Snowshoe hares turn white in winter and brown in summer, a camouflage switch triggered by day length rather than temperature, and Idaho’s 271 records trace the dense cover along the Snake River corridor and the wetland-adjacent brush at Deer Flat and Camas national wildlife refuges.
Records build to a July peak, roughly six times the February low, before a smaller November rise, a pattern that likely tracks both easier summer trail access and young hares becoming active enough to be noticed. NatureServe ranks the species S3, vulnerable, in Idaho, a more cautious state-level read than its secure global status, and hare populations across the boreal forest famously cycle in boom-and-bust waves tied closely to lynx numbers that follow the same rhythm.
Full species profile
