Arctic Hare

I had a buddy went out and they caught eight of them, gave me one.
Amercianized Hasenpfeffer tonight. Yum Yum...

Got some drumsticks there don't ya?

So how big are they? weight wise? Of course I have never seen one......jk

Yes, they do, it weighs ten lbs. 26" from nose to base of tail.

Looks leggy

Yes, they are, hunted with snowmachines like cowboys.

You hunt cowboys with snow machines up there?

That happens on occasion, usually by the womenfolk.

Are they different than our snowshoe hares ?
They do look long legged …..

Good eating.

Think of a jack rabbit that has hit the weight room.

Yes, a different species.

They are typically hunted in March and April when they are gathered up mating on the tundra. If the female is shot first, the rest won't leave, and they get the bunch at once.

Hey yukonjeff. Enjoy your posts. Thanks. Far as I know (which may be erroneous), Arctic hares, Lepus arcticus, only occur in Canada. Alaska has only Alaskan Hares, Lepus othus. However, in the minds of some "experts", they are one-in-the-same. Other biologists keep them separated. I'm with you, I lump them all together and we called 'em arctic hares. Whatever their handle, impressively big bunnies and tasty, too.

Jack

Do they stay white all the time or change color?

The hare we have around here change.

Did they go to Kuzi to get those? Nice clean looking hide. Worth some money on taxidermy market.

They stay white year round,the snowshoe hare changes to brown in the summer.






They hunted Owl Village on the Kashunuk. My old trapline area.

cool read, thanks for posting,

well if you have any skins i would buy them $$
PM me

Thanks Jack,I always enjoy your post. I didn't know there was a separate Canadian specie. I figured they must be the same. Here the locals refer to them simply as jack rabbits. The furs are used for children's parkee liners, they don't shed like a snowshoe does.



Sorry, I am out in the boonies shipping is too costly and risky.

Hahahaha

Jack rabbits do the same here. Won't leave the female. The picture looks like an all white jack rabbit.

Jeff ,many thanks . I
look forward to your post

Ten pounds and twenty-six inches long? That's going to make a BIG pile of hasenpfeffer!

Are they as tasty as cottontails?

Thanks brother, I enjoy your post too.


I have not had cottontails in a long time, but the favor is mild, sort of a beef flavor. They call them low bush moose in Alaska.

The Arctic hare in Canada are all on the arctic islands. I did not know they occured on the mainland in Alaska. I went to Victoria Island last year. I was really hoping to get a rabbit or two but the weather was really terrible. Did not see anything.

If I remember right mtDNA showed that the Alaskan Hare is a basal branch in this group, and the Arctic Hare are nested within our modern Mountain Hare (Lepus timidus), so there has been quite a bit of commotion caused by moving glaciers and other factors. They are all very similar, big, leggy and very edible. Ours are usually within 8-10 lbs, but they get much bigger in the most northern populations or when they get fat. I use them for stew and for pies. Dried feet are a traditional good luck charm given to kids.

thanks Jeff and Tatiana for the great posts

the looks like a very nice hare pie

always very interesting to learn about these other species

YJ, great post. We eat cottontail rabbit where I live.
Tatiana, the pie is a work of art. People say you eat with your eyes and now I'm hungry

They chew willow bark, which is the source for aspirin. Some years they eat too much and die off. Then they rebound in the next few years. Was told this by a Denali guide. He pointed out the willows that were chewed the winter before when the snow was deep.

That's the snowshoe hare, Charles. Arctic hares eat something different, maybe grasses. Their pellets are lighter in color than the snowshoe hare.

I heard that one as well, the willows get chewed bad by rabbits it omits a poison that kills off the rabbits. not sure if its true or not.

The Arctic hares eat willow just like snowshoes do. Also, tundra grasses when they can, They are hunted on the tundra in the short red willow on the coastal flat tundra thats only about knee high, or its buried in snow and only the tops are sticking out. No trees there at all. They like to hang around tundra mounds, small hills and always run up hill if there is a mountain nearby.

I have caught them in lynx traps twice using Arctic Hare fur as bait. Must wanted to mate. I have caught them in fox traps and snares, like Tataina did above.

They walk on their tip toes so their tracks look like fox tracks hard to tell them apart sometimes.
I have a bunch living on the hill behind the house, mostly come out at night.

Great responses guys, Thanks.

Snowshoe hare anyways are cabalistic. When stressed anyways, during our frequent floods in the delta I have seen a couple times where a group of rabits are trapped on a small bit of high ground and there is a dead rabbit that they are eating. So I figure the Arctic Hare you caught are going after the bait to eat it.