49er, trophy cats come at a huge cost. Folks are starting to treat them like wolves in WI. When the illegal/incidental harvest is as high as the legal take, you have too much protection in place IMO. Time to work to shift some of those into the resource bucket!

Of the 66 cats in the north that have been collared, 9 have been legally harvested with a permit. 5 were illegally killed. 1 was killed for depredation. 3 were killed with cable restraints. 2 by vehicles. 4 more were too decomposed to know what killed them. Even if I don't include the four that were too far decomposed or killed by cars, that makes it 9 to 9.

Yet, the WTA thought trappers wouldn't support trying to apply a little more pressure to an area to see how the cat and fisher population would respond? An idea that would have allowed the state and the association to see what folks actually preferred....waiting 10 years for a tag or getting a tag every year.

All those numbers are pulled from page 9....
https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/documents/committees/furbearer/fur052318.pdf

Thanks 49er, I am away from home this weekend so will have to wait until I get home to read the article. Just doing a quick check in on Mcdonalds wi fi

When did this take place? Did the WTA know this was happening. Geez nothing like making it more difficult to catch fur. Seems like those in the DNR really don't want trappers to catch something, or they are making rules more restrictive to catch trappers in violation.

There goes one of Muskrat's very good racoon sets!

Only in Wisconsin would it be prestigious to catch a bobcat. The only hard part about would be drawing a tag.[/quote]


Ain’t that the truth!! Ridiculousness!

I just read an article in the Wisconsin Outdoor News where 4 guys were busted for, among other things, hunting and trapping numerous Bobcats in Wisconsin and registering them in Minnesota. They had the book thrown at them, thousands of dollars in fines, lost guns and a truck.

I find it hard to believe the habitat and carrying capacity is that much different in Minnesota than. Wisconsin, yet MN allows 5 cats a year, while WI takes 10+ years for a single tag.

Glad to see you posting Kelly! Based on the change in the reg pamphlets, it looks like it was changed between 2016 and 2017. I think that is what it showed when I looked here, but someone else can check if they want:

http://cdmresolver.worldcat.org/oclc/609263475/viewonline

I would have to dig to see if it went through the normal rule making process which would have ensured the WTA knew about it.

That is the cost of trophy cats. A similar cost can come with trophy muskies, deer, or any other specie. Folks lose out on their opportunity to participate.

I wish more poacher scumbags would receive stiffer penalties like these guys. I think that could help curb the problem. Lots of repeat offenders that keep getting caught, might think twice if they lost their truck. But these guys violated the Lacey Act, which is a little different than the run of the mill road hunters and spotlighters.

My amazement was at the difference in bag limits between MN and WI. A guy could harvest 50 cats in MN in a decade, while a guy in Wisconsin might only get one chance at one cat in that same time.

News to me.

2016



What's new in 2017:



2017



So . . . . . now what. Thought the new guys were above this stuff.

Ain’t that the truth!! Ridiculousness!

[/quote]

A residual of Olsonology. The science of trophy management.

I hear ya:(

Well looks like Two years in a row now weve voted in favor of going back to the scientifically and biologically supported three zone mink and muskrat season strucure!!! It will be interesting to see if the conservation Congress and the natural resources Board ignore it again this time- or if it actually gains some traction and actually moves forward ???🤔

Well looks like Two years in a row now weve voted in favor of going back to the scientifically and biologically supported three zone mink and muskrat season strucure!!! It will be interesting to see if the conservation Congress and the natural resources Board ignore it again this time- or if it actually gains some traction and actually moves forward ???🤔

Think about this? We allow every trapper in MN to catch 5 cats, in 2013 we sold approximately 12,000 licenses, that a potential of 60,000 cats. But wait, it gets better, kids need a license at 13, we allow anyone under the age of 13 and over(I believe the age of 5) to catch 5 cats. Also, anyone with a small game license can harvest 5 cats by hunting and we allow non resident bobcat hunting. Just think of the potential for harvest!

Thankfully MN doesnt pick an arbitrary number out of thin air that would be a safe harvest. We collect a bit of data from each year's harvest and that data tells us if the bobcat population is healthy. 1998/1999 we harvested 103 cats, 2014/2015 we hit what I think was an all time high of 138j. 13 fold increase in approximately 15 years. the biologists in WI would have had an aortic confarction if there was such a term.

Here is something to think about and I'm going to cause a stir by saying this. You need to shorten your seasons. No need to harvest cats in October/early November and no reason to harvest fisher October/early November and no reason to harvest them in January/February. At least not when the resource is so limited that you can only take one every millennia.

Our cat season is approximately 5 weeks and our fisher season at present is 6 days. We were 16 days for the vast majority of my life and will be again IMHO. Our season may be shorter but we all get a chance to bob our head in the apple bucket because of it and the opportunity for multiple bobs is afforded.

"Opportunity to participate" I like that Justin. It seems more and more people want the opportunity to succeed, "quality of experience" if you will. The heck with that, give me the opportunity to participate and then I'll earn my trophy,

I’m all for a shorter season. Especially on the front end. And I don’t care who agrees or disagrees. Can’t make friends everywhere you go.

What are the chances the hound hunters would agree to less time chasing cats in the winter? I bet slim to none.

It looks like we made some progress toward getting a bag limit on otter instead of a tag system, so maybe that's a step in the right direction. I'd love to see a bag limit for bobcat, fisher and otter. But that's a decrease in revenue by $12 per trapper that applies for all three, that adds up quick.

A majority of the hound guys I know are content with the chase. They don’t care so much about the kill. We treed several cats last few seasons and just pulled the dogs and left. Not saying all are that way. But a lot just like the chase.

Brian, can they chase cats without a tag?

There’s always 1 or 2 guys with a tag. They’ll do the same with bears

Wonder who is responsible for this? Since it doesn’t show up under the “What’s New” section seems to me that it was meant to be snuck in without discussion. Same way the ROW rule was snuck into the DOT Regs.