North Dakota’s 37 snowshoe hare records lean northeast: Walsh County, up against the Manitoba line, holds 22 of them, with Pembina and Cavalier close behind. That’s the state’s most thickly wooded corner, where the Pembina River bottom and the Pembina Hills give a forest hare room at the very southern edge of its range.
Forest pockets in a grassland state
Snowshoe hares are boreal animals, built for deep snow and dense cover, and North Dakota offers that only in patches. The northeastern river forests hold most of the records, the Turtle Mountains along the Canadian border contribute through Bottineau County, and the wooded breaks of the Little Missouri country add a few more from McKenzie and Dunn in the west. The big wetland refuges suggested for viewing ring this country rather than sitting in it; their brushy edges and shelterbelts are the likeliest ground.
A March spike, and a November echo
Nearly half the state’s records, 18 of 37, were made in March, with a smaller cluster in November. Those are the camouflage-mismatch months, when a hare turning white against bare brown ground, or brown against fresh snow, stands out to anyone watching. Spring breeding chases also push normally secretive hares into the open. Read the peaks as visibility as much as activity.
Status in North Dakota
NatureServe leaves the species unranked in North Dakota, native but unassessed, and globally it’s secure. At the southern fringe of the range, though, a hare this tied to snow and thick cover is worth keeping records on as winters shorten. The newest state record dates to August 2022.
Full species profile
