Snowshoe Hare Hunting

About the Snowshoe Hare

Snowshoe (Varying) Hare

Species: Lepus americanus

Description
The snowshoe hare takes its name from its well-furred feet which allow it to hop across deep snow. Their "snowshoes" are very broad hind feet padded thickly with bristly hairs. Like your own snowshoes, these feet distribute the hare's weight over a large surface area and allow it to move on deep snow without sinking in more than a few centimetres. Often called the 'snowshoe hare', it is more acurately called the "varying hare”. During the summer, hares are mostly brown with a little black on the upper surface of the tail and ear tips;  and grayish white on the underside of the tail and belly. In the late autumn though the hares begin to molt their summer coat, replacing it with white fur. This process lasts about 10 weeks, with the white fur appearing first on the ears and feet and moves towards the body until the molt is complete. Then is spring, this winter coat is again replaced by brown fur in a reverse process.  The changing of the color is thought by many to be changing with the seasons.  That is only partly correct.  In actuality their coat color changes with the changing light.  As days get shorter and light less, the hare begins the magnificent color transformation.

The hare is larger than the cottontail rabbit. Adults measure 15-22 inches in length and weigh 2-5 pounds. Female hare tend to weigh a little more than males.

Snowshoe hare are equipped with long ears to gather sounds, giving them an acute sense of hearing and protection from predators. Also, their front feet are quite strong and are specialized for gnawing on tree bark and twigs. The sensitive nose and long whiskers of the hares allow them to feed at night, and their large hind feet enable them to stand upright to reach branches while feeding, as well as stay on top of deep snow -- thus having an advantage over their larger predators.

The snowshoe’s tracks are similar to those of the cottontail, but are larger and the toes appear spread. The tracks made by the hind and front feet are often less than 12 inches apart, although they can be spaced more than 8 or 10 feet when the animal is running.

Reproduction
Snowshoe hares begin breeding in early March and continue through August. During mating, male hares pursue the females.  Each male mates with several females and the female hare can produce two to five litters per year.

After a gestation period of about 35 days, the female hare gives birth to 1 to 9 young. No nest is actually constructed, although she may give birth in a packed down area or "form" in sheltered spot under bushes, grass, shrubs or a fallen tree. Reproductive rates of the snowshoe hare vary geographically.  Snowshoes normally have four litters a year. There are major differences in yearly reproductive rates, with mean numbers of young per female ranging from 8 to 18. These annual differences mainly reflected variation in litter size and number of litters per year.

Females often remate within hours of giving birth. Thus successive litters tended to be born in groups at about 5-week intervals.  Young snowshoe hares do not usually breed during their first summer, but occasionally a first-litter female will become sexually mature by mid-July and produce a litter in August.The young hares are are born fully furred, open-eyed, and capable of hopping about almost immediately. Such precociousness is characteristic of hares in general, and is in marked contrast to the behaviour of young rabbits, which are born naked and blind. Young snowshoes nurse only once a day, usually in the evening, and are self-supporting at three weeks of age.  They weigh about 2 1/2 ounces and their eyes are open.

When they are ten days old, the young snowshoes begin nibbling on grass;  although they are not weaned until they are a month old. They grow quickly and reach their adult size by 6 months.

Snowshoe hares breed during the spring following their birth. However, mortality is high for the young hares and only about 30 percent of them reach one year of age. Those survivors will live for about 2 years on the average.  Hunting plays the smallest role among hare death.  Natural predators and disease account for the vast majority of hare deaths.

Food
The snowshoe's diet changes with the seasons. During the summer, hares forage on green vegetation including grasses, clover, dandelions and shoots. In the winter, when fresh vegetation is unavailable, snowshoes feed on buds, twigs and bark of woody plants like aspen, willow, birch, maple, sumac, and alder. They also prefer the needles of conifers, including fir; cedar; hemlock, spruce, and white pine.

Snowshoe hares sometimes damage forests by destroying young trees and new forest growth. They especially affect conifer plantations and nurseries, where high densities of young trees occur. However, in natural forest areas, the hares can actually be beneficial as they thin young stands and allow surviving trees better growing conditions. In any case, the damage done by hares is usually far outweighed by the many benefits of the species -- both as game animal and as a valuable part of the ecosystem.

Habits and Habitat
Snowshoe hare (only found in North America) inhabit mainly the northern portions of the United States and Canada, preferring conifer forests with areas of dense undergrowth. Conifer forests, young aspen stands and spruce and cedar swamps are especially good hare habitat.

During the day, hare rest, often hiding in low vegetation or even inside hollow logs or abandoned animal burrows.  Like most any animal they enjoy sunning themselves, and can often be found on south/east facing slopes trying to 'catch rays'.  They feed at night, with peak feeding occurring around 11:00 p.m.  While foraging, the animals often follow paths or “runways” which are worn into the vegetation. These runways can be quite obvious in areas of high hare densities -- especially on snow.

Hares are not highly social. During the breeding season, pregnant females drive off intruding males and male hares may actually fight each other by biting and clawing. The home range of female snowshoes average three to four acres, while males travel greater distances, covering the home areas of several females.

Snowshoe hares represent important food for a large number of animals, including coyotes, bobcats, foxes, weasels, owls and hawks. Also, accidents involving cars and forest and brush fires can result in hare mortality. Young snowshoes often die as a result of continued wet or cold weather.

In addition, parasites like ticks, lice, tapeworms, and lung worms can infect hares. Tularemia, a disease which is transmissable to humans, can affect snowshoes. People can avoid getting the disease by thoroughly cooking all snowshoe meat and by making sure not to clean or handle hares when they have cuts or abrasions on their hands.

Management
Maintenance of quality hare habitat in the state requires forest habitat management. Most snowshoe habitat is maintained by logging activity. These logging practices create young forest stands which the hares prefer. Forest management techniques like aspen vegetation, clear cutting, thinning and selective cutting benefit snowshoe hares.

Mortality
The snowshoe hare suffers from a great variety of infectious diseases -- viral, bacterial, and parasitic. It is also the victim of many kinds of mammalian and avian predators: among the most common are the lynx, red fox, coyote, mink, Great Horned Owl, and Northern Goshawk. The survival rate among first year hares varies annually from 3 to 40%. Annual survival of adult hares is also highly variable, ranging from 12 to 50%.

While disease and predation are often the immediate causes of death, their impact on hare populations seems to be greatly influenced by both weather and nutritional stresses. There is high mortality among young males, for example, when cool wet weather occurs during the first three weeks of life; increased mortality is likewise associated with prolonged periods of temperatures below -20°C in winter, and with food shortage during hare population peaks.

Population Fluctuations
The spectacular cyclic fluctuations of snowshoe hare populations are well known. The actual interval between successive peaks varies from 8 to 11 years and averages 9.6 years. During population peaks, hares often become extremely abundant -  sometimes referred to as a "rabbit high".  The cycle is synchronized over broad areas, and a similar cycle affects grouse and subsequently certain predatory mammals and birds that depend heavily on snowshoe hares and grouse for food.

Recent recearch suggests strongly that peak hare populations interact critically with their overwinter food supply, and that losses due to predation become significant only after the hares have declined to well below peak densities. The first two or three years of cyclic decline are characterized by low adult survival, very low survival of young, reduced litter size and a shorter breeding season.