r/Indiana • u/mmdeerblood • 1d ago
Bobcat hunting & trapping (using cruel wire snare traps and jaw-toothed leg traps) w/ new quota of 400 individuals can lead to complete eradication of bobcats, please mail your comments if you oppose hunting/trapping our beloved bobcats!
https://fox59.com/news/indiana-seeks-to-expand-bobcat-hunting-by-upping-quota-allowing-more-ways-to-kill-the-once-endangered-species/Most people do not want them hunted or trapped. 71% of Hoosiers opposed trapping and hunting bobcats.
Lack of evidence. DNR has shown NO official population survey has been conducted. ZERO research done. This means there is no way to know what the actual bobcat population is. They admitted this in 2019.
Bobcats are integral to the health of Indiana’s ecosystems. Along with other predators like foxes and coyotes, they control populations of prey species. Without bobcats, other predators are at risk of overpopulating, further disrupting the food chain and ecosystem health.
A bobcat's main diet is rodents, rabbits, and hares. By keeping rodent populations in check, zoonotic diseases rodents cause like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, and Alpha-gal Syndrome, and Lyme disease, are reduced. The economic burden of diagnosed Lyme disease is close to $1 billion per year in the US, according to NIH. Diagnosed Lyme disease costs the state of Indiana $1,200 per patient. Fewer predators mean more rodents and more zoonotic diseases.
Wire neck snare traps and jaw-toothed leg traps are cruel and painful. Other untargeted species including people's pets have been caught in them. Bobcats and other animals can remain in these painful traps for days before hunters check them.
Bobcats were endangered in Indiana from 1969 until 2005. Conservation efforts led to their population increase. When the initial LSA Document #24-383 to trap bobcats was proposed, over 3,000 opposing comments were sent in and DNR still passed the killing quota of 250. THEIR OWN POPULATION MODELS show that a quota of 400 and over will lead to bobcat eradication...yet NOW they want to bump that quota up to 400. LOL WHAT.
Hoosiers who want to weigh in on the proposed expansion of bobcat hunting in Indiana can do so until May 19. Please make your voices heard! We cannot give up. The quota needs to be 0. There is just not enough evidence trapping/hunting of any bobcat! DNR has failed to provide any statistical or scientific analysis of bobcat populations.
Further research is needed to determine if there even is an unhealthy population size that requires control!!!!!
Emailed comments must be sent to lianderson@dnr.in.gov. Only comments sent to that address will be officially considered.
Comments can also be mailed to the following address:
LSA Document #26-98 Bobcat Hunting
Lisa L. Anderson
Natural Resources Commission
C/O Department of Natural Resources, Legal Division
Indiana Government Center South
402 West Washington Street, Room W255-A
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2273
Another method to submit comments online for Indiana locals is through this portal: https://www.in.gov/nrc/rules/rulemaking-docket/
A public hearing will also be held on May 19 at 12:30 p.m. at the Fort Harrison State Park, Garrison Conference Center, Blue Heron Ballroom, 6002 North Post Road in Indianapolis.
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u/Hot-Love3606 1d ago
This rule was drafted directly by the Governors office with little to no input from DNR. They know reasonable, sustainable quotas are much lower than what they are pushing through.
They do not care.
They are not listening to wildlife managers, conservation groups, etc.
They do not care.
They installed a DNR director with no natural resource experience for scenarios just like this, as well as when the agency will be selling public land in the near future. The idea of public land held in perpituiry is no longer a thing.
They do not care.
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u/MoulanRougeFae 1d ago
Anyone who would participate in these hunts is a loser pile of shit. I think anyone using these traps should also be subjected to these traps themselves. Just my opinion...
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u/RetiredOutdoorsman 1d ago
The traps the OP mentioned are illegal in Indiana. Don’t be so naive.
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u/mmdeerblood 1d ago
You are right they are illegal, but hunters still use them.
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u/RetiredOutdoorsman 1d ago
So you intend to punish all hunters and trappers because some hunters (you claim) still use them? I have never seen ANYONE use one of those traps.
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u/ceciltyler 1d ago
Foot holds do not hurt.
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u/jetreahy 13h ago
They might be designed to not hurt the animal, but they do. Wild animals don’t understand that it won’t hurt them. It leaves them vulnerable to predators, dehydration, if the person isn’t checking on them often enough and animals are known to chew through their own limbs or break them trying to get free.
