Montana is the northern edge of the black-tailed jackrabbit’s world, and the state’s ten records show it. Nine come from Beaverhead County in the far southwest, with a single record from neighboring Madison. That’s big, open, high-desert country, sagebrush flats and dry valleys, the closest thing Montana has to the jackrabbit’s Great Basin heartland.
A species can be genuinely scarce in a state without being in trouble, and that’s the situation here. NatureServe marks the jackrabbit unrankable in Montana, an admission that there isn’t enough information to judge. The animal is widespread and secure farther south; in Montana it’s a fringe resident of a few warm valleys. Ten records over more than two decades also reflect how few people are out counting hares in Beaverhead County.
The handful of dated reports falls mostly in May and August, the long-daylight months when both jackrabbits and observers are most active on the open flats. Bannack State Park, in the heart of the Beaverhead record cluster, is the one named site with a confirmed report. Picture the animal the way the country demands: open ground under big sky, ears up at dusk.
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