IN 1900, WHITETAIL DEER POPULATION WAS ONLY 500,000.

"PGC set to launch study of snowshoe hares"

HEADLINES:

"PGC set to launch study of snowshoe hares"

According to a recent (November 22, 2019) article in the PENNSYLVANIA OUTDOOR NEWS Southwest Correspondent, Deborah Weisberg reports, "the Pennsylvania Game Commission will begin a rigorous study of snowshoe hare high in the Pocono Mountains in January."

The correspondent goes on to say, "Specifically, wildlife biologists will seek to determine how hares respond to various habitats, so they can tailor forest management to benefit the species, said Emily Boyd, the commission's small-game mammal biologist.

Duane Diefenbach, a wildlife biologist and adjunct professor at Penn State claims, "However, scientist don't have a good handle on hare abundance and concerns persists about impact from habitat loss and climate."

The PGC has relied on "hunter-take surveys" to estimate population stability and distribution. Boyd implies that relying on these surveys makes for a lack of extensive data on hares. Boyd says last years harvest was about 540 snowshoe hares. It is never mentioned how this low number could be from lack of hunters hunting the species and/or hare hunters who do not want to kill the majestic animals.

"Few options exist for mitigating further loss, but developing early successional habitat could potentially improve hare's resilience to climate change, and increase survival in their range," said Diefenbach. Snowshoe hare enthusiasts have heard this tune many times before. We always and forever are developing early successional habitat. 

And when it comes to climate change, again, I quote the PGC itself: "Recent studies indicate the transformation is caused by the increase or decrease in the length of the days as the seasons change throughout the year.  From March to May the lengthening days cause gradual shedding of the pure white winter hair which leaves the snowshoe hare with a splotched coat, then finally with a pure brownish-gray summer fur. The process is reversed from late September to December." 

Until such time when "the length of the days" changes, it is our contention there can be no "resiliency to climate change". When winter snow fails to fall the snowshoe hare will be at the mercy of the climate. 

  

FINN

SAY HELLO TO FINN!

Finn, or as we like to call him,

Little Toby Creek Finn

is proudly owned by

Mike Stine

of

Warriors Mark, Pennsylvania.

Mike relayed to me Finn started out as a "blood tracking" dog.

However, as soon as Finn discovered cottontail rabbit scent there

was no turning back.

Finn wants to be a rabbit dog.

Mike wants to be a beagler and rabbit hunter.

UPDATE ON TROUBLE IN PARADISE

From the Big Woods of the Allegheny Plateau and the Wilds of Pennsylvania

Presents

UPDATE

on

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

This article was first printed in the October 2019 issue of

the american beagler
magazine.
and
the November 2019 issue of the
THE RABBIT HUNTER
magazine

This article is reprinted here under the authority of the author for your reading pleasure.

Written and photographed

by

Joe Ewing

High HareMan

Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

NOW INCLUDING A STUDY

High on the Allegheny, deep in the heart of paradise.

In the distance can be seen the ruins of the Kinzua Viaduct, now called the Kinzua Sky Walk. The bridge at one time was the highest railroad viaduct in the world and spanned the entire 2052-foot Kinzua Creek valley.

A couple of months back I presented my opinion in this publication and I labelled the article, “TROUBLE IN PARADISE”. I listed the difficulties cottontail rabbits, snowshoe hare, turkey and ruffed grouse are having finding suitable nesting and escape cover on the Allegheny High Plateau and, possibly, in all the forests of Pennsylvania. In my article I declared, “Hard times for the magnificent snowshoe hare and other small game animals like the ruffed grouse and eastern cottontail rabbits are here, now, on the Allegheny and no one is doing anything about it”. Wild game everywhere is suffering from lack of suitable habitat whether it’s from over development caused by the persistent incursion of civilization or from modern farming practises.

I’m proud to report there is someone doing something about the problem and they are working hard. The Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) is improving habitat for grouse in many places in the United States and in doing so they are helping other small creatures. The Allegheny Chapter of the RGS has taken on the challenge on the Allegheny Plateau.

I blamed the problem on the lack of suitable forest management. I also stated, “In the twentieth century, white-tailed deer emerged as one of the greatest threats to Pennsylvania’s forests. 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”.

We are headlong into the twenty-first century now and I believe my statement could not be truer. The over population of whitetail deer is the principal cause of Pennsylvania’s loss of forest biodiversity. The massive deer herd is a major hazard to food sources, escape cover and nesting cover for all small animals.