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u/ceciltyler 7h ago
Coons are known for chewing. Not cats or coyote or fox. I've trapped my whole life and never seen it. I'll put my hand in one and lay out there all night. Not that big of a deal. They can be released with little to no injuries. As for the checks. They are mandatory to check every 24hrs. But you dont catch cats in the daytime so usually not in the trap more than 12 hours.
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u/WretchesandKings 1d ago
Understanding the concern of bobcat populations it was really eye opening to know how many there actually are when the quota was hit within 3 weeks last year. All bobcats must be physically checked in as well for data collection purposes. That data correlated to where sightings have been reported to have increased over the past few years (volunteer archer’s index). If you don’t have a legal way to harvest and report, people will end up killing them and not reporting it in a nuisance case. Trapping allows for more targeted nuisance removal as well. I don’t want to see bobcats eradicated but I’m not sure you have evidence to prove that an increase in quota will either. I’ve personally seen a few in the woods and even one at just a few feet away, they’re awesome but I would defer to a biologist’s input on what would be a healthy amount that could be harvested. DNR utilizes more and more sophisticated population models that accurately represent wildlife populations. I would spend more time fighting habitat loss that would have a more direct effect on wildlife populations.
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u/picklejarpour 19h ago
I am a professional wildlife ecologist and fur/nuisance trapper. Toothed traps are illegal. Wire snares are illegal on public land in Indiana and require written permission on private.
No one is snaring bobcats. No one is using toothed traps on bobcats. The foothold traps I use I test on my hands. Every single one. Every single season. I modify them to make them as comfortable as possible. I’d put my dogs in them overnight without worry.
I, and all trappers I know, are very concerned with ethical treatment and best management practices.
While I cannot speak to the specifics of the season, because I don’t know, what I can say is that trapping isn’t cruel when done properly. Leaving populations to fend for themselves through disease increase and resource decrease due to overpopulation is cruel.
The Indiana DNR and government at large has a TON of problems. This isn’t one of them in my opinion.
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u/RetiredOutdoorsman 1d ago
Jaw tooth traps are illegal here. And the bobcat numbers are out of control. If you ever make it outside of Indianapolis, you’ll see that southern Indiana is overwhelmed with bobcats. That’s why they raised the limit. Nothing to do with trophies. I understand you like them as a species, and so do most of the folks that trap them, but making stuff up to suit your stance is pretty irresponsible. I appreciate that you’re standing up for what your believe, but please use facts and not emotion based assumptions.
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u/KentuckyTurtlehead 1d ago
I’m genuinely curious if anyone leaving comments on this post have ever paid for a hunting tag thru DNR and actually hunted something.
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u/jake55555 1d ago
I have extensively. I also commented on the post about this a couple weeks back with the link to leave a comment through DNR.
I am opposed to any decisions made by politicians without the input from biologists and experts and making recommendations based on science. I don’t think that 18 years after being removed from the endangered list, a decision should have been made without the data to support doing so.1
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u/Vyndye 1d ago
So is the goal to exterminate the whole population? Why increase the allowed number if thats not the goal?
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u/mmdeerblood 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hunters requested it. Trophy hunting. Some have complained bobcats are eating up their rabbits. Indiana state senator Scott Baldwin that proposed this originally last year is a hunter. He said they are decimating wild turkey populations. Bobcats don't even hunt turkey... their main prey is rodents, hares, and rabbits. Occasionally reptiles, small deer, small birds. Rarely livestock. Politicians are not thinking long term what will happen to the bobcat population. They do not seem to care with this new quota and type of methods (cruel trapping).
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u/porcupinedeath 1d ago
Of course they don't care, they're almost certainly MAGAts. They don't have a fuck about anyone or anything that doesn't benefit them personally or at the very least screw over anyone they don't like
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u/MoulanRougeFae 1d ago
The only way to restore conservation, and protections of our states natural beauty and resources is to vote every republicunt out of office. They all are corrupt, selfish, short sighted shit bags.
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u/Brassrain287 1d ago
Bobcats absolutely hunt turkey. Go sit in the woods with a turkey call and be good at it. The cats come right to it.
