"Flatland" snowshoes

[gitano]

If you have noticed a certain absence over the past couple of weeks, it's because I have been absolutely swamped. About 3 weeks ago, I got some 8000+ images of juvenile salmon that I had to 'process'. Normally this would have been done automatically, but since we were actually trying to determine when they put on spots we could use for ID, every one of them had to be done "by hand". And of course it was needed "yesterday". (Look here for more on the process and concept //www.biopar.com.)

Anyway, I wrapped that up for the most part Sunday night. I REALLY needed to get away from the computer, so I called my fishing buddy Jim, and asked if he wanted to go shoot some 'bunnies'. (Snowshoe hares.) I knew he had Mondays off, so we grabbed our snowshoes, two .22s and a SxS 16, and headed off to "the high country" up near Lake Louise. I had been up there just before the "fish heads" got dumped on me, and had seen the most rabbit sign I had ever seen in 50+ years up here.

It was a spectacular day! The temp was right around 30F - not a breath of wind - cloudless sky. I honestly can't even think of a way to have made it better. It is about a 3-hour drive, but it's not tourist season, so we drove most of the 150 miles without seeing another car. Once we got up to the Lake Louise road, we found a pullout, and 'saddled up'.

As I said, Jim is my fishing buddy. He is an absolute fishing fanatic, but he is the rankest of novices when it comes to hunting. He has two guns - a Mossberg .410, and a Ruger Redhawk in .357 Mag. Can't really use either one effectively. I told him to leave those home and I'd bring what he needed for firepower. I brought the Ruger 10/22 with Volquartsen 1:9 barrel, one of the Romanian .22 trainers I have, and a pre-WWII French 16 ga SxS. I'd be shooting the 10/22 with the 60-grain Aguilas. Since the Romanian was 'foreign' to Jim, I set up our paper coffee cups on a snow berm, backed off 25 paces and had him see how it felt. Being 'scoped, he was very uncomfortable with it, and had no confidence that he could hit a rabbit off-hand, so I loaded the 16 and had him try that. He was much happier with that, but commented that it "had a bit of a kick".

With snowshoes donned and firearms shouldered, we headed off into the black spruce and willow. The snow was about crotch deep without snowshoes, and about knee-deep with. It's a common myth that snowshoes allow you to walk "in top" of the snow. Actually, unless there is a very hard crust, they just prevent you from sinking as deep. It was slow going, but since the conditions were so perfect, we were in no hurry.

Wasn't long before one couldn't stand it and had to 'run'. Fatal error. Actually, the fatal error was stopping too close - about 30 feet. The Aguila works quite well on bunnies when you hit them in the head. We picked that one up and broke about another 100 yd of trail before cutting back onto an old snow machine track.

We walked that for a bit, and busted another one, but he didn't stop running before he was out of sight. Tracked him a ways, but to no avail. Hunted about a 100 acre area for about 3 hours, and shot another couple. One at about 8 feet, the last one at about 15 feet. They KNOW that they are safe if they don't move because they are almost invisible in the snow. Generally, they don't move unless you almost step on them. Then when they do, since they can outrun everything (but martins) that "normally" chases them, foxes, coyotes, lynx's, wolverines and wolves, they don't run very far off. Little do they understand that they can't outrun bullets.

Went back to the car and after some lunch and a brief nap in the sun, got back on our snowshoes and got back after them. Didn't see any more, but frankly it didn't matter much. It was such a great day.

Here are some pictures of the country we were hunting. Notice particularly all the "flatland".





That's 12,00 foot Mount Drum at the "end" of the road, and it comes up out of a plain that is only about 2000'.











Gunsight Mountain - You can guess how it got that name.


These are the Chugach mountains, just south and east of my place.

















The bunnies have aged for three days now, so I'll be having rabbit pie for dinner tonight.

Paul

[gitano]

Let's see how this panoramic picture works...



Paul

[22hornet]

Beautifull country Paul. I really liked that panoramic shot. Thats a great photo that should be up on the wall.

