Rabbit and hare hunting in different parts of the country

[welkin]

I missed this thread some how. I know it’s a little older but I’d like to add my 2 cents.

Growing up in southwestern Oregon we shot a lot of snowshoe hares in the fall, mostly incidental while hunting deer and elk. Later in life we lived in Montana for a number of years and hunted them there strictly with .22s. I never figured out a great way to target them on foot in either place but had some luck walking old, grown over logging roads and finding them along the road margins. I’ve used a shotgun and a .22 LR for that.

We used to hunt Mountain cottontails in eastern Oregon on occasion by walking small rocky rims and draws. We almost always carried .22’s for this type of still hunt since it’s more open sage brush habitat and they didn’t book it out of there like a jack.

In my younger days we used to beat up on the black-tailed jackrabbits pretty good in eastern Oregon. We would usually cover ground in a vehicle while doing this but also had a lot of success walking them up out of the sage with a shotgun and shooting them on the run.

When I was a student at Oregon State University I worked on an undergrad project on the Eastern cottontails at E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area. At the time there was, and I’d assume there still is, a couple of beagle clubs that hunted on the wildlife area. I received an invite to hunt with them and always intended to, but never got it done. I really regret that because I think it would be a cool experience and a species I haven’t bagged yet.

Where I live now we have a ton of the brush rabbits but they’re so small I haven’t been able to talk myself into shooting one yet.

I still hope to bag a white-tailed jackrabbit some day and would really like to hunt for marsh rabbits in the southeast.

I really enjoy small game hunting and it’s always struck me as strange that there isn’t much of a culture for it out west. When I talk about hunting the big western gray squirrels around here people look at me like I’m crazy and my wife refuses to eat them.

Have any wisdom about finding the hares in SW Oregon? I know you said you'd get them incidentally but I really do spend a ton of time in the woods and I've only seen 3 ever that quickly disappeared into the brush.

 

[Rogue Bay]

Have any wisdom about finding the hares in SW Oregon? I know you said you'd get them incidentally but I really do spend a ton of time in the woods and I've only seen 3 ever that quickly disappeared into the brush.

My intel is a little dated but I’d be happy to share what I know. Where about a in southwest Oregon are you?

We shot more hares around Lemolo Lake than anywhere, but that’s probably because we spent so much more time in that country when I was young. The Windigo Gap road (down on the flats by the landfill) was a good area.

We also used to get a fair number around the thousand springs loop area but I don’t recall the numbers we saw around Windigo. East out of Union Creek was another producer.

Further south around Butte Falls we shot a fair number in the Blue Canyon area, northwest of Mt. Mcgloughlin.

The last area I can recall finding decent numbers was around the top of Salt Creek Rd., between Butte Falls Hwy. and Hwy. 140. They seemed to like that brushy stuff up on top.

Not knowing where you’re located I don’t know if these locations mean anything to you. If you’d like more info please let me know and I’ll do my best to help you out.

One thing I’ve never done is hunt them when they’re white. When I lived in Montana and northeastern Oregon I certainly saw them all colored up in winter, but it was never a time or situation where I could make a hunt for them. I’d still like to do that sometime.

Best of luck!

 

[welkin]

I work in the coast range around myrtle point and until recently i lived around azalea. Those are good recommendations thank you. Can you say anything about the kind of habitat you saw them in?

 

[Jeremyc_1999]

Just got back from hunting rabbits on southwest Montana. I have grown up hunting big game in Montana and have shot a few rabbits. Bit have never gone and targeted them until this weekend. I saw one jackrabbit and walked a bunch of miles. It was snowing. Does weather make a difference hunting these things? If I would’ve walked the same amount during September as I did this last weekend I would’ve had a few elk encounters. It seems I have a bit to learn on this targeting rabbits

 

[Rogue Bay]

I work in the coast range around myrtle point and until recently i lived around azalea. Those are good recommendations thank you. Can you say anything about the kind of habitat you saw them in?

One common feature I’ve noticed in those locations is fairly mature timber with a substantial underbrush/sapling component. The one exception to that is the spot on the lower end of the Windigo Pass Road. That location was primarily lodgepole stands with Gooseberry brush. I have seen them in regen units as long as there’s a lot of brush. I feel like they have some affinity for road margins but don’t know that for a fact. Maybe it’s simply because they can see better but are still close to escape cover. Maybe driving roads at twilight would be a good way to scout. Hopefully someone else will chime in on habitat preference as well.

I’m a little south of you and I know there have only been a couple of snowshoes documented down here but I believe they are more common in the coast range further north. I don’t have any specific info on that though.

 

[Rogue Bay]

Just got back from hunting rabbits on southwest Montana. I have grown up hunting big game in Montana and have shot a few rabbits. Bit have never gone and targeted them until this weekend. I saw one jackrabbit and walked a bunch of miles. It was snowing. Does weather make a difference hunting these things? If I would’ve walked the same amount during September as I did this last weekend I would’ve had a few elk encounters. It seems I have a bit to learn on this targeting rabbits

I believe they hunker down in bad weather like a lot of smaller animals do. I’ve always noticed more activity after a storm breaks anyway.

