Went to chop a dead tree for firewood out of the back of our lot today and found rabbit tracks all over the place. The above picture is showing what is obviously a rabbit trail - almost a rabbit super highway.
I honestly thought the late fall hunters had thinned them out more than that. Several of them had boasted of harvesting them by the dozen. These are all snowshoe hares and they turned white before any snow came. They were sitting ducks for a short period of time. The timing of their coat change is caused by the amount of daylight. When the days get short enough, they turn white. If there was a rabbit in the above picture you probably wouldn't be able to see it anyway.
Our cat Mister hunts the rabbits. That surprises me as well. I've never had a cat that would take on prey that big before. That doesn't stop Mister. He's dined on several of them, much to the chagrin of my wife Francine.
One thing that disappoints me is that the hunters were only interested in them for food. Rabbit fur might not be worth anything to sell in this part of the world. They just skinned them on site and left the fur on the ground like garbage. I'm seriously considering making racks to stretch and dry the skins. If nothing else we could end up making some very warm furry mittens. Just seems like a waste to me.
Just another moment living on the edge of civilization.
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