Why are there fewer hares in Russia?

When I was hiking through the forests on my recent trips, I used to run into hares more often - one would jump out of the bushes here, you'd see their tracks there. Now they're showing up less. Specialists say it's a combination of factors: unrestricted hunting, habitat loss from logging and development, diseases like viral hemorrhagic disease. The climate's changing too - snowy winters don't always come when hares need them, and that affects survival rates for young hares. Plus predators like wolves, foxes, and hawks aren't going anywhere, but there's less prey to go around.