Vermont’s 837 snowshoe hare records cluster in the state’s high, cold interior. Washington County holds more than half of them, with Orange and the Northeast Kingdom counties of Essex, Caledonia, and Orleans carrying much of the rest, a boreal map inside a largely temperate state.
Snowshoes and a two-tone coat
The hare is built for deep snow: oversized hind feet spread its weight like snowshoes, and its coat molts from summer brown to winter white on a daylight timer rather than a temperature one. It needs dense, low cover, young conifer thickets, regenerating cuts, and bog edges, which is why records gather at places like the Wenlock Wildlife Management Area, Groton and Okemo state forests, Camels Hump State Park, and the Breadloaf Wilderness rather than the open Champlain lowlands.
Spring is the visible season
Snowshoe hares are active all year and do not hibernate, but reports crest from March through June, when the breeding season gets going and hares chase and box in the open, and when the spring molt leaves patchy, mismatched coats that stand out against bare ground. The late-summer lull comes as hares settle back into dense cover ahead of the white coat’s return.
Status in Vermont
NatureServe ranks the snowshoe hare S5, Secure, in Vermont, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
