The Indiana Department of Natural Resources intends to boost the state’s bobcat trapping quota and allow hunters to use weapons to kill the animals and counter Indiana’s growing bobcat population.
A permanent rule proposed by DNR would permit licensed hunters and trappers to harvest 400 bobcats from 40 Indiana counties — a 60% increase from last season’s 250 quota.
The rule would expand permitted methods from just traps to include hunting with a bow and arrow, crossbow, shotgun, handgun, rifle, muzzleloading long gun or handgun, and certain air guns.
Trappers may use a cage trap, permitted foothold traps or a snare trap with a relaxing snare lock to trap a bobcat, same as last season.
The rule would also prohibit recreational hunters from using a dog to chase a bobcat, with exceptions made for authorized federal and state wildlife management workers.
DNR will accept public comment on the proposed rule change through May 19 ahead of the 2026 hunting season.
The season begins Nov. 8 and concludes Jan. 31, or until the quota is met, whichever is sooner.
This will be the second legal bobcat harvest since lawmakers directed the DNR to establish a trapping season for the once-endangered species.
The first trapping season closed Dec. 6, one month after it started.
Behind the move
DNR says the initial harvest went smoothly, so the agency is now seeking to update its quota and rules to “responsibly manage Indiana’s bobcat population and decrease negative interactions with bobcats across the 40 counties with high-quality bobcat habitat, while still maintaining a strong bobcat population in Indiana,” communications director Holly Lawson said.
She said data shows the bobcat population has grown in the 40 southern Indiana counties where trapping is permitted. This has led to an uptick in bobcat collisions with vehicles and higher costs for Hoosiers whose property is damaged by bobcats, she said.
Lawson said hunters asked the agency to include them in the upcoming season. Meanwhile, she said landowners are asking for more permits to take bobcats that are killing livestock.
The Natural Resources Commission, a 12-person civilian commission that traditionally reviews rules for DNR, authorized the initial bobcat trapping quota last year.
The rule garnered 3,000 public comments, mostly negative.
DNR Director Alan Morrison submitted the proposed rule change to increase the quota and include licensed bobcat hunting without NRC’s input this time — a new protocol for the agency that drew condemnation from several NRC members.
The panel essentially has little input now on the rule and can only approve or deny it.
The proposed quota is already generating criticism from the Humane World for Animals, formerly known as the Humane Society of the U.S.
The group is urging Hoosiers to submit public comments opposing the rule ahead of the May 19 deadline.
“Last fall, Hoosiers were horrified to see images of terrified bobcats in strangling neck snares, steel-jawed leghold traps and cage traps on social media,” said Samantha Chapman, Indiana state director of the animal rights group.
“Hoosiers never wanted bobcats killed in the first place, and now this shady rule — which would drastically increase the number of bobcats killed and add more killing methods — is being pushed with absolutely no scientific justification and could drive them back to extinction in Indiana,” she said.
“It’s a shame that special interests are trying to pull strings to dictate wildlife policy in our state.”
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
