Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire EVER SEE A PYGMY

We call them Pikas or "rock rabbits" in Alaska.... oops, different species....

I looked for them for 2 years west of Fort Collins, where they were reputed to be. Never saw one.

In 14 years over a span of 4 decades in the Arctic, I've never seen an Arctic Hare either- and only one Polar Bear.

Make that one live PB...

Yes, but only a few. Look like half pint cotton tails with a dusty tail and a bit colonial. Usually in sandy soil areas supporting basin big sagebrush. The stuff that's about 5+ ft tall. They are a bit of a climber too and the first I ever noticed were bailing out of the sage where they had climbed to see what was coming down the road. In recent years some of the greenie outfits have been attempting to exploit their rarity as a tool to exclude livestock grazing from public lands.

Cookies had little to no luck photographing the pygmies.

Mostly black tailed jackrabbits out in the desert and we have snow shoes in the forest once one gets to about 6,000 ft or so. Cotton tails around the rocky desert rims.

Saw a 4-5 yo midget the other day. She was full grown.

It was really something else and quite endearing.

I lived in NV most of my life (both Northern and Southern).
I've hunted all over the entire state and never saw a single one.

As far as working outside goes.....I worked as a carpenter in So. NV from the late 60's untill 82 when I wised up and moved to No. NV. Growing up in So. NV we thought nothing of the heat but I couldn't do it now if my life depended on it.

that's got to be a party for the fox that connects on an Arctic hare!

[quote=1minute]Yes, but only a few. Look like half pint cotton tails with a dusty tail and a bit colonial. Usually in sandy soil areas supporting basin big sagebrush. The stuff that's about 5+ ft tall. They are a bit of a climber too and the first I ever noticed were bailing out of the sage where they had climbed to see what was coming down the road. In recent years some of the greenie outfits have been attempting to exploit their rarity as a tool to exclude livestock grazing from public lands.

Cookies had little to no luck photographing the pygmies.

Mostly black tailed jackrabbits out in the desert and we have snow shoes in the forest once one gets to about 6,000 ft or so. Cotton tails around the rocky desert rims. [/quote

Yep - rabbits climb trees! I have previously related how I had an afternoon as a teen of "wing-shooting" cottontails bailing out of ND buffalo-berry thickets because a chinook had flooded the prairie with a couple inches of water.

How do you think they survive in the river bottoms in flood-time?

Well, maybe not so much, sizes considered.... foxy might be biting off more than he can chew.

An Arctic fox isn't much bigger than a good sized house cat. And Red/cross up here aren't much bigger than that.

Had some living on the place when we lived upstream from here along the Payette River.
Sometimes eating grass in the yard. The dogs would chase them. I don't think they ever caught one.

Foxes have been videoed trying to catch them and not only can the hares leave them in the dust instantly, but if they decide to turn on the fox the fox gets his ass kicked badly!

Yup, foxes weigh a LOT less than they look to. Having put huge numbers of them on scales, an 8 pound red is pretty ordinary here. Kodiak has some monster foxes due to the ready availability of salmon. I have weighed many there over 15 pounds, but they have two inches of fat on the skin.

Arctic hares vs foxes brings to mind the time my 95 pound Lab grabbed hold of a 30 pound king salmon in 4 feet of water....


It wasn't pretty, and I about fell out of the counting tower laughing.

Not sure who turned loose of who first amidst all the whitewater, tails, etc....

I had to make him quit catching? fish, as I was a F& G employee at the time. Didn't look good... even with no witnesses.

But I digress from Pygmy rabbits...