OUTDOOR HUB
Daniel Xu | January 20, 2014
Illinois sportsmen may soon have the chance to hunt bobcats again.
Image courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bobcat hunting and trapping may return to Illinois after more than 40 years due to a push from legislators. According to the Springfield Bureau, state Representative Wayne Rosenthal (R-Morrisonville) is co-sponsoring a proposal that would allow hunters and trappers to take a hand in managing the bobcat population.
“There are just more and more of them out there. We just want to control them,” Rosenthal said.
If approved, the proposed season will take place between November 1 and February 15 with a bag limit of one bobcat per hunter and trapper. According to the latest count in 2009 by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR), bobcats had been sighted in 99 of the state’s 102 counties. A study by Southern Illinois University estimated that about 3,200 bobcats live south of Interstate 64, while isolated groups live elsewhere in the state.
“Bobcats once were common in Illinois,” said Bob Bluett, a DNR biologist. “Habitat changes and unregulated harvests, before the birth of our state fish and wildlife agency, caused numbers to decline by the late 1800s. But now, we’re happy to say, they’re doing great.”