Though I've been around snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) all my life, I was unaware that they resort to eating meat during harsh winters of over-population. A friend who works for Alaska Fish & Wildlife clued me in on this several years ago, when I noticed tracks like spokes on a wheel leading in from the woods, converging below my lumberjack feeder, where bones and scraps had been dropped by the lumberjacks (gray jay, Canada jay).
When faced with starvation caused by overpopulation or harsh conditions, snowshoe hares will indeed show themselves as omnivores/carnivores, as this one clearly does. He climbed up on the deck, onto a bench, then onto the deck rail to get to this lumberjack feeder strewn with turkey bones from last Christmas dinner. He spent about a half hour gnawing on bones before wandering 'lippety-lippety' off.
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