I can’t say for sure about Montana jackrabbits but they’re very cyclical here. Some years every bush has a rabbit under it and other years you can cover miles and miles to see one or two. I don’t see why there would be any significant biological difference there. Maybe it was just a down year? Keep after it and you’ll hit the mother load eventually!

 

[long hunter]

Just got back from hunting rabbits on southwest Montana. I have grown up hunting big game in Montana and have shot a few rabbits. Bit have never gone and targeted them until this weekend. I saw one jackrabbit and walked a bunch of miles. It was snowing. Does weather make a difference hunting these things? If I would’ve walked the same amount during September as I did this last weekend I would’ve had a few elk encounters. It seems I have a bit to learn on this targeting rabbits

Not sure about the western rabbits, but the eastern cotton tail rabbit populations run in cycles, the last two years where I hunt them has been great, it's about time for an off year in the populations here. Bad weather also plays a part as was stated, I have found the best time is after a storm has passed, especially a snowstorm, as the rabbits will look for a eastern facing area and enjoy the sun. Thick brushy areas are a good place as they will eat the bark off the briars and such. Move slowly and look for them sitting.

 

[Dejhavu]

Any place that may hold rabbits stop and look around for a minute or 2 .be ready to shoot. A rabbit will hold if they think you are going,to keep moving they bolt if they think you see them.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Being from the East I am always impressed with the size of
some of those Jackrabbits out West. Those things are enormous.
Would love to have some mounts from a couple varieties in the
man cave but I'm always after something else when I'm there.

 

[meta_gabbro]

Would love to have some mounts

I don't have any personal experience with mounting them, but I was chatting with my taxidermist when I was waiting to pick up a rug and he said that jacks are a bit of a pain to mount since the skin is kinda fragile. It really is thin stuff, you can pop fingers straight through it to start skinning one out.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Yeah, I cant imagine how they would mount those, esp. the ears.

 

[caveman70]

Great info here guys thanks for sharing. Im
Just now finding this thread and wanted to ask about experiences with tularemia in NM and other states. Would like to do some cottontail hunting in NM with my longbow, shotgun or 22mag but heard the disease can be pretty prevalent here.

 

[Poser]

My absolute favorite rabbit hunting is for swamp rabbits. They live in a belt running from West TN, down through North Alabama and into N GA. They are BIG. HUGE. They live in and around water, are excellent swimmers and will hide with just their noses sticking out of the water.

 

[FLATHEAD]

My absolute favorite rabbit hunting is for swamp rabbits. They live in a belt running from West TN, down through North Alabama and into N GA. They are BIG. HUGE. They live in and around water, are excellent swimmers and will hide with just their noses sticking out of the water.

We do have some impressive sized Swampers down here.

 

[long hunter]

Come over to my house there's a bunch of yard rabbits, probably don't need a gun they just sit and look at you, it's got so bad the dog won't chase them just no sport in it, I guess.

 

[velvet muley]

Not sure about the western rabbits, but the eastern cotton tail rabbit populations run in cycles, the last two years where I hunt them has been great, it's about time for an off year in the populations here. Bad weather also plays a part as was stated, I have found the best time is after a storm has passed, especially a snowstorm, as the rabbits will look for a eastern facing area and enjoy the sun. Thick brushy areas are a good place as they will eat the bark off the briars and such. Move slowly and look for them sitting.

I went rabbit hunting in the East last year with my daughter and could not find any good spots for cottontails, use to slay them on a weekend basis in Wyoming growing up there, definitely miss it. I was hoping last year was an off year, LOL.

I'll have to give it hell again next year.

 

[long hunter]

You need to find a farmer (who will let you hunt) the best places are overgrown rock breaks, grown up fence rows and thickets, go slow and watch ahead of you a bit. The slower you move the better you chance of jumping one up. And check everything it's pretty amazing how a rabbit can hide in the least thought spaces. Besides deer rabbits are my all time favorite animal to hunt.

 

[Stave]

I remember growing up in LA, and will never forget going down the road and seeing how the black folks hunted rabbits. Basically a drive and they used sticks. A bunch of em would be walking around in these patches, whooping and hollering, and the scared rabbits would just run around in circles until they got clubbed.

That's really interesting. Sounds like a technique passed down from harder, simpler times. I respect that!
. . . and I bet they have some finger licking cuisine!!

 

[Stave]

My absolute favorite rabbit hunting is for swamp rabbits. They live in a belt running from West TN, down through North Alabama and into N GA. They are BIG. HUGE. They live in and around water, are excellent swimmers and will hide with just their noses sticking out of the water.

Same. I got into swamp rabbits when I lived in western Kentucky. First one I ever saw was caught in a snare I set in a beaver/otter/rabbit slide in the Blood River. My experience hunting them was they did not run as fast or far as a cottontail. They are easy to hunt once you find them. And they are HUGE