3-3-2013 Sun

3-3-2013 Sun 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM
Weather:
(1155) calm, clear, 21 ˚, 30.06 steady, 20” snow cover
Location:
Gilman, WI
Bagged:
Scott – one snow shoe
Partners:
Scott, Tom, / Dogs: Roxy, Lacey, Dirt
Comments:

Last week I was up in Fairchild looking for the elusive snow shoe hare, I found none and found very little sign of the white bunnies. Today I was on another hare expedition with Tom and a newcomer to the winter ghost hunt, Scott. We started out in an area that Dick had recommended. He had been to the area in late December hunting grouse, and said he had seen plenty of the gigantic tell-tale tracks of the white brush dwelling creatures. I love to hunt hares, but unfortunately wherever hares are present, wolves live in the same type of habitat. So, caution is the mode when running beagles in these areas. Wolves are a risk to the dogs, but realistically roads and cars are probably a greater risk.
The first spot we had hunted had lots of sign, but it had one big drawback; it had recently been hunted by snow shoe wearing Elmer Fud’s and there companion beagles. We decided to hunt it anyway, which was a mortal sin to our game bags. I had forgotten one of my hard earned lessons of past hare expeditions; it does not pay to re-hunt an area that you had previously hunted in the last day or so. These hares are wild critters, and if pressured they tend to vacate the area. This first spot produced nothing, not even a halfhearted run.
The second spot had quite a bit of sign and it had not been hunted lately. We had a few runs, but nothing was consistent. The conditions were not good for dog work. We had deep powdery snow, and there was no crust on top to support the weight of the boisterous little rabbit chasers. The runs were all short lived, and a hare was never produced by the dogs. After we covered the fairly small patch, Tom and I returned to the truck with dogs in hand. On the way back to the truck Scott bumped one of the hares we had probably been chasing and he managed to down it after four shots from his mighty twelve gauge scattergun.
The final spot we hunted was an area I had found a couple years ago but I had never hunted. This area had a lot of downed spruce trees from a past summer wind storm, and was a rabbit and hare’s Garden of Eden. A quick drive down the road, confirmed the presence of both hares’ and cottontails. Gear was donned and the dogs were readied. We were ready to go, but we had a flat tire on one of the dogs. Lacey was only using three legs; she must have hurt her right front leg on the last run. I was now in a conundrum; basically I had to decide if I was going to leave the best dog in the box and hunt with the other two, which have hardly ever produced a rabbit when they have hunted together or run Lacey and hope for the best. I knew with my limited exposure to Lacey that she was a driven dog, and I decide to see just how driven she actually was.
Lacey showed me very quickly that she is a very driven dog with lots of heart. She hunted on three legs better that the other two dogs combined. I was impressed with this little dog! We had a couple runs, but once again nothing was produced. I once again attributed it to the very deep powdery snow.

Observations:

Last Wednesday the running conditions were very good and today they were terrible and it showed in the results. We never did have a sustained run, and it was not on account of the lack of hares. The snow was very deep, powdery, and apparently not holding scent. Once again I was very impressed with Lacey; the dog is driven to run rabbits. I am not sure if I will get back to this area yet this winter season, but I definitely will be back next winter season.