Mountain Hares

[nothernlite 18,080]

Is the irish hare not related to the mountain hare ?

[two crows 3,342]

3 minutes ago, nothernlite said:

Is the irish hare not related to the mountain hare ?

I believe it is mate but don't know for sure.

[nothernlite 18,080]

11 minutes ago, two crows said:

I believe it is mate but don't know for sure.

The ears are simaler and they say they dont run the same as the browns 

[Shadow100 1,066]

31 minutes ago, nothernlite said:

Is the irish hare not related to the mountain hare ?

They’re a sub species of the mountain hare 

[grompz 703]

used to run white hares and  the irish hares regulary preban,but they were easy to catch even with dogs that were bred for rabbiting had  a couple of beddyx greys that could hold their own with them,when thesehares were hard pressed they would hit the ground like rabbits, no comparision to the larger brown hare or red hare as we used to call them, needed some saluki blood or deerhound in the lurchert make up to stop those boys. great days,great memorys, of dogs and lads long gone but never forgotten.

[nothernlite 18,080]

6 minutes ago, grompz said:

used to run white hares and  the irish hares regulary preban,but they were easy to catch even with dogs that were bred for rabbiting had  a couple of beddyx greys that could hold their own with them,when thesehares were hard pressed they would hit the ground like rabbits, no comparision to the larger brown hare or red hare as we used to call them, needed some saluki blood or deerhound in the lurchert make up to stop those boys. great days,great memorys, of dogs and lads long gone but never forgotten.

Great memories for you mate love the moors but as i said do you think your dogs could of caught the brown hares on the heather as easy as the whites 

[grompz 703]

1 minute ago, nothernlite said:

Great memories for you mate love the moors but as i said do you think your dogs could of caught the brown hares on the heather as easy as the whites 

to be honest northenlite,we very rarely  encountered the proper brown hare,on the heather clad moors we used to run ,,they seemed to thrive on the arable fields that adjoined  the moors ,occasionally we would start one on the heather and would give the dogs more of asporting run being abit taller and stronger,strangely the blue hare and brown hare never seemed to mix the same on this type of terrain,just my observation.

[chartpolski 23,479]

I don't think it's fair to compare the white hare and the brown hare. Totally different running ground and animal.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Cairngorms by Northernlite, and neither me or my bitch had ever seen a white hare or run that type of ground, but it was great to try something different, and definitely one to tick off the bucket list !

We did have a couple "pipe" into drainage, and we ran them on tracks, scree, burnt heather and frozen heather. It was great sport, just as running brown hares on arable is, but the rwo aren't comparable.

Cheers.

[Shadow100 1,066]

They’re the same as any other quarry species, your opinion on them will depend on where you run them. On a nice rolling moor that’s relatively flat they’ll be wiped out easy, but on steep mountain sides with lots of rocks and peat hags they take a lot more catching.

As everyone will know there’s places that brown hares fold easy as well, and just because somethings not a challenge doesn’t mean it can’t be good fun, a day up in the mountains watching the white hares burst out the heather at your feet, followed by a quick exciting run is hard to beat.

Ive seen dogs that run well on flat fields struggle to put one foot in front of the other up there.

[chartpolski 23,479]

It can be a bit challenging when the weather can go from this;

To this;

In a matter of minutes !

Cheers.

[Black neck 15,931]

I hear them mountain rabbits are a we bit soft aswell like

[joe ox 2,585]

There is a dvd called mountain massacre which shows lurchers taking mountain hares from start to finish 100s killed, it shows exactly how hard mountain hares are to catch with lurchers, its was filmed on northernlites land by SJM a member of this forum.

[nothernlite 18,080]

15 minutes ago, joe ox said:

There is a dvd called mountain massacre which shows lurchers taking mountain hares from start to finish 100s killed, it shows exactly how hard mountain hares are to catch with lurchers, its was filmed on northernlites land by SJM a member of this forum.

And whats the name of the estate joe ???

[joe ox 2,585]

Just now, nothernlite said:

And whats the name of the estate joe ???

Why, are you going to say it wasn't filmed on your land around where she lives? she had a free run of all the estates local to her at the time. The keepers used to give her a wide birth they called her the mad women.

[nothernlite 18,080]

2 minutes ago, joe ox said:

Why, are you going to say it wasn't filmed on your land around where she lives? she had a free run of all the estates local to her at the time. The keepers used to give her a wide birth they called her the mad women.

You talking about sarah Moffat