# Snowshoe hunting



## Beagleboy2004 (Aug 25, 2018)

Just got a few questions about hunting snowshoes
1. Will my dog whos only ran cottontails be fine right out of the gate on hares?
2. What kind of stuff do you want to look for/hunt hares in?
Thanks


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## thundrst (Oct 7, 2007)

You'll be surprised how well your cottontail only beagles will run hares. I had the same situation years ago & my beagles seemed to have a lot easier time with the hares. I think they leave more scent & the checks are fewer & easier to straighten out. My beagles were larger & fast though. Maybe the really slow runners could need more time to go track by track. 

Look for cedar swamps with blow downs in them. If there is young 1-3" diameter aspen/poppler around the swamp that's even better. Good Luck!


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## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

No problem with your dog chasing hare; just know hare run much bigger. Your dog could very well go out of hearing. If you don't have a tracking system, i would get one.


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## GooseDude (Nov 5, 2018)

Any of them hares in the SW part of the state ???


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## thundrst (Oct 7, 2007)

sgc said:


> No problem with your dog chasing hare; just know hare run much bigger. Your dog could very well go out of hearing. If you don't have a tracking system, i would get one.


Yup! You might think they are on a deer at first. Also, when the snow is real deep, hearing distance is a lot shorter. It is an absolute blast though. If you have not tried it before you will be hooked when you do. Hope you have as much fun as I did back in the day!


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

Just got back from 2 weeks of running hare. There were a few times that the hare took the dogs 800 yards deep into the swamp. It would circle there for a half hour or so and then bring them back. Our hounds averaged 16 -20 miles a day on the Garmin's. This pic was 3and a half hours into a 5hr run. As you can see I was standing 12 ft off the line when the hounds came through. I just love these Garmin's you can see right where the hare is going t cross.


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## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

Lots of fun. I miss it big time.


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## hungryhollow (Jan 16, 2013)

Aren't those Garmins great


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

We don't shoot so we spend most of our time watching the Garmin's or just listening to the music. that's my good friend Rowdy from Wisconsin. I took that pic from my chair.


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

Beagle boy, your hound will do just fine. you just have to trust him when he goes out straight away from you full throttle.


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## hungryhollow (Jan 16, 2013)

I also love to hear the little hounds. I haven't shot a rabbit in 5 or 6 years.


reddog1 said:


> We don't shoot so we spend most of our time watching the Garmin's or just listening to the music. that's my good friend Rowdy from Wisconsin. I took that pic from my chair.


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## Hackman (Aug 13, 2008)

glad to see ya keeping the sport going. use to run hares in rose city area in the 70's. not sure there are that many around anymore. beagles great little dogs


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## Houndhunter12 (May 5, 2016)

Their are still hare up by the short pines in Rose City. I prefer to listen to the hounds run all day instead of shooting anymore myself.


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## sgc (Oct 21, 2007)

Yep, would much rather sit back and listen to the dogs run, see who picks up checks, see who's doing the best work, know the bloodlines, etc then shoot rabbits. I don't think I shot more than 2 the last 10 years I ran dogs and that was for the benefit of the young pups, but probably wasn't even necessary.


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## hungryhollow (Jan 16, 2013)

I guess we're all getting old and losing the "killer instinct".


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

My idea of running hare


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## SMITTY1233 (Dec 8, 2003)

Love hare hunting! Started when I was barley big enough to het through the snow behind dad. Hunted them for 20+ years had some awesome dogs ans met a lot of good buddies through the sport. The population dipped so bad in northern lower 10-15 years ago we switched over to coyote, cats and bears with the big hounds. I’ll be back to running hares and cottontails someday in my older age 


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## reddog1 (Jan 24, 2009)

Smitty, when you're ready get a hold of me, you can run with me on the Island. My hare camp goes for 2 weeks and guy come and go as they can.


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## SMITTY1233 (Dec 8, 2003)

We started going to the yoop after it got so bad in lower and man wad that fun abundance of game and then wolves kind of ended that for us too. Our last hunt in lower too us 4 hours to jump one and then no one wanted to gun it as we knew we’d never find another. I can still hear the pack rolling a breeding march hare! Huge circles and on goos scenting days you’d swear they were tied to them


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## hungryhollow (Jan 16, 2013)

All the photos look like good times to me.


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