Snowshoe Hares

[BrownBear]

Anyone else out there hunting snowshoe hares? I'm currently using a 36 caliber percussion with fine results, but interested in feedback on various 32 cals, too. Looking for "speed loader" options for the 36 such as those available for larger calibers. Any options? Simply a matter of convenience when hunting in thick brush.

I formerly used a 12-gauge double over beagles, but found the second barrel superfluous. White rabbit on white snow behind white smoke- You get the picture. No such thing as a follow-up shot, so why bother cleaning two barrels.

 

[Haggis]

"HEAVY", I repeat, "HEAVY" emphasis on hunt. We have snowshoe hares in our part of the country, They hop all over my yard and fields in the summer but they seem to blend into the background in winter. I see them in summer, I can track them in winter, I see their carcasses along the highway in a defunct condition; but dang it all, they are hard to see in the woods!!!

I like hunting rabbits with a .32 to .40 rifle, but the SS hares are giving me a fit.

 

[Haggis]

It's a bit late today, but I'll give it a try tomorrow. Thanks for the information. I've always preferred small game hunting to large game due to the extended seasons and bag limits.

I deer hunt, this year my son and I took six head; three each but mine were bigger, but small game can be daily excitement over several months. In Kentucky, my home state, I hunted grey and fox squirrels with a passion, but here in Northern Minnesota we have Red squirrels and they don't run or hide from the hunter.

I've been trying the hares with little (read no) success, but I think the information you've provided will help a heap.

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by BrownBear:
Looking for "speed loader" options for the 36 such as those available for larger calibers.You could make a round ball loading board to help speed the reloading process along...
Take a piece of hard wood and drill holes in it large enough to allow several patched round balls.
EXAMPLE PICTURE: in .32 caliber

Pour your measured powder down the barrel, line up a round ball from the loading board, and start it down the barrel with the short starter, remove the board and finish with the ram rod as normal.

Both loading boards in the picture hold 10 pre-lubed round balls, you can load your board at home the night before...

A .360 round ball with a .015 patch gives a total of .390 (.015 patch on both sides of the R.B.)

A #62 (.380) drill bit will make the right size holes for you, then you could sand them out to fit a little looser in the block...

A #61 (.390) drill bit may be too loose and the patched round balls may fall out, I would start with the smaller bit and go from there...

 

[Zonie]

Nice pictures Musketman.
And if you want a super-duper ball block that aligns the patched ball/sabot+bullet you could counterbore the block to fit the octagon barrel. The following is the counterbore size you would need:

11/16 octagon = .744 (use 3/4 dia)
3/4 octagon = .812 (use 13/16 dia)
13/16 octagon = .879 (use 7/8 dia)
7/8 octagon = .947 (use 1" dia) loose fit
15/16 octagon = 1.014 (use 1" dia + sandpaper)
1.00 octagon = 1.083 (use 1 1/16 if you can find it)

It ought to be a loose fit, just good enough to align the ball while you short start it.

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by BrownBear:
As for seeing them on snow, look for the eyes or black ear tips. Once you spot those, the whole "invisible" hare seems to pop into clear view. I was told by my pappy long ago, "When out hunting rabbits, look for parts of rabbits".

This still holds true, it also works on squirrels during the fall when the leaves are blazing in different colors.

 

[BrownBear]

I knew I had found home ground when I stumbled onto this site. Thanks everyone for your help- This is exactly the kind of info I was seeking. I felt a little funny asking about SPEED loaders, because it's not about that at all.

By way of background, I'm using a CVA Bobcat to get my foot in the door, and will build/buy a finer 36 when the time comes. I've got over 30 years of snowshoe hunting behind me now with and without hounds. I've shot them with about everything that will go bang or launch an arrow, but always felt it was the ideal realm for a small muzzleloader. Half a winter with the 36 has made me wonder what took so long!

I've enjoyed reading and learning from all your posts here, and I look forward to more. A larger bore is on the agenda between now and summer, because we have a lot of deer, a liberal bag limit and a 5+ month season. As with the hares, I've shot deer with about everything that will go bang or launch an arrow, so I'm way past time introducing them to a round ball.

 

[BrownBear]

Don't know if it will apply in your area, but here's a tip I learned when I had beagles to help sort out all the tracks. Understand that this is pretty hilly country, so that will be a factor too:

Most of the tracks you see are in night feeding areas, which can be seperated a bit from day beds and the places you are likely to see them at first and last light. Areas of heavy tracks are usually in the bottomlands, while the hares bed down further up on the hills. If you find a trail headed up or down, climb till you run out of tracks, then skirt along just above the cover.

The hares like any place where two types of cover overlap- spruce and grass, grass and alders, spruce and alders. Anywhere spruce boughs, alder trunks or fallen logs provide a little shelter-especially if grass drapes over it- is a likely day bed. Circle that and look from all angles for a glimpse, but resist the temptation to "stomp" cover to drive out the hares. You can't hit them in the head on the run (or at least I sure can't), so why bother running them if you can avoid it. If you are careful not to destroy these day beds, subsequent hares will use them even if you put the original resident in the soup pot. Over the course of a season you can "run" all these little day beds almost like a trap line.

As for seeing them on snow, look for the eyes or black ear tips. Once you spot those, the whole "invisible" hare seems to pop into clear view.

 

[Haggis]

MM,
I'm hip to looking for parts of varmints, but I'm color blind; really. To me a fellow in blaze orange sticks out like a proverbial cliche'. Deer are easy to see due to their shape not blending in with limbs and tree trunks. Squirrels look like knots on limbs of trees; I just look for knots on limbs until I see knots with ears and watch for movement or tails.

But a black and white hare on a black and white background? It's just not right.

I was headed out this morning but it's -9 here in balmy Northern Minnesota, it's going to warm up in the next few days though. (I wouldn't want a spit patched ball to freeze halfway down the barrel, besides I might get chilled.)

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by Haggis:
But a black and white hare on a black and white background? It's just not right.I think the Minnesotain D.N.R. should spray paint the white hares blaze orange to accommadate their color-blind hunters.

 

[Haggis]

Better yet, spray a black stripe the lenghth of the hare; down teh back bone, up the belly, and through the middle of the forehead. You know, just an outline.

 

[Zonie]

Quote Haggis: "Better yet, spray a black stripe the lenghth of the hare..."

Then jus as sur as ah'm a sittin har someone's gonna shoot a lil ol skunk. With em cold stuffed up noses he might even take it home fer the misses ta cook fer dinner.

 

[Haggis]

You say this in jest, but I once fried a skunk on a bet about 20 years back. I wouldn't use my good skillet so I fried it an ash shovel and one of our deer camp had to eat it. He said it wasn't half bad, but no one seemed to have the inclination to follow his lead.

I can say skunk does smell a heap better with the plew missing and properly fried.

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by Haggis:
You say this in jest, but I once fried a skunk on a bet about 20 years back.Did it taste like chicken?

 

[Haggis]

Well, I just fried it to a crispy brown and my cousin ate it, or most of it. He said it was a cross between 'coon and 'possum. It was a white looking meat and smelled right good with the plew off and season batter on it.

It did teach me, through his experience, to never say, "If you'll skin it and Haggis will cook it, I'll eat it."

 

[musketman]

quote:Originally posted by Haggis:
It did teach me, through his experience, to never say, "If you'll skin it and Haggis will cook it, I'll eat it." It's a good thing he didn't say that about bobcat...

Never mind....