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Snowshoe Hare Hunt w/beagles


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I thought I'd share a little story and pics from  a late Feb. 2018  Hare hunting trip to northern NY.  I live in S. central PA ; and it's a 5 +hr. drive. I arrived on a sat. at 11am and not familiar with the area ; but a friend gave me a few spots to hunt. I hunted with 2 beagles age 11 & 13 yrs... They still hunt like fools ! We hunted a spot for 3 hrs. with a couple slow runs . Plenty of Hare tracks but no sight of any Hare. I decided to try across the road from where I parked . I walked the edge of a swamp and with 3-4 feet of snow my snowshoes were fine until....I stepped down into a frozen waterhole and broke through. :scare:I extracted myself from the knee deep water and headed to my truck . Numb feet by the time I walked the 650 yds. and it's 3pm.  No extra boots so.. Day over :( . . Day 2 arrived with 4 in. fresh snow ;  and my friend with his 3 younger beagles. We tried a spot I scouted before getting to the motel sat. night. We weren't in the woods 5 min. and my 13 yr old beagle opens on a fresh track. As the other dogs harked in it sounded like a screaming freight train of beagles !  In less than a minute  they were outta hearing and at 400+ yds before the Hare turned and headed back our way. It evaded us 2 circles around; but the 3rd time my friend connects. The rest of the day was outstanding running ; with 9 Hare chases and 3 taken in Approx. 6 hrs. Here's a few pics. I will be back in the fall for sure.

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There was a time when I lived for Hare hunting with Beagles, the best part about Hare hunting is you actually like winter and want some fresh snow on the ground every day. Nice photos and like Dan said they bring back some great memories.

A blast from the past me dressed up in my Woolrich PA tux, Sorrel Boots along with my old SKB 20 ga double that I still have and use today, I would be after those Hare from dawn to dusk.

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What BBL length is your SKB, Al  ?

Mine is 25"  IC/Mod....I  bought it used in 1973 or 74  used but like new for $200 that I got from fox pelts as I was doing a lot of fox calling at the time..It has been my main upland game  gun since then also..Every hare I ever shot was with that gun except for  a couple I shot with my Browning Citori 12 gauge..

After many years of heavy use ( I never babied it)  it shoots as good as ever and still looks pretty good too...

Edited by Pygmy
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3 hours ago, Pygmy said:

What BBL length is your SKB, Al  ?

Mine is one of the early Ithaca SKBs  imported and sold by Ithaca Gun, a 280 model with the straight English stock, it is the same length as yours Dan, imp/mod-25 inches and also I bought mine used in the early seventies.

Al

Edited by airedale
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Where about's were you hunting? Up my way in the Adirondacks we have rabbit derby's every weekend from the 1st weekend in January till second or third weekend in march. Snowshoe hare only. Killed a lot of em under a dog with buddies. Biggest ones come from around corn fields edges and over grown swamps with cedar and pines and cattails.

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21 hours ago, Pygmy said:

OUTSTANDING  !!  Not too many things are much more fun than a good hare chase...Those things are like ghosts !!

Thanks for sharing...Brings back some fond memories...

I didn't expect the chases to be great after saturday's  slow running and no sightings. But with fresh snow on sunday and 78% humidity the conditions were perfect. The 1st Hare sounded like a deer chase:o. It was a straight line out to 400 yds . Thankful for the Garmin astro to track my dogs. At one point during a chase ;one dog broke off from the pack during a short check and soloed a hare; but I never seen it . It was my 1st time walking on snowshoes and I only fell once.  What a workout those snowshoes give you. :training:

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2 minutes ago, REDNECK4LIFE32 said:

Where about's were you hunting? Up my way in the Adirondacks we have rabbit derby's every weekend from the 1st weekend in January till second or third weekend in march. Snowshoe hare only. Killed a lot of em under a dog with buddies. Biggest ones come from around corn fields edges and over grown swamps with cedar and pines and cattails.

Tug hill  region . I only saw one other guy with Beagles. Also saw guys running coyote with big hounds. There's plenty of state forests to hunt in that region. I only bought a pair of snowshoes 4 days prior to the trip. Glad I did though.Snow was 3 -4 feet or more deep.

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8 minutes ago, Gunner said:

I didn't expect the chases to be great after saturday's  slow running and no sightings. But with fresh snow on sunday and 78% humidity the conditions were perfect. The 1st Hare sounded like a deer chase:o. It was a straight line out to 400 yds . Thankful for the Garmin astro to track my dogs. At one point during a chase ;one dog broke off from the pack during a short check and soloed a hare; but I never seen it . It was my 1st time walking on snowshoes and I only fell once.  What a workout those snowshoes give you. :training:

Usually the buck rabbit will lead straight out quite a few hundred yards and circle back. You'll know a youngings very small circles. This time of the year usually last derby little snow on the ground if any they stick out like Clorox jugs. Love it usually a lot of stray bunnies are killed then you know the lead when the dog is on it's tracks after the kill.

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6 minutes ago, Gunner said:

Tug hill  region . I only saw one other guy with Beagles. Also saw guys running coyote with big hounds. There's plenty of state forests to hunt in that region. I only bought a pair of snowshoes 4 days prior to the trip. Glad I did though.Snow was 3 -4 feet or more deep.

Anywhere near the independence river state forest outside of Lowville. I've hunted there quite a few times for deer lots of big woods. Did you weigh any of the rabbits. Our derby's go by weight 1st is like 300 dollars 2nd 200 3rd 100 and no rabbit 50. All supports local hunting clubs and are held at the local American legion.

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53 minutes ago, REDNECK4LIFE32 said:

Anywhere near the independence river state forest outside of Lowville. I've hunted there quite a few times for deer lots of big woods. Did you weigh any of the rabbits. Our derby's go by weight 1st is like 300 dollars 2nd 200 3rd 100 and no rabbit 50. All supports local hunting clubs and are held at the local American legion.

Love that area spent so much time on the independence trout fishing in sperryville.   Caught a lot of nice brookies there.  Sure isn't what it used to be for fishing now though.   But a beautiful river for sure.  I caught my first Brook trout there many years ago.

Edited by Robhuntandfish
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1 hour ago, REDNECK4LIFE32 said:

Anywhere near the independence river state forest outside of Lowville. I've hunted there quite a few times for deer lots of big woods. Did you weigh any of the rabbits. Our derby's go by weight 1st is like 300 dollars 2nd 200 3rd 100 and no rabbit 50. All supports local hunting clubs and are held at the local American legion.

We were just west of Lowville actually . We didn't weigh them.  They were very lean though. Hardly any fat.Cottontails seem to have more fat on them. I'm guessing around 4 lbs. ? I'll have to take a scale of some sort along next trip.

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