I don’t know how other states have their bobcat set up,,but we here in il have a limited bobcat quota and in order to get a permit, you have to apply and get into a lottery type of thing.

I struck out again,, I’ve only been drawn one time and was blessed to have been able to fill it.

The unfortunate thing about this lottery is that we have antis who enter into the lottery, and they steal someone else’s chance of harvesting a cat.
Which I’m sure impacts how the state can really know a better idea of our cat population.

Most trappers here in Illinois, would rather have a “ call in” quota system instead of a lottery.. but we suspect that the Illinois department of natural resources is making more money off of the lottery system.

It’d also be nice if the applicants who enter the lottery, have a valid hunting or trapping license.

How do you guys in other states have your cats set up?

Here in Georgia it's catch as many as you can from December 1st to last day of February.

No tags, no quota, no limit.

That doesn’t seem right for someone without a license to draw a tag…
You can buy one bobcat, one fisher and one otter tag in PA when you get your Furtaker license. But can only harvest them in certain WMU’s.

And across the border to the north is New York with unlimited. we are just feeding them cats......jk

Here in KS cat harvest is limited by season length. No limit during season. Non resident license was 250. Have not looked in a couple years. Best population is east half of the state. Promise to kill coons and coyotes too you can easy find permission in Feb when deer and bird season are closed and cats are prime

been applying for 4 years havent gotten one yet

Same thing happened to me I called down state and said if you draw a tag you should go to the bottom of the pool.the following year they did change it to where if you got a permit the previous year you couldn't get one that year.i still think it should go by a point system.i know last year when I applied there were over 9,000 applications at 5.00 for each one that's 45,000 which is non refundable and I agree you should have a valid hunting or trapping license before applying but I think all that would do is give the state more money because the antis would still buy those licenses to be able to apply for the permit.

Yall dont have a shortage of cats. I hunt there every year and see a few. Shame you cant take them

Season opens in November thru February. I don't start after them until January.

Classified as predators here… no closed season

Season runs Dec.13th-Jan.18th in northern zone. Limit 5 bobcats.

No season, no limit - trap or hunt them year round, 24 hrs a day on private. There is a regular season on public land, but dont know what it is.

You boys need to just slip on down to missouri catch as many as you like during season.

It’s a farce just them stealing money

We used to have lottery type permitting in PA when they first opened the season on them.

My daughter and I applied 5-6 years in a row and never got one.

Then they changed to one per applicant guaranteed.

Maybe the problem is, you live in Illinois!

In NY’s northern zone WMU’s where I trap and live in, there are no limits on cats, otter , fisher, or any other fur bearer except for marten with an annual limit of 6.

Same thing in a couple states I hunt and trap. Are they just not there to start with, or Big Brother has his thumb on you, like he did in PA and said you couldn’t hunt on Sunday?

Was about to post same

foxkidd44 I'd wait awhile and check again. Their main website in the regs said two to three weeks on the permits. Retired warden that lives near me said he was told 3000 permits were issued this year. I can't find that number anywhere.