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Thread: Snowshoe hare movements through the seasons

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Smithers, BC
    Posts
    5

    Snowshoe hare movements through the seasons

    I've been getting into Snowshoe Hare hunting in the Smithers area since January and previously sought advice on my technique here: http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showth...ting-technique

    Over the last three weeks the temperature has been rising and a lot of snow is melting. The spot that was quite productive for me through January and February now appears to be totally dead. I'm pretty sure I didn't kill all the hares, so where did they go?? The area has a mix of spruce, pine, and alder and I was finding all my hares in, under, or around the alder. The vegetation hasn't changed but the ground cover has - less snow, more bare ground, and a developing swamp thanks to the snow melt.

    I haven't found anything online that describes hare migration through the changing seasons, but in other threads on here I've seen people suggesting this is the case. I'm hoping someone can tell me...

    Do hares migrate to different kinds of habitat as the seasons change, and can anyone describe the kind of habitat they're most likely to inhabit in each of the seasons?

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Smithers, BC
    Posts
    5

    Re: Snowshoe hare movements through the seasons

    I got some feedback in another forum (http://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/11489/6606). The best response indicated that snowshoe hares do not make significant migratory changes through the seasons. This referenced article provides some useful and interesting background http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/range...re_forage.html

    I went out hunting two days ago and saw two hares in their changing colours. From what I can tell they're staying clear of the patchy snow and sticking to the snow-free bush. To me they seem much better camouflaged in their summer coat than in their winter coat. With heavy snow everything is white and the hares are just off-white so they stand out reasonably well. However once the snow melts the forest has a million shades of brown and it's much harder to pick out the hare's particular shade.

    I believe the hares have moved just far enough downhill to be free of the snow, because in their current colours they be very obvious in snow.

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