Hunters caught 370 bobcats in Illinois this season

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, hunters throughout the state harvested 370 bobcats this season, the highest since 2016.

In 2016, 130 mountain lions were harvested in the state.

The IDPH says the most were caught in Jo Daviess County, where hunters caught 19.

Of those 370, the IDPH says 214 were taken by hunting, 156 by trapping, and 19 were salvaged from circumstances such as roadkill.

The Illinois Bobcat Foundation says the American bobcat is the only native wild cat in the state. It was put on the endangered species list in 1972, but removed from that list in 1999. Hunting began in 2016.

In 2022, a driver hit and killed a mountain lion on Interstate 88 in DeKalb County .

Mountain lions were eliminated from Illinois prior to the 1870s due to habitat loss and overharvest. Although extremely rare in Illinois, mountain lion sightings have been confirmed in Illinois during the past few decades consisting of younger animals, typically originating from a population in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The Illinois Bobcat Foundation estimates there are over 5,000 bobcats roaming the state.

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