I monitor the information, including misinformation, from road-roaming, tree-sitting, deer slayers crying, “there are no deer in Pennsylvania”. If you believe there are no deer in PA just ask Allstate® auto insurance company, timber industry foresters or, especially, a beagler with a deer chasing hound. The whitetail deer has completely and irrevocably devastated the forests of PA. The majority of big game hunters do not care about small animals; however, it’s about the balance of nature, the ecosystem, stupid!

I’m pleased to reveal other voices are in agreement with my statements on the subject. A retired Allegheny National Forest (ANF) biologist named Mary Hosmer, of Ridgway, Pennsylvania, a member of the Allegheny Chapter of the RGS, and a member of the Rolfe Beagle Club in Johnsonburg submitted an article on a once very important piece of plant life on the high plateau of the Allegheny called “hobblebush”. Never heard of hobblebush? Nor had I and I was born and raised high atop the northern mountains of PA.

Ms. Hosmer’s article (July 5th, 2019 issue of the PENNSYLVANIA Outdoor News) asserts hobblebush as an incredibly important food source for animals “up until the early 20^th century”, Hosmer declares, “Hobblebush has almost vanished from the landscape here in northern Pennsylvania.” Hosmer asserts, “The once plentiful shrub with beautiful white flowers and high-energy berries disappeared once the deer herd exploded and overwhelmed their habitat.”

Rolfe Beagle Club member, Mary Hosmer and the High Hareman.

I’ve been monitoring Ms. Hosmer’s exceptional efforts since 2014 when she was named a “Field & Stream Hero of Conservation”. A Field & Stream (the magazine) Hero of Conservation is someone who spends his or her own time working to create, improve, or restore fish and wildlife habitat. Hosmer is leading a 10-year project to restore and manage 1,500 acres of private industrial timberland, which are open to hunting, and her efforts are helping improve conditions for ruffed grouse, woodcock, deer, and snowshoe hares.

Hosmer is leading an effort to reestablish a once very important piece of vegetation on the high plateau of the Allegheny. Hobblebush (Viburnum lantanoides), also called witch-hobble, alder-hobble, alder-leaved viburnum, American wayfaring tree and moosewood, may grow to 12 feet high with overhanging branches that take root where they touch the ground. These embedded branches form obstacles which easily trip walkers and hobble horses, hence the common name. The understory shrub forms large clusters of white to pink flowers in May to June. The fruit is red and transforms to black when ripe. Animals and birds, both large and small, feed on the fruit, twigs and leaves.

Pictures: Courtesy of Bing pictures.

Hobblebush, leaves and flowers.

Hosmer writes, “Like all of nature, if you take out or remove one piece you have the capacity to create unplanned havoc elsewhere. Hobblebush is a perfect example of the unraveling of an entire ecosystem across northern Pennsylvania. And once the deer decimated the hobblebush across Pennsylvania, the hungry animals wiped out other beneficial understory shrubs such as dogwoods, viburnums, grapes, berries and turned the once-thriving forest into a biological desert. Small wildlife had no place left to hide.”

The Allegheny Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society has a fencing project planned for this summer in McKean County, Pennsylvania to prevent deer from devouring hobblebush plants. The RGS chapter is fencing an acre of hobblebush seedlings to keep the deer out and allow the hobblebush to grow, produce flowers and berries for future wildlife. The plan is: birds will re-establish hobblebush seedlings across the landscape.

I have pointed out numerous times the advantages of deer exclosure fences. In the case of hobblebush, RGS’s fence will be a “hobblebush enclosure”. In Hosmer’s article she declares, “Enter some enlightened biologists and conservationists that discovered the beneficial aspects of deer fencing to protect habitat for other wildlife. Despite the high cost at almost $3 a linear foot to buy and install, some forward-thinking organizations and agencies are using this conservation technique to shelter these rare hobblebush plants as they find them in today’s forests.”

The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny applauds the members of the Allegheny Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society and Mary Hosmer for their dedicated conservation work on the Allegheny Plateau. They have become an inspiration to many.

In another article in the same newspaper titled, “Habitat growing focus for turkey management” writer Kyle Hey comments on the deterioration of adequate wild turkey habitat. Hey writes that while the wild turkey has made a remarkable comeback from near destruction, “The deterioration of adequate wild turkey habitat has magnified the impacts of increased predation, extreme weather, and hunting pressure – causing a precipitous decline in Pennsylvania’s turkey population since its peak in 2002.”

