The leverets are darker than the adults with a black tinge to their fur. Snowshoe hares are found in mixed spruce forests, wooded swamps, and brushy areas. The Alaskan hare is generally found on windswept, rocky slopes and upland tundra, often in groups. These big hares usually avoid lowlands and wooded areas. They feed on willow shoots and various dwarf arctic plants.
Hares are most active at dusk and dawn.
They do not dig burrows or build nests but use natural shelters and depressions and rest under branches or bushes. The snowshoe hare travels about on well-established trails or runways which become deeply worn in the snow or forest floor. It is interesting that the winter trails through the deep snow follow the summer pathways. Populations of snowshoe hares are subject to cycles of high abundance and scarcity. The population in an area will build up over a period of years to a peak of abundance, followed by a sudden decline to a very low level.