Illinois hunters and trappers took 367 bobcats during the 2022-23 season. Photo: www.iStockphoto.com/moose henderson
Hunters and trappers took 367 bobcats during the 2022-23 season, an increase of more than five dozen over the previous season. A total of 198 (52 percent) bobcats were taken by hunting, while trapping accounted for 169 (44 percent) of the harvest. Sixteen (4 percent) were salvaged by permit holders from circumstances such as roadkill.
Hunters and trappers in Pike County, in southwest Illinois, reported 24 bobcats. That was the most for any county this year. There were 6,200 bobcat lottery applicants in 2022, and 1,000 permits were issued for the season. The bobcat harvest from the 2021-2022 season was 290, with 23 salvaged.
Many hunters, trappers and IDNR staff collected jaws for an ongoing bobcat research project at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. The IDNR continues to monitor the status of bobcats and will evaluate the program as new data become available from ongoing research.
For more information about bobcat hunting and trapping, visit https://www2.illinois.gov/dnr/trapping/Pages/BobcatHunting-and-Trapping.aspx.