Writer Kyle Hey, from Mechanicsburg, PA, a history teacher by trade, wears many hats in the great outdoors which includes managing a facebook page and a blog/website called, RELEVANT OUTDOORS (http://relevantoutdoors.blogspot.com/). He is a board member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association (POWA) and an award-winning author. He told me, “My writing passions are conservation/habitat, whitetail hunting, and turkey hunting.” Hey also belongs to Backcountry Hunters and Anglers as well as Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA), “because of their habitat and public access emphasis”. Hey’s complete article on turkey habitat can found on his blog.

Hey quotes the chief forester for the PGC, David Gustafson, “Well thought-out timber harvests that change forest age classes and create different structures are beneficial for turkeys. We make sure we are looking at the entire life cycle of a turkey and all the different forest components. That sunlight also stimulates the growth of numerous grasses and forbes that turkeys feed on, as well as supporting more diverse and abundant insect life.”

Two hens and their broods quickly disappear into the cover on the Allegheny.

In his enlightening and informative article Hey quotes PGC biologists, foresters and PGC managers on what they think is needed, what is beneficial and what they plan on doing about the problem, but, Hey states, “Unfortunately, much of the state is dominated by single age class forests and other monocultures of habitat.” Hey goes on, “Robust turkey habitat requires diversity. The interspersion of different habitat types, such as young forests, thermal cover, old-growth forests, and herbaceous openings, work in concert to meet the diverse needs of wild turkeys throughout the year.”

The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny are confident the statements Hey makes are true for wild turkey as well as ruffed grouse, cottontail rabbits, snowshoe hare and all types of small beings. Nowhere in Hey’s article does he or the PGC mention the ever-present competition from whitetail deer.

Hey finishes his article by saying, “As the scope of the impact of predation, disease and other factors continues to become evident, proper habitat management will become increasingly crucial to stabilize wild turkey populations.”

The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny interpret the “other factors” Hey eludes to as being the whitetail deer herd and the “proper habitat management” which he claims is becoming “increasingly crucial” as being a reduction in the deer herd.

The PGC manages 1.5 million acres of state game lands in Pennsylvania (more acreage than the state of Delaware) of which, the article states, are 93% covered in trees. We feel if the game commission could only recognize the impact of the over populated deer herd and massive single age class forests all species, including deer, would be far better off.

As I stated in my previous articles, “Our public forests are in desperate need of improved management. More trees need cut. Selective-cutting does not work. Selective-cutting or 'selection cutting' moves a forest towards an uneven-aged or all-aged condition. Trees are a crop that require harvesting in a timely manner. Clear-cutting small patches of timber every few years creates a mixed age forest. The forests need timber harvests that change forest age classes."

In Pennsylvania whitetail is king and I fully understand deer hunting is a near religious experience and it may be severely perilous, even blasphemy, to speak out against whitetail deer; however, it’s about the ecosystem and the balance of nature.

I am just an old snowshoe hare hunter who sometimes doesn’t know up from down, however, the writing is on the tree, sorta speak. We must let our public officials know what we perceive, expect and what the snowshoe hare and other small game animals require to survive. It’s time we get serious about small animals and the ecosystem. The rhetoric must stop and action is essential.

The eastern forests of North America were once a perfectly balanced ecosystem. One day our forests will return to their once divine state, but this will be a thousand years after humans disappear from the face of the Earth.

Thanks for listening.

Visit our blog @ www.bigwoodsharehuntersoftheallegheny.blogspot.com

Visit us on facebook @ www.facebook.com/bigwoodsharehunters

And now on youtube.

Lower portion of Spring Creek, Elk County, PA

Lower portion of Spring Creek, Elk County, PA

Lower portion of Spring Creek, Elk County, PA

REDEMPTION

The following article was first published in the September 2019 issue of

the american beagler

magazine.

Subsequently, The October issue of

THE RABBIT HUNTER

magazine.

It is presented here with additional photography and information for your reading pleasure by authority of the author.

From Western Pennsylvania,

And

The World Headquarters of

The Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

REDEMPTION

Written

By

Joe Ewing

High HareMan

Of the

Big Woods Hare Hunters of the Allegheny

Photographed by

Michelle M. Murray and

Joe Ewing

 

The Clarion River near Cooksburg, Pennsylvania

The Clarion River, the playground of western PA

“The hunter that travels out into the woods is lost to the world, yet finds himself.”-Unknown.

Redemption was not bestowed upon me in any one defining moment of triumph. Atonement came during tranquil moments of self-reflection, contemplation and soul-searching. Deliverance came during moments of quiet self-examination in the great outdoors.

