On February 15, the 2024-2025 bobcat season in Illinois came to a close, with a record-setting 649 bobcats harvested by hunters and trappers.
A majority of the cats, a total of 415 (61.6%), were taken by hunting, while trapping accounted for 234 (34.7%) of the harvest. Twenty-five (3.7%) bodies were salvaged by permit holders from circumstances such as roadkill. The success rate for hunters and trappers was 32.5% which is slightly higher than the average of 32% since the first season in 2016 but lower than the 2023 success rate of 37%. By comparison, the bobcat harvest from the 2023-2024 season was 370, with 19 salvaged.
Hunters and trappers in Fulton County reported 26 bobcats this year, which was the most in any county this year. Pike County was second with 25 bobcats reported.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources issued 2,000 bobcat permits in the 2024-2025 bobcat lottery out of 9,200 applicants. This year’s license issuance was the largest volume of its kind in years: since 2017, state authorities had issued a total of 1,000 licenses to applicants. In the inaugural 2016 season, the state issued only 500 licenses.
Bobcats are widespread throughout the continental United States, and are found in all counties of Illinois. They are highly abundant; research from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale indicates the Illinois bobcat population could support an increased annual harvest without causing the population to decline.
The IDNR regularly monitors the status of bobcats and will continue to evaluate the hunting program as new data become available from ongoing research. More information about bobcat hunting and trapping can be found online.
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