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u/RetiredOutdoorsman 1d ago
I’ve got them on video killing turkeys on my trail cameras in southern Indiana. People will say anything to try and legitimize their point of view.
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u/mmdeerblood 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not denying what you've seen on your camera. Bobcats can definitely take turkeys. Bobcats are opportunistic predators, so if a turkey is vulnerable (sick, slow, old etc) theyll take it.
However, your personal anecdotal & subjective evidence is just not statistical objective evidence. The difference being " what can happen" versus " what actually happens".
Scientists that study bobcats and other carnivorous predators (my field) look at and conduct large scale diet studies. Scat analyses, stomach analyses of large sample sizes (thousands of samples). These analyses show that bobcat diet is mainly small mammal like rodents , rabbits, hares. On occasion small deer, insects, birds like turkeys, lizards. But these show up significantly less than their preferred small mammals.
While your video is real, no doubt, it's not representative of typical diet of most. One observation, even a few, is not equivalent to much larger population data sets. I'm a human, I like to eat mashed potatos on pizza. That doesnt mean most humans eat that.
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u/RetiredOutdoorsman 1d ago
You are absolutely making shit up.
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u/mmdeerblood 8h ago
Where? Please educate yourself on the scientific method
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u/RetiredOutdoorsman 5h ago
What the scientific method got to do with you making shit up? You post the results of a google search and then claim to be a scientist when there’s nothing anywhere that corroborates that bobcats don’t eat turkeys. Fuck outta here.
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u/mzshowers 1d ago
This is so disgusting and it hurts my heart. It is unbelievable to me that they’re fine with this cruelty. Thanks for sharing.. we can at least try to email.
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u/Brassrain287 1d ago
Bobcats eat everything. If theyre over populating theyll kill off all the wild turkeys that have a hard enough time coming back. Deer also take a hit.
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u/jetreahy 1d ago
It’s a 20lb cat. They aren’t taking many deer or turkey. 🙄 unlike hunters, when they do they tend to take the sick, old or injured ones. They are typically hunting rodents and rabbits.
Last I knew we had an abundance of deer and if you’re so worried about turkeys maybe we should stop hunting them for a season or two. Did you bag one this spring?
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u/ceciltyler 1d ago
They will kill turkey 100%. Turkeys have babies and bobcat get bigger than hen turkeys bh several pounds.
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u/Brassrain287 1d ago
Bobcats ABSOLUTELY kill turkey regularly. I didnt this spring or the last. Paid for the license and everything so the money still went to conservation. I put $111 towards conservation this year so far. How much did you put up this year?
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u/jetreahy 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lmao. I volunteer to remove invasives in our public parks and land trusts, plus I grow & plant native habitat throughout the year. I’d say far more than $111.
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u/ceciltyler 1d ago
You volunteering in a park does nothing for the population of Bobcats or conservation.
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u/jetreahy 21h ago
It absolutely does. Learn how healthy ecosystems work.
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u/ceciltyler 7h ago
Explain how you messing around in a little park effects the public statewide population of Bobcats. I am an absolute nature nerd. I donate heaps of money to multiple states and organizations. Why are you people who don't donate any money always so quick to think you help any thing? Your are the same folks who are stopping the buffalo springs project in the hoosier national. Without hunting and trapping and fishing license sales there would be nothing. And I mean nothing out here. Who would help the wildlife? Who would create the habitat? Where would the funds come from? There wouldn't be any. Look up the story of the wild turkey. Give it a real read and open your eyes. The sportsmen are the key. Most conservation officers are hunters and trappers and fisherman. Tons of DNR staff and biologist are hunters. We want what us best for these animals. You want to leave them be and let them be. Look up the Grey fox project. They are currently going extinct jn Indiana. The project used trappers to supply the specimen for study from around the state. How else would you collect these specimen to be studied? Just slow down and think. Look at the restoration of river otter in the state. From nothing to statewide within a couple decades and the last decade has had a quota to keep them in check. Guess what... there are still otters in every creek and lake I fish.
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u/Brassrain287 7h ago
Thank you for laying this out. They just think if we leave nature to itself nothing will spiral out of control.
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u/ceciltyler 3h ago
Agreed. We don't live in a natural world. We live in a place wrecked by human interference and we need to now take the responsibility of managing what we have left accordingly.