I like to keep records. I’ve kept paper records or a journal of almost every rabbit hunt or training run in which I’ve participated. I’ve concocted a paper form which I now utilize. I enjoy referring to these notes. These simple scraps of meaningless looking paper never cease to bring back pleasant memories.

Not long ago a beagling friend called me on the phone. During the conservation he mentioned his beagle was pregnant and that’s all he said. After hanging up the phone a thought went scurrying through the not yet dead segments of my minuscule brain. I combed through my paper notes, found the last time he and his female beagles hunted with my males. It had been exactly 60 days.

The next night the phone rang again and my friend began with, “Say, when was the last…?”

“I’m way ahead of you,” I rudely interrupted. “You’re having puppies next Friday.” To make a long story short his female wasn’t pregnant and the litter didn’t materialize for reasons too extensive to expound upon here. The bottom line, I had my records and I didn’t have to rely on my declining recollections.

In the late 70s a bunch of us hunted eastern cottontail rabbits hard. I mean intensely. We were young and seemed to have an obsession with the sport of rabbit hunting. We were out in the fields before daylight every chance we could possibly find and according to my notes there is no way I could’ve returned home until after dark most days. I loaded beagles in the dark in the morning, I fed hounds in the dark in the evening and I skinned cottontails in the dark of the night. Many days we spent as many as 9 or 10-hours hunting rabbits. As long as there was daylight, we chased beagles. Everyone filled their bag limit most days. According to my archives, on at least one occasion, Andy and I led dogs across the breast of a beaver dam in the dark of night. We then leashed hounds another two miles to the trucks. My records don’t show if we got our feet wet.

Courtesy: Google Earth

My records also don’t indicate our beliefs, opinions, conceptions or misconceptions, but I know we were fanatical with hunting to the point of excessive, single-minded zeal. Our motto was, “Hunting isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” We hunted rabbits anywhere and everywhere we could find them. Holding down a job was our only inconvenience.

We hunted the abandoned strip-mines of southern Clarion County, Pennsylvania. A co-worker owned a small hobby-farm and ran a greenhouse/nursery operation surrounded by abandoned strip-mines and he literally hated the cottontail rabbits which ate his nursery stock and vegetable garden. His farm and the abandoned strip-mines were loaded with rabbits. Ed didn’t care if we shot cottontails in his back yard just as long as we killed rabbits. We tried to be careful around the farmhouse; however, the greenhouse suffered a few BB holes on occasion. It was fortunate the greenhouse wasn’t made of glass. After old Ed’s passing his farm was obliterated from the face of the Earth by the strip-miner’s dragline. It was sad to see the place in which Ed took so much pride and the place we loved to hunt rabbits disappear with one fell swoop of a D-9 bulldozer and the ravenous bite of the dragline.

Strip-mining (open pit mining) is a type of surface mining for coal and other minerals including petroleum. Strip-miners opened up a long strip of land and removed the coal. They moved the soil and rock (overburden) to the side, dug as deep as possible with the equipment they had available, removed the coal seam and were gone. The greedy coal barons never worried about restoring the land, back-filling or acid mine water. Many creeks and streams in Clarion County still display the bright orange of sulfur mine drainage. At one time the Clarion River was the most polluted river in Pennsylvania. I’m sure rabbit hunters across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and many other states know all about the curse of strip-mining. Thanks to the volunteer work of conservation groups like the Mill Creek Coalition the Clarion River runs clean and was voted Pennsylvania’s river of the year.

 

An old abandoned strip-mine, unrestored, overgrown and worthless land.

The strip mines we hunted in were covered with slow growing non-native trees and shrubs. Native varieties of trees would not grow in the acid shale spoil piles or “spilly piles” (local jargon) which the strip-miners left behind.

A spoil pile, also called boney pile or slag heap, is a pile built of accumulated overburden or other waste material removed during coal and ore mining. These waste materials are composed of shale as well as sandstone and various other residues.

One of the hazards of strip-mines are “highwalls”.  A highwall is the unexcavated face of exposed overburden in a surface mine. The coalminers dug straight down leaving a hazardous cliff-like precipice. Although I’ve witnessed cottontails make their escape up a highwall, on many occasions the beagles would chase the cottontails to the very brink of the highwall and there the chase would end with the beagle catching the rabbit. My beagle, Honey, would show up with the rabbit, wagging her tail and feeling very proud of herself.

