Bobcat trapping season goes into effect this fall

INDIANAPOLIS — Bobcat trapping season will go into effect this autumn after the controversial measure passed its final hurdle as the Indiana Natural Resource Commission signed off on allowing regulated trapping and harvesting of the once endangered animal.

Bobcats are Indiana’s only native wild cat and were endangered in the Hoosier state for more than 50 years until being removed from the endangered species list in 2005. A bill pushed by Sen. Scott Baldwin, an avid hunter, ended up passing through legislation last year despite push back. The bill forced DNR to establish a bobcat trapping season, despite DNR having the ability to create hunting and trapping seasons without legislation backing.

The approved trapping season will extend to 40 southern Indiana counties and place a limit of one bobcat per trapper. The entire season is capped at 250 bobcats for all trappers combined.

Additional rules passed by the Natural Resource Commission include allowing bobcats and their parts that are legally acquired to be sold, allowing bobcats that are found dead to be kept by people with a permit, and adding bobcats to the list of species for which a game breader’s license is required.

These rules were initially proposed last fall with the public given opportunity to weigh in on the measures at public hearings and during a public commenting period. Baldwin’s bill required the state to implement rules for a trapping and/or hunting season by July 1, 2025, but left the bag limits to be determined by the Natural Resource Commission.

With the rules now in place, the first trapping season for bobcats will go into effect this fall.

A lack of population data around Indiana bobcats had been a point of major contention during the process of passing both Baldwin’s bill and the commission’s proposed bag limit quota for the trapping season. DNR presented no data during the debates surrounding the senate bill but would later claim “research indicates that the bobcat population can withstand a regulated harvest in these (40 southern) counties.”

However, the data cited by DNR seemed to be pulled from old sources and aligned with the same timeframe when DNR told IndyStar that the department did not “have the scientific data to support a sustainable bobcat season.” That quote was given after DNR backed down from a 2018 attempt to implement a bobcat hunting season.

“We believe bobcats are still recovering in the state of Indiana after they were completely eliminated in the 1960s,” said Samantha Chapman, Indiana director for Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society of the United States) who has opposed the bobcat hunting measure since the onset.

Chapman said her organization would like to see better population data and pushed the commission to set the bag limit at zero for the first year until a better idea of the bobcats’ numbers could be determined.

“Quite simply it would be foolish to risk losing these shy native cats in our state again by recklessly resuming hunting and trapping,” she said.

Geriann Albers, furbearer and turkey program leader with DNR, defended the decision by calling the chosen rules “very conservative.”

“With bobcats seasons and this being brand new, we wanted to start slowly,” Albers said. “We started with regular trapping only. We are not going to allow hunting right out of the gate.”

Albers stated she understood that many people have various opinions about the best way to conserve wildlife populations but stressed that DNR had the bobcats’ best interests in mind.

“Honestly, I don’t expect them to change their mind. It’s fine. Everyone has their opinions,” Albers said. “I just want them to know I care deeply about bobcats…  The DNR cares deeply about bobcats and we would not do anything to jeopardize our bobcat populations.”

But Chapman argued the voice of the non-hunting or trapping Hoosier wasn’t heard at the public hearings. More than 3,000 comments were reportedly submitted during the proposal stage but a breakdown wasn’t provided of how many were for or against the measure. On top of that, Chapman argued many Hoosiers who opposed the measure were unable to voice their opinions due to the meetings being held during working hours.

“I think if the commission really listened to the majority of Hoosiers, they would’ve rejected the proposal today,” Chapman said.

“We all value bobcats,” Albers said. “We want them to keep doing well and this season is going to do that. It’s going to provide opportunity for those who want to use regulating trapping to catch one but there will still be plenty out there for viewing and ecosystem services and all of those things.”