Air Arms Owners Club

I've just come back from a little drive around the permissions, all quiet, just a few rabbits out and no pigeons on the stubble so I made my way to the big field with the pond in the bottom corner. Long grass and undisturbed for a few weeks now, I watch badgers down here and a family of foxes. I sat in my usual place about 50 yards away from the sett and slightly uphill and enjoyed the view. Suddenly my phone buzzed as a text came through, as I reached in my pocket I was suddenly aware of movement in front of me, 2 long ears with dark tips rose out of the grass. A young hare! One of this years brood by the size of it. What a beautiful moment, we just looked at each other no more than 6ft apart. I tried so carefully to get the phone camera sorted to get a shot but as soon as I raised my hand above the grass stems it was gone. I love watching the hares but don't shoot them anymore despite them tasting good.

More than once, I have had hares either let me get really close or they have come up close to me themselves. Funny animals .... one minute, the proximity seems to be not an issue and the next minute, they feel the need to run away .... not just a few yards like some of the other animals and birds but hundreds and hundreds of yards at top speed as if they cant stop themselves

It sounds like hares are a bit more of a novelty down your way than they are up here. I have a feeling that once the crops are cut back I'm probably going to be bagging a hell of a lot more hares than rabbits! We have one plot of wild bird cover (12m by approximately 200) that I shoot 4/5 head of hare a couple of times a week and they're still grazing it off! Once we get some autumn sown crops in I feel that the impact of the local hare population is going to become something of an issue primarily as a result of crop damage but also due to the undesirables that take it upon themselves to "exercise" their dogs in pursuit of said hares and woe betide anyone that gets in their way Just to give an indication of the population around here I have heard of a chap shooting 85 in a single field one night where they were gnawing through irrigation pipes

james79 wrote:It sounds like hares are a bit more of a novelty down your way than they are up here. I have a feeling that once the crops are cut back I'm probably going to be bagging a hell of a lot more hares than rabbits! We have one plot of wild bird cover (12m by approximately 200) that I shoot 4/5 head of hare a couple of times a week and they're still grazing it off! Once we get some autumn sown crops in I feel that the impact of the local hare population is going to become something of an issue primarily as a result of crop damage but also due to the undesirables that take it upon themselves to "exercise" their dogs in pursuit of said hares and woe betide anyone that gets in their way Just to give an indication of the population around here I have heard of a chap shooting 85 in a single field one night where they were gnawing through irrigation pipes

The most I've seen locally in one field was 6 and that is a rare event. If they were a serious pest I would shoot them as such but not feel good about it.
A beautiful animal though and fascinating to watch.

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first time I saw one it was so big I thought it was a fox approaching me, hafta say, I`d need to be awfully certain of my gun before I`d attempt a shot at something that size, powderburner fodder I`d say.

Katzenjammer wrote: Last time I was there I bumped into Johnny Vegas.

He can be quite foxy with the ladies ... For some weird reason, they dig fat funny blokes. I've got no chance

Timmytree wrote:

james79 wrote:It sounds like hares are a bit more of a novelty down your way than they are up here. I have a feeling that once the crops are cut back I'm probably going to be bagging a hell of a lot more hares than rabbits! We have one plot of wild bird cover (12m by approximately 200) that I shoot 4/5 head of hare a couple of times a week and they're still grazing it off! Once we get some autumn sown crops in I feel that the impact of the local hare population is going to become something of an issue primarily as a result of crop damage but also due to the undesirables that take it upon themselves to "exercise" their dogs in pursuit of said hares and woe betide anyone that gets in their way Just to give an indication of the population around here I have heard of a chap shooting 85 in a single field one night where they were gnawing through irrigation pipes

The most I've seen locally in one field was 6 and that is a rare event. If they were a serious pest I would shoot them as such but not feel good about it.
A beautiful animal though and fascinating to watch.

I completely understand where you're coming from and I'll admit I hate shooting them if it can be avoided but at the moment they seem to be the primary pest in certain areas of the farm, the damage they do is bad enough before you factor in the way they attract illegal hare coursing and the associated issues. As such as much as I hate pulling the trigger on them they are likely to remain in my sights at least until such a time that our local neighourhood police took the problem of organised criminal gangs running dogs after them and threatening the local farmer/landowners seriously

I had one walk up behind me when out a couple of weeks ago. I turned and saw it coming up the field so sat as still as possible and it just wandered past totally oblivious to the fact I was there. Paced it out after it had gone and was 9yds away. I don't shoot them either as the farmer asked me not to as he likes to watch them.