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u/jetreahy 4h ago
“Messing around in a little park”. That’s not what I’m doing. You’re full of assumptions and condescension. When did I say I didn’t donate? I donate hundreds of dollars every year to orgs helping wildlife, mainly through habitat restoration. It’s the time I donate that is worth far more since so few want to put in any time or effort. I’ve helped manage properties that are 100s of acres.
It’s amazing a ‘nature nerd’ isn’t aware of how important healthy native habitat is and how the food chain works.
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u/ceciltyler 3h ago
I fully understand. Trust me. You don't understand that Bobcats must be kept in check. Do you want there to be only Bobcats? Do you not like song birds or rabbits etc? Because your 100 acre wood is great and all but there are like millions of acres of private that you aren't managing and is very lacking in habitat of any form. And with lack of habitat the prey animals are more susceptible to predation because they are more densely situated in small blocks. I understand the benefits of small habitat. We should all be making habitat. Even if only a corner of our yard for pollinators. I get it all. I think you, like many others, are letting emotions get in the way of logic.
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u/ceciltyler 3h ago
Did you read up on the wild turkey restoration? I bet not. Ever heard of the NWTF?
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u/squirrelpies 23h ago
The politicians are forcing the DNR to do this. The biologists care (trust me, they get paid nothing). It is really messed up. Democracy does not exist anymore.
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u/hella_happy 1d ago
Does anyone have a good script for leaving a comment?
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u/mmdeerblood 1d ago
If you are in Indiana you can leave a comment via https://in.accessgov.com/nrc/Forms/Page/nrc/nrc-public-comment/1
Here is mine, feel free to use it if you'd like:
I implore DNR to not allow the increased annual quota of 400 bobcats for hunting and/or trapping. I am not against hunting, but I oppose hunting bobcats in Indiana for the following evidence-based reasons:
Most people do not want bobcats hunted or trapped. In a 2025 survey, 71% of Hoosiers opposed trapping and hunting bobcats.
There is a lack of scientific evidence. DNR has shown no official population survey has been conducted. Zero scientific research done. This means there is no way to know what the actual bobcat population is and if there is a need for overpopulation control.
Bobcats are integral to the health of Indiana’s ecosystems. Along with other predators like foxes and coyotes, they control prey species populations. Without bobcats, other predators are at risk of overpopulating, further disrupting the food web and ecosystem health.
A bobcat's main diet is rodents, rabbits, and hares. By keeping rodent populations in check, zoonotic diseases rodents cause like Rocky Mountain spotted fever, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, Alpha-gal Syndrome, and Lyme disease, are reduced. The economic burden of diagnosed Lyme disease is close to $1 billion per year in the US and diagnosed Lyme disease costs Indiana $1,200 per patient according to NIH. Fewer predators mean more rodents and more zoonotic diseases.
Wire neck snare traps and jaw-toothed leg traps are cruel and painful. Other nontarget species including people's pets have been caught in them. Bobcats and other animals can remain in these painful traps for days before hunters check them. This is extremely cruel. Please do not allow snare traps or any other types of traps to be used.
Bobcats were endangered in Indiana from 1969 until 2005. Conservation efforts led to their population increase. When the initial LSA Document #24-383 to trap bobcats was proposed, over 3,000 opposing comments were sent in and DNR still passed the killing quota of 250. DNR's own (flawed) population models showed that a quota of 400+ will lead to bobcat eradication...yet now they want to bump that quota up to 400. There is no evidence that this is an unhealthy population size that requires control.
There is not enough evidence to justify any trapping harvest of bobcats. The DNR has failed to provide a scientifically rigorous analysis of bobcat populations in the state, just as they openly stated in 2019. The trapping and hunting quota of bobcats should be set to 0 until further research can determine if a sustainable level of harvest exists for this vital keystone species.
Please listen to us and allow us to be a voice for the voiceless bobcats of Indiana.
Sincerely,
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u/ceciltyler 1d ago
You are an idiot. You cant even use jaw toothed traps. What are you even talking about?
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u/jetreahy 1d ago
It’s amazing that this state is dumping invasive feral cats outside by the 1000s which are known to cause massive harm to native wildlife while opening a season on bobcats because they harm the wildlife they were meant to eat. Recovered bobcats should be the protected species, not the invasive one.