Bobcat Study Could Expand Hunt

A population and distribution study about bobcats in Wisconsin could lead to more opportunity to hunt and trap the highly regulated furbearer.

As it stands now, Wisconsin predator hunters can only take a bobcat north of Highway 64, which means only the northern third or so of the state is open to bobcat hunting and trapping. In addition, bobcats are a special tag species, so hunters must pay $3 every year to apply for a tag. Tags are issued in a lottery based on preference points. In general, it has been taking four to five years to draw a tag. This year, 12,684 people applied for 540 permits.

Leslie Adams, a University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point graduate researcher, is investigating population distribution and abundance by using hair collected at snaring stations. More than half of her hair snare locations were south of Highway 64.

The bobcat population is thought to be increasing in Wisconsin. Road-killed animals and incidentally trapped bobcats are becoming far more common in the southern half of the state.

Adams’s study might provide the Wisconsin DNR with the data necessary to not only expand the area open to bobcat harvest, it could also lead to more tags being issued.

I have written an extensive feature article about the bobcat situation for Wisconsin Outdoor News. It appears on Page 1 of the Oct. 31 issue. The full article is also posted online at wisconsinoutdoornews.com - it is article No. 2 in the rotating news cue on the home page.

I will also be attending a special management meeting about bobcats on Nov. 14, and will have a full report in an upcoming issue of WON. I’ll also share some of the highlights here.

Photo courtesy of Leslie Adams