Hares & other stuff!

finnbear270

Well-Known Member
Just been listening to the Welsh morning news prog on the kitchen telly, I like to keep this telly on the Welsh bands, as I get an overall view of whats going on, as I am situate on the Wales / England border almost at one end of the marches, ...Anyway, I'm listening as I go about the usual brekky,....... Statement by some proffesorial types regarding Hares, they are on a field trip to a "hot spot" on the Lleyn peninsula, as Hares are making a comeback!, I was not aware they had gone away! some city dwellers take it into their heads to say this or that has had a numbers crash & the world throws up its hands, How many of us that get out & about in the hours that Hares & Barn owls etc, operate in, noticed a numbers crash?, All I noticed was that some crops changed around a bit & the animals moved accordingly, what are your views on this?:rolleyes: p.s. I shot my last Hare in 1982, not because I thought they were dwindling either.
 
hares

ive not notaced a reduction in numbers quit the opposit, there seems to be a lot more about in the last few years. i for one dont shoot hares and most of the keepers i know dont realy shoot them they are good to watch. infact ive missed the opportunity to shoot a few deer because ive been watching bloody hares, but thats life and i love it...:D
 
I have a caravan at Abersoch and spend a fair amount of the summer months on the peninsular.

I have seen no sign of a decline in Hare numbers.:confused:
 
Here in NI, hare populations have become quite localised. I know of a few areas with good population, but in most lowland areas they have been struggling. We have had a ban on taking Hare's here for the past 5-6 years. I think this is about to be dropped.

Silage cutting is hard on hares. If a lid is kept on the foxes, and there is some traditional pasture or un-mown ground, the hares can look after themselves.
 
On the flat land where I live the hare numbers have never been greater.
The scrotes from the nearest town with there long dogs come and exersise them every now and then but when running on a light there dogs dont notice the 6ft deep ditches but the hares know where they are and sit on the other side sticking 2 fingers up at the dogs,
I just wish they would not run there dogs on the foxes because it makes them lamp shy and hard to shoot which meens we can't protect the hares from the foxes.
 
We have more hares now than I've ever seen before, and not just more of them but they seem physically bigger as well. We've had some come through the woods that are bigger than the muntjac!

I also get fed up hearing so-called experts talk about how certain animals are 'rare'. This is normally applied to red kites, but anyone living down here near the Chilterns will know that we're inundated with them. I was standing on the platform at Didcot Parkway the other morning and counted five of them circling over the town center! Where I used to stalk they raised a lot of chickens. There was a line of about a dozen telegraph poles, each one of which had a buzzard or a red kite perched on top of it. Rare......ha!

willie_gunn
 
I think in some parts of East Lothian there are more hares now than i have seen in a long time When out lamping foxes you see plenty of them especialy on the rape fields.
 
After just seven replies to thread, It is straight off in your face, that these paper qualified types really don't know what they are talking about, The age old statement comes to mind, "If you want to know something, ask those on the tools"
 
Shoot 'em all! They are an alien species and have no place on the island of Britain. Bet the paper qualified experts didn't mention that, did they?

Lepus timidus, the blue (or mountain) hare, is the indigenous species of these lands and only hangs on in the highlands due to the brown hare's inability to cope with the more severe weather conditions. In Ireland, the blue hare is by far the more common species and is found at all altitudes, not just in the mountains. It should be that way in Britain, too, but the foreign interloper has achieved such cult status that nobody now dares rock the boat - except ME!!!

Incoming expected...
 
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I used to shoot Hares, & would clean them out on the spot, a quick rinse in salt water when arriving home, fire it in the oven just like a roast chicken, leave to cool & when cooled , slice thinly for sandwiches...... tasted just like young lamb.
 
Hare numbers dipped in Worcestershire in the early 1980's, about the time that buzzards appeared in numbers. Odd that.

They have made a cracking comeback though, but you only see them early and late, they seem to have become crepuscular in habit. Probably had to do this to survive the buzzards. On one airfield locally they are thinking of having a hare shoot again.

ft
 
Bigger than a Muntjac?:eek:
What they eat'n "Green Giant corn"?:lol:
As Verminator69 says up here over Hadrians the hare population is still booming.

Moe...
 
Hare today, gone tomorrow

That reminds me of a joke I was told about 20 years ago....

What's the similarity between a baby gorilla, an orphan, a bald man and the Prince of Wales?

One got a hairy parent, one's got ne'er a parent, one's got no hair apparent and one's the heir apparent

:doh:

Sorry, it was 20 years ago, it might not be that funny but it's quite clever, well if you're sad like me it is.... ;)

willie_gunn
 
Read the report here .

The hare of Welsh/Brythonic legend is the ceinach, the 'crafty' one(?), and is the blue hare of which I spoke earlier. The brown hare is the ysgyfarnog, the 'eared one' and appeared too late in Britain to feature in the ancient mythology.

Next thing we'll be hearing is that Tufty was a grey squirrel (Scurius carolinensis).
 
That reminds me of a joke I was told about 20 years ago....

What's the similarity between a baby gorilla, an orphan, a bald man and the Prince of Wales?

One got a hairy parent, one's got ne'er a parent, one's got no hair apparent and one's the heir apparent

:doh:

Sorry, it was 20 years ago, it might not be that funny but it's quite clever, well if you're sad like me it is.... ;)

willie_gunn

Your coat, Sir .................;)
 
Plenty with us on the marches, but the long dogs come up from the vallies every now and again.

As for Red Kites Willie-Gunn, when you are up next( the six pointer should still be here if Chris hasn't shot him;) ) we will take a drive up to Rhayader when it's feeding time. They look like vultures circling. Maybe as many as 200.

Jonathon
 
Just been listening to the Welsh morning news prog on the kitchen telly, I like to keep this telly on the Welsh bands, as I get an overall view of whats going on, as I am situate on the Wales / England border almost at one end of the marches, ...Anyway, I'm listening as I go about the usual brekky,....... Statement by some proffesorial types regarding Hares, they are on a field trip to a "hot spot" on the Lleyn peninsula, as Hares are making a comeback!, I was not aware they had gone away! some city dwellers take it into their heads to say this or that has had a numbers crash & the world throws up its hands, How many of us that get out & about in the hours that Hares & Barn owls etc, operate in, noticed a numbers crash?, All I noticed was that some crops changed around a bit & the animals moved accordingly, what are your views on this?:rolleyes: p.s. I shot my last Hare in 1982, not because I thought they were dwindling either.
We had a serious crash in the late 80s but are now making a comeback
 
On the subject of townie profs making sweeping statements on species number crashes, yesterday I spent my morning T break counting skylarks, 17 in number on a single 10 acre field, many around your way?
 
Plenty of hares about here. I shoot them with the .22 if they stray into range. I would not tell my neighbour though as he is a fanatical hare hunter with a Stövare, thats a harrier type dog of which there are many breeds in Sweden. Hare hunting is one of the biggest hunting sports in Sweden.
They survive the Swedish winters OK and the winters here are a bit harder than the Scottish winter in general. I have seen a couple of Skogshare (white hares) on my place. One skogs hare the taxen hunted for a short while but he much prefers to hunt roe.

www.prokennel.se
 
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