Hares

[User00003]

What are the forum members thoughts on Hare, are they a pest that needs controlling, what damage do you find they do, and so on?

Just curious as I have a LOT of Hare on my grounds, and shot the odd one or two in the winter with shotgun, but not actually considered whether it would be good practice to keep the numbers a bit lower by controlling with the rifle during the late summer/autumn.

interested in your opinions.

 

[biker1]

lots of hares on the estate, get lots of interest from the travelling people with long dogs, so we have had to thin them out. Shame really, as i like to see them about

 

[al4x1]

you have to look at damage they are causing, we have areas where we do shoot some and areas we don't. Our ground is good for them though and well keepered which is the key here as otherwise the do as you likeys decimate them. We go on hare drives on the next door estate once a year and tend to get 300-400 a day which shows the numbers present. Best option is check with the farmer their views most like them and don't want too many shot unless they are causing too much damage.

 

[bewsher500]

get lots of interest from the travelling people with long dogs, so we have had to thin them out.

maybe you should thin THEM out instead!

depends what you call "a lot".
down in Newmarket I remember seeing thousands!
now I am lucky to see one.

havent shot one in over 20 years as a result.

they dont do anything like as much damage as rabbits

 

[ziggy]

they seem to be pretty hated around the boston area as they do so much damage, everyone io know down there shoots them on sight

 

[User00003]

what damage do they do and what are the signs?

 

[ziggy]

ill try and find out for you but this is what i get told and their all farmers so i would assume its crop damage? when ive been down shooting on game day or not we are all told to shoot them on sight though. never seen so many before i went down there.

 

[www.yorkshireroestalking.]

Lots here.
Usualy shot on hare drives in feb/mar.
Market gun a few where damage was suffered (in oct when £4 each).
Shoot a few off the game crops where they can do alot of damage when the new shoots are coming or when they target the maize.
Sadly if the dog men find them we will blitz the hares early to try and stop the visits. Plain shooting with a lamp and a HMR but it is culling then.

 

[bobthedug]

Asked my farmer neighbour about any damage Hares cause as I see lots of them but I do not shoot them.
He is queit happy to leave them be as he says they don't cause any damage and he grows various crops.
I personally really enjoy watching them and unless asked to do so on my permission would never shoot them.
Its a shame that others who would rather not shoot them are doing so owing to the hares bringing in the undesirables with their vans and long dogs.
I think this year is the most I have ever seen for whatever reason.
Bob

 

[cold bayonet]

Start to shoot them before the pikeys with their long dogs and sawn-offs start to move in on your land. once they know they're there, you'll have a problem!

 

[User00003]

never had any issues with long legged pikey's or their thieving dogs, so not really a concern to be honest.

I do enjoy seeing them around, but still take a day or two in late winter for 'walked up' hare shooting on the fields with the 20 gauge...a traditional thing we've been doing in my homeland (DK) for many years, and which I thoroughly enjoy.

 

[norma 308]

also like a few about suspect deer get blamed for damage done to small trees by hares when there are alot about especially in a hard winter with snow laying about for weeks at a time .

 

[biker1]

I think northants council must love these travellers, we have 5 camps around us that have been raided and thousands of pounds recovered from these camps. One family were clocking luxury 4x4s and hiding money under the caravans. The local school is now travellers only, local kids have been taken out of school in protest. Problem is council still allow these people to stay on land with no planning consent

 

[finnbear270]

Hares have a lot of protection from farmers anywhere I usually shoot.

 

[roedeerred]

Our shoot is haveing a hare day before the main days on farmers request.

 

[limulus]

We have a lot of hares around here and usually every second year, since they stopped the Waterloo cup, we've had a hare cull taking about 200 hares over 2 days, still loads of them about though(these are taken on an estate of about 3500 acres).
The hare drives generally take place the first or second week of February.
Once the crops are in (going to be bloomin close to the start of the partridge this year) we do get 'visitors' with long dogs looking for a caravan for their ma that are a pest but you just cant seem to find a calibre acceptable to the local FEO on your ticket.

 

[User00003]

we do get 'visitors' with long dogs looking for a caravan for their ma that are a pest but you just cant seem to find a calibre acceptable to the local FEO on your ticket.

Barratt 50 with nitro-glycerine dropped into a hollow point should do the job of removing the caravan and all its contents in one go Surely they can't argue your land isn't 'suitable'!

 

[bogtrotter]

Have a good population of hares clients shoot a few on walked up days, personally have not shot a hare for years.
Regarding damage it used to be said that 7 hares would eat the same amount as a sheep, don't know how accurate that is.

They can certainly do a lot of damage to young trees.

 

[Cyres]

Quite rare down here, however on one farm we have a small healthy population, but don't shoot them. As a teenager I shot quite a few with my trusty .22 BSA Mercury on my uncles farm in the Marches. 30yrs later not a hare to be seen, lots of foxes and badgers though.

On the other hand have shot loads in the Borders with my .22lr, some evenings out lamping not unusual to see 100+ in a couple of hours. I can get £5 each for them so a quick session pays the diesel bill. Best sport is in long range sniping with a .223/6mm. Head shots only at a couched down hare is a very difficult and challenging shot. Rangefinding bins are essential on big wheat/cereal fields. All for the pot so only take head shot, v max/nosler BT very good but no room for error.

Makes roe look huge !!!

D

 

[nell]

also like a few about suspect deer get blamed for damage done to small trees by hares when there are alot about especially in a hard winter with snow laying about for weeks at a time .

You should'nt really confuse the two, because of thier lack of top teeth deer tend to grip and pull at a tree, if you look closely you can see where the bark is stripped at the end of the missing shoot or branch, whereas a hare will make a clean angled cut with his chisel like teeth,i have seen massive damage caused by hares in commercial forestry,more often than not the sapling will be lying beside its own stump,ive seen uncoverd hardwoods as thick as your thumb bitten off or left hanging by the bark.
on ispection there is no mistaking the two