Winter Diet of Snowshoe Hares in Managed Forests, Southwest Montana

Abstract

We followed snowshoe hare tracks during winter months from 2000 through 2003 to locate feeding sites to study snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) diet in a portion of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) near Gardiner, Montana. We observed browsing on 18 different forbs, shrubs, and trees, but 83 percent of the diet consisted of lodgepole pine (Pinus wntorta), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menzicsii), and subalpine lir (Abies lasiocarpa). When we compared hare diet with plant availability in the different cover types within our study area, we found a significant correlation in only young regenerating stands of lodgepole pine. Plant availability greatly influenced hare diet as shown by a reduction in the number of different species being utilized by hares as winter progressed, and smaller plants became buried under accumulating snow pack. Hares also took advantage of fallen branches from mature trees laying on the snow pack, especially in more open cover types where food sources were less abundant.