Numerous iron furnaces operated from 1829-1867 in Clarion County. The county was often referred to as “The Iron County.” There are many iron ore strip-mines in the county. One of these abandoned iron ore strip-mines is within a few yards of my back door. I couldn’t believe my good fortune when I moved into the house where I now live. The iron mine was covered with great rabbit cover and full of rabbits. On many evenings I came home from work, placed my favorite legal beverage in my pocket and within minutes the beagles would be on a rabbit. I trained and hunted cottontail in the abandoned iron mine for many years until civilization and development crowded me out.

Helen Furnace, one of numerous iron furnaces in Clarion County, was built in 1845 on the Alexander McNaughton farm. This cold blast furnace operated until 1857. In 1856, within a 26-week period of operation the furnace generated 26 tons of iron.

More Clarion River.

In the late 1970s Congress passed a new law which changed strip-mining practises dramatically. The law regulates the way coal miners reclaim the land. We hunted for eastern cottontails in the reclaimed strip-mines of central and southern Clarion County, Pennsylvania during the late-80s and all through the 1990s.

The mining companies planted thousands of non-native evergreen trees which made excellent rabbit cover. The restored land soon became virtually overrun with rabbits and we hunted them with obsession. The ground was compacted from the restoration process so there were no holes for the rabbits to escape. They never stopped running. As the non-native pine and spruce continued to grow, they shaded out the understory. These trees are slowly dying, the sun is reaching the ground and the rabbit habitat is slowly returning.

One Thanksgiving morning years ago we stopped at a promising looking cover, just to try it for a few minutes. We each had promised to be home for Thanksgiving dinner. The few minutes turned into a few hours and everyone was late for Thanksgiving. I never promised to be home at noon again; however, we hunted this new cover for many years.

Numerous whitetail deer abound in the area.

In 1987 my son turned twelve years old and started hunting rabbits with the gang. He had trailed along on many rabbit hunts and now it was his turn. I let him shoot most of the cottontails we ran which felt good to me. He was having fun shooting rabbits in front of the hounds and I was having the time of my life as the dog handler. I only had two safety rules: unload the shotgun and “safety on” while gutting the kill and, mainly because my beagles were fast, I allowed “no jump shooting”. The beagles had to circle the rabbit one full circle before we were allowed to shoot. I didn’t want any hunter or beagle to suffer during my watch. I often told young hunters, “I don’t care if you shoot me in the backside; however, if you shoot one of my dogs I’ll be upset,” or, something to that effect.

It was about this time we really got into snowshoe hare hunting. The more we hunted them the more we loved it. During a moment of quiet introspection, it became apparent we couldn’t shoot them all and still have hare for the beagles to run. At some point along the way it became more about the dogs than about the killing. We were gaining respect for the magnificent snowshoe hare as we discovered what an elusive adversary the hare really was.

During a hunt to the Adirondacks our guide asked if his son would be allowed to shoot a hare. “Sure,” was the answer, “no problem.” Soon, I heard a bawl from a beagle and the immediate report of a shotgun. The lad had shot the hare on the jump right out from under the beagles. I had travelled to New York to listen to the beagles run. It was cases like these which led to the “one-hour-rule”.

On a trip to the Tug Hill Plateau in New York the pair of beagles kicked up a hare and were running expertly in the deep snow. As the hare ran past the first hunter a report came over the hand-held radio, “the hare just ran past.” As the hare ran past the second hunter, “hare on the run.” As the snowshoe hare ran past another hunter and then another the same report was relayed. By this time our guide was completely beside himself. He had never heard of such a thing.

I’ve taken many hunters snowshoe hare hunting over the years. On many of these hunts the hare would amble by and the hunter armed with a 12-guage would miss. The snowshoe hare would run for another two, three or more hours before the hunter would connect. It was after a few of these hunts, after moments of self-reflection, contemplation and soul-searching, the “one-miss-rule” and the “two-hour-time-limit” were added to our rules of engagement etiquette. It was becoming “all about the beagles”.

I’ve been chastised, castigated, made fun of, laughed at, ridiculed and even belittled because of our rules and of course it doesn’t matter to me or anyone I hunt with. Actually, it’s all part of the fun. We believe in our cause and we’ll never veer off course.

I’ve received redemption in the great outdoors. Is it wrong to shoot a magnificent snowshoe hare? Probably not, however, you’ll do better if you show respect for your quarry. It’s all about the beagles, first and foremost, and all about the snowshoe hare.

“Go afield with a good attitude, with respect for the wildlife you hunt and for the forest and fields in which you walk. Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience. It will cleanse your soul and make you a better person.”-Fred Bear