When I prioritize my favorite gunning seasons, rabbit hunting isn’t very high on the list. Having said that, I have to admit that a winter never passes where I don’t chase rabbits at least three or four times. Some outings are solo events, other times I beat the brush with a couple of friends, and once in a while I’m lucky enough to get invited along by one acquaintance or another who owns some hare hounds.

Over the years I’ve learned two basic facts from my encounters. First, early December and late March are my favorite times to chase rabbits. Second, words like routine, mundane, and humdrum are never appropriate for any of the bunny-chasing excursions I’ve experienced. Rabbits are true magicians at disappearing right in front of your eyes. They are able to hole up and take cover in the smallest spaces, often letting a hunter walk within feet of them, yet never moving a muscle. When they do make a break for it, regardless of snow depth, brush thickness, or other obstacles, rabbits are very fast and elusive targets.

Hare hunting

Maine’s snowshoe rabbit, scientifically named Lepus americanus, is actually referred to as a varying hare. This moniker refers to the ability to change color from warm-weather brown to winter white, a trait that offers excellent camouflage from four- and two-legged predators. On rare occasions, this color change can work in favor of the sportsmen.

Cold fall weather, shorter days, and imminent snow causes rabbits to change color, but every few years the snow holds off until mid or late December and we have white rabbits on brown ground. It’s a unique, short-term advantage and one reason I always hunt hare in early December. It’s still not slam dunk shooting, because the rabbits seem to know they stand out and are more wary and wily than usual. The recent end of several favorite hunting seasons and light snow cover are other reasons I favor early December hare hunts.

March, especially the last two weeks, have become my favorite period to chase rabbits. Snow cover is dwindling, allowing easier woods walking and access to more covers, and the weather is much more comfortable than midwinter. The main plus to rabbit hunting this month is the mating season. Snowshoe hare are crepuscular by nature, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk, spending the rest of the day holed up in a well-concealed hideaway. This month, the need to find a mate overpowers their normal routine, and rabbits are out and about cruising for a furry friend throughout the day. March gunners, especially those without dogs, are going to spot a lot more rabbits this month thanks to the need to breed.

Whether sportsmen live in a rural Aroostook town or a central Maine city, there’s a productive rabbit hunting cover within 15 minutes of home, often closer. For availability, consistent population, and sheer gunning potential, snowshoe hare have to be the Pine Tree State’s No. 1 game animal. A six-month season, generous bag limit, and simplicity of gear and hunting methods make hare hunting an everyman’s sport.

Hare are found in any forest setting with brushy ground cover, from sea level to 5,000 feet of elevation. Mixed hardwood and softwood, cedar swamp edges, crop fields gone to second growth with intermixed firs, old burns, and brushy stands of mixed birch and poplar are prime hunting areas. Regions with vast agricultural or dairy land offer cover in the form of hedgerows, rock piles, and fence lines, and especially small wood lots.

The only way to gauge the true potential of a likely tract is to investigate on foot. Trudge around brushy rock piles, along each side of tree lines between fields, and wander and wind through small wood lots searching for sign. Tracks are unique and easy to identify, and there will be actual trails between feeding and resting areas in well-populated territories. Small tree trunks, saplings, and brush with missing bark and tippets will signify feeding bunnies in the area, and round, small brown buckshot-size pellets will verify their presence and numbers.

Hunting solo

Although dogs are indeed an asset, hunting snowshoe hare without canine assistance can still yield consistent shooting success. The key to solo bunny busting is to walk a little and watch a lot. A fast pace with brush-busting noise will send rabbits hopping for safety well before a hunter spots them, but a slow, easy pace with quiet movement will lead to more rabbits holding tight. Move five to 10 steps, then stop and use your eyes.

Hunters need to carefully look under fir bows, beneath blowdowns, and amongst every clump of brush. It’s amazing how well a hare can hide in minimal cover. Searching for a white rabbit in white snow is a daunting task, so practice looking for a specific feature or minuscule motion. Try to pinpoint a dark glistening eye, a brownish tinted ear, a twitching nose, or the flick of an ear among brush and brambles. Sometimes if a sport stands still long enough, while searching by just turning his head, a well-hidden hare will suspect it has been spotted and make a break for it, offering a shot.

If a couple of buddies can be convinced to join a hunt, odds of spotting game and getting a good shot improve noticeably. Shooters spread out in a skirmish line, always staying parallel within constant sight of each other as they move and stop stealthily through a cover. When a gunner bumps a bunny, even if he doesn’t have a good shot, one of his partners on either side often will. More hunters will cover more ground, push out more rabbits, and yield more and better shots.

For fence lines and hedgerows, one man pushes up the middle while shooters work the outside edges waiting for a flushed rabbit to break out into the open. For brush piles and large blowdowns, once again one man works as the dog, thrashing around in the limbs and branches until a bunny makes a run for it.

Rabbit rage

Like all wild game, rabbits possess unique qualities that keep hunters like myself intrigued and in pursuit, despite their small-game status. A few years ago two friends and I donned snowshoes for a pre-work rabbit hunt along a power line about a mile from my house. We bagged a brace of bunnies within the first half hour and were working our way through a fir and alder thicket when I spotted a white blob among the bows of a blowdown.

My soft whistle stopped Greg and Les, who were on either side of me. I pointed and we all went to port arms, ready to shoulder and shoot. I plodded closer, within 20 feet, careful not to catch a snowshoe tip on a snag. No eye, no nose, no ear was discernible, but it sure looked like fur among the snarl of fir tippets, brush, and branches.

Moving within 10 feet still produced no movement, and I began to doubt my own eyes. “Maybe it’s a piece of birch bark,” I murmured just loud enough for my buddies to hear. I saw Les lower his shotgun in my peripheral vision. Even my voice had no effect on the whitish blob. I was within four feet, crouched over and squinting at the white spot, when my step loudly snapped a limb. Still no response. I knew then my eyes must be playing tricks on me.

I straightened up and was about to turn away, but I just wasn’t satisfied. Just for my own satisfaction and curiosity I leaned over and poked my gun barrel through the fir bows and thick brush to gently prod the inanimate white object. I knew it wasn’t alive, but I just had to figure out what it was.

Scared isn’t the right word; shocked, startled, amazed, unnerved, or even intimidated would better describe my state when a very large snowshoe rabbit, unhappy about being poked in the butt, spun around and leaped at my face. I snapped upright, tried to backpedal and caught the tails of my snowshoes, performing a crude backward somersault, much to the amazement of my buddies. They laughed so hard no one even took a shot at the fast-receding attack rabbit.

Now I know that usually timid hare was just trying to escape as it leaped free of the brush and bounded across my snowshoes. I explained to my hunting partners that I tripped while trying to spin around for a shot, but they only laughed harder. Perhaps you aren’t buying that story, either, but I’m sticking to it. What I will never understand is why that rabbit stayed put as long as it did. Its fast retreat proved it wasn’t ill or injured. Wild animals do strange things, even the harmless hare, and that’s just another reason I hunt. I can’t wait to see what strange event will happen on the next outing.

When March ends, so does rabbit hunting season, so take advantage of the next three weeks for some great gunning opportunities. And don’t forget, snowshoe hare are as just as rewarding as tablefare as they are as quarry afield. Roasted, fricasseed, or in a stew, properly prepared rabbit is a true taste treat. Get out and about for some of the season’s best hare hunting while you still can, and remember, if it looks like a rabbit, shoot, don’t poke!

Outdoor feature writer Bill Graves can be reached via e-mail at bgravesoutdoors@ainop.com