nursed her young for only about ten minutes before leaving again.  By morning, each leveret was back to its original hiding place.  Orrin Rongstad and John Tester, both of the University of Minnesota, found similar nursing patterns, as did French and Dutch researchers studying European hares.  The European researchers also analyzed hare milk and found it to be extremely rich and concentrated, which is essential for animals that nurse their young so briefly and infrequently.

Once the leverets left the birth site, they seldom returned except to nurse.  On one occasion, a litter of three, seven day old leverets regrouped at their sheltered “nest” on a rainy day, four days after leaving it.  On another, a radio tagged leveret left its birth site at three days of age and was found during the next few days with the newborn litter of another female about 200 feet away.  The young hare was healthy and gained weight during this time, so apparently, it was not rejected by its “foster” mother.  While many mammals will only care for their own offspring, leporids (hares and rabbits) may be an exception.  Researchers studying European hares and swamp rabbits have also noted cases of females accepting strange young.

As the young hares grew older, they gradually ranged farther from their birth sites.  By the age of twenty days, their home ranges approached those of their mothers in size (four to six acres).  They also began to move more during the daytime.  Hares younger than two weeks old could easily be approached while they remained motionless in their hiding places, but older leverets fled as soon as we got within ten to twenty feet of them.  Judging from their droppings, the leverets has begun to feed on grass and other herbaceous plants when ten to fourteen days old, but they continued nursing for another week or two.  After this age, most leverets were weaned, and their mothers had another litter on the way.  Juveniles from the last litter of the season sometimes nursed until they were forty days old, however.

The first juvenile hares began leaving their natal ranges when they were about five weeks old.  Those that we could follow usually moved at least a quarter-mile away from their mothers’ home range.  Only 4 of the 850 leverets that we ear-tagged when they were newborns settled as adults near their birth sites.

Soon after we started following the radio-tagged juveniles, we began to get some puzzling results.  Many of the leverets we tagged were killed before they were ten days old, and we found almost half the carcasses (80 of the 170 that died) in trees or in red squirrel middens.  Another tenth (18) of the leveret carcasses ended up, mostly eaten, in arctic ground squirrel borrows.

Red squirrels were abundant on our study area.  They constructed large underground middens around the bases of spruce trees where they stored their winter supply of spruce cones.  The trees standing in the middens so typically served as sites for the squirrels’ nests (irregular spheres of grass in lower branches) and additional storage of mushrooms and other items they gathered.  Ground squirrels were also common, especially in small clearings, and their extensive borrow systems dotted the floor of the forest.

At first, we concluded that these baby hares must have died of other causes and had been scavenged by squirrels.  We knew that both red and ground squirrels sometimes fed on carrion to supplement their mostly vegetarian diet.  As our research progressed, however, we began to suspect that at least some of the carcasses must represent perdition by the squirrels themselves.  For one thing, the number of stashed hares just kept mounting, beyond what seemed reasonable if the squirrels were simply scavenging.  For another, we couldn’t think what predator would kill so many baby hares and then leave them around.  Coyotes and lynx generally leave little behind when feeding on such small prey.  Two other potential mammalian predators – weasels and martens – were scarce on our study site.  And birds of prey, such as hawks and owls typically either eat their prey at the spot where they made the kill, or carry it off to their nests or special feeding trees.

Several observations bolstered our suspicions.  During the course of our study, other biologists working in the area twice observed ground squirrels attacking and killing young hares.  We also saw one red squirrel carrying a live, wounded levered, and three others running away from freshly killed leverets.  Just to be sure, however, we tested the scavenging efficiency of squirrels by placing carcasses of predator-killed leverets on our study sites.  The squirrels only scavenged about one quarter of them at the same time (early June) that we were finding evidence of squirrel for more than 85 percent of juvenile moralities.  These findings, coupled with our observations of mother hares chasing squirrels from their litters, gave us strong evidence that both red squirrels and ground squirrels were indeed predators of snowshoe hares.

Over the course of the two summers of our study, we calculated that only about one-third of the baby hares survived the first two weeks of life.  In the end, we concluded that of those that died, about three-quarters were killed by small mammalian predators, most likely red and ground squirrels.  By contrast, only 5 percent of the radio-tagged leverets were killed by great-horned owls, northern goshawks, and re-tailed hawks – animals generally thought of as significant predators of small mammals.  We have evidence from other research being conducted in the area that young hares sometimes wind up being gulped down by coyotes and lynx and eaten by northern harriers and northern hawk owls.  Even gray jays – robin sized birds known as scavengers – have been seen killing baby hares.

A gray jay.

By the time they are two weeks old, the leverets are too big and too fast for the smaller, opportunistic predators to catch.  Until then, however, the best bet for a litter of young hares seems to be to lie low and to split up as soon as possible, so that if a predator does strike, it won’t be able to feast on an entire litter.  Similarly, the less often they nurse, the less likely they are to be discovered.

The behavior of young hares and their mothers makes a great deal of sense when considered as a defense against predators. The answers we have found, however, have left us with many new questions.  Do squirrels prey extensively on leverets only when they are abundant?  Does this predation have a significant effect on the hare cycle, or would most of the leverets been killed later by other predators anyway? To answer these and other questions, we will need to return to the boreal woods at different points in the hare cycle and see how the leverets fare then.  But we are sure that for baby snowshoe hares, the forest will always be full of danger.

The Kluane Boreal Forest Ecosystem Project operated from 1986 to 1996 in the southwestern Yukon.  Comprehensive research information on snowshoe hare and many other animals may be read by googling the Kluane Boreal Forest Ecosystem Project on the internet.