There's a storm blowing in today so I decided to try to get a quick hunt in before it hit. Grouse season is open but I wanted to hit one of my favorite snowshoe hare spots. I started working through some heavy cover and about 20 minutes in jumped a cottontail. He ran forward about 5 yards and stopped. I drew my Single Six, had the hammer back and the sights just behind his eye. I was in an awkward stance and decided to move my left foot back slightly before taking the shot. Even as I was doing it I knew from past experience that a rabbit (or hare) usually won't hold long or put up with much movement from what spooked it before disappearing. Sure enough, just as I moved my left foot he vanished never to be seen again. All of that took place in just a few seconds. I blame my poor judgment on being rusty since that was my first rabbit opportunity since last winter.

I kept slowly working my way around cover and likely hiding spots and jumped a grouse. I was looking for hares but I'm not about to pass up the opportunity at a grouse so I took it. My shot was a little low, missing the head but it clipped the neck. I started circling the patch of cover the grouse was in to see if there were more. As I came around the far side I saw a snowshoe hare. Just as I saw him he broke cover, darted forward about 20 yards and stopped. I held behind the eye but could tell by his reaction that I didn't hit the brain. He was still on his feet and turning so I put a shot into the ribcage which finished him. When I checked him I saw that I had pulled my first shot and impacted in front of the eye. You can see he's starting to turn white. We've had a couple snowstorms up high so its time for them to change color.

I jumped two more snowshoes but they didn't give me a shot. Both of them disappeared and as much as I tried I couldn't locate them again. Other than my poor shooting it was a good day. I was able to enjoy a little time in the woods and brought home a couple meals.



This is the type of cover I'm hunting in. There's some thick patches. You walk by far more hares and rabbits than you actually see.