And it is good to see you showing the newbies the ropes when it come to firearms too. Not many guys I know of now get a good grounding in firearms and hunting.

Oven roast bunny

[22hornet]

Paul would please be able to email me the full size version of the panoramic pic? I tried to enlarge the one posted but it doesn't enlarge clearly.
Many thanks.

[gitano]

Thanks 22hornet. It is beautiful country, but it's 'hard' country too. There aren't 10 people in the whole of that panoramic shot - may be none. I was "wandering" around Australia the other night on Google Earth looking for things to do when my wife and I come down, and I was thinking how similar to Alaska Australia is in the 'remoteness' of it's remote country. Lots of "hard" country there too.

The "rabbit" pie was 'good'. However, it was technically "hare" pie, and hares are "browsers" not "grazers", and they taste like it. These have been eating willow (Salix sp.) bark and taste like it. My wife tried some, but couldn't gag it down. Squirrel - fox (Sciurus niger) and gray (S. virginianus) - and cotton-tailed rabbit (Sylvilagus sp) are WAY better than hare - snowshoe or jack-rabbit.

Sadly, none of the 'good' squirrels or real rabbits inhabit Alaska.

Paul

[22hornet]

Sadly, none of the 'good' squirrels or real rabbits inhabit Alaska.
 
Paul

You can have some of our rabbits. Nothing went wrong when they were introduced here.....

[gitano]

Cominatcha...

Paul

[gitano]

"Introductions" RARELY work. Pheasants are really the only "exotic" that has done well while at the same time not TERRIBLY harmed the locals. Australia is a shining example of what not to do with "introductions".

In the US, among the "bad" ones are European starlings (Sturnis sp.) In Europe, long ago, they were actually game birds. They are the "black bird" of "Four-and-twenty black birds baked in a pie". However, they are REALLY hard on NA bluebirds and woodpeckers. I hate 'em and kill them at every opportunity. Here's the screamer: They were introduced to NA by a jackass in New York that wanted every bird mentioned in Shakespeare's plays to be in the US. IT TOOK `A DOZEN TRIED BEFORE THEY "TOOK".

Paul

[buckshot roberts]

:D nice very nice pics................Ron

[gitano]

Thanks, Ron. It was a nice day!

Did you guys see the bunny in the pictures?

Paul

[gitano]

For those wondering, the logos you see in the panoramic view are the result of using a "trial" version of the "stitching" software. When I upload the non-trial version, I can have my pictures without the software manufacturer's logo on it.

Paul

[recoil junky]

Wow, cool pictures Paul. The panoramic is a great shot indeed.

Sorry but I couldn't see any bunnies, you'll have to point them out.

And it is pretty flat around there ain't it.

RJ

[Jamie.270]

I think it's in the foreground of pic #3 RJ.  It blends in REALLY well, but the shadow gives it away.  But then again, I am always seeing "game" that isn't there!

Beautiful country Paul.  There's an honesty about it apparently though, cuz it looks "hard."  Beautiful, but unforgiving.

Glad you had a successful day.  Thanks for the pics!

[JaDub]

Nice post Paul ! I could feel the clear air and I could feel the sunshine while you were napping in the car. As to Jackrabbits etc ........ definately tough, however try the pressure cooker on them and they tender-up pretty good.
Now as to Starlings........ I hate `em too. What a mess they make while over running the territory. Very aggressive and have simply pushed out many of the native species. I used to trap them and then feed to a buddy`s Perrigrine. English Sparrows are on my _hit list as well. I remember, as a young lad ,  making the rounds with the Daisy throughout the farm buildings, after chores and before supper, taking `fabulous wing shots` at fleeting sparrows. Didn`t hit many but at that age a puff of feathers was pretty kool. I got my hide tanned more than once resulting from accidently shooting out windows in the barn while shooting at sparrows `trapped` up against the class. Oooops! ( honest dad, I didn`t mean to ...... really! ). 8-)
 
Cheers, JaDub

[gitano]

Right on about #3 Jamie.

It's nice country for sure.

Paul