The Indiana Department of Natural Resources closed its bobcat trapping season early after hunters reached the statewide quota. The season was scheduled to run from November 8 – January 31, or until the quota of 250 bobcats was reached. That was achieved after just a few weeks of trapping. The framework of Indiana's bobcat season was carefully designed with a total harvest limit based on population data collected throughout the state. Databases and reporting mechanisms were put into place to allow for close monitoring of the total season harvest. Successful trappers were required to register their bobcat within 25 hours using the state’s CheckIN Game Reporting System. “Licensed trappers had a successful first bobcat trapping season,” said Geriann Albers, DNR’s furbearer and gamebird program leader. “DNR will review what we’ve learned from this season as we move forward with regulated harvest and bobcat management.”
Successful trappers were asked to skin the bobcat and separate the pelt from the carcass before registering the pelt with a designated Indiana DNR employee or at an official DNR check station. The pelt was to be presented for physical registration and CITES tagging within 15 days after the month of harvest at a furbearer registration station. CITES is the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species. Tagging of certain species, such as bobcats, is required by federal and state law for management, and transporting across state lines.
