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Indiana board approves bobcat trapping season despite opposition
by: Clayton McMahan, Joe Carroll
Posted: Mar 17, 2025 / 04:28 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 18, 2025 / 02:45 PM EDT
SHARE Indiana board approves bobcat trapping season despite opposition
by: Clayton McMahan, Joe Carroll
Posted: Mar 17, 2025 / 04:28 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 18, 2025 / 02:45 PM EDT
SHARE https://www.wane.com/news/indiana/vote-to-establish-rules-for-indiana-bobcat-trapping-season-set-for-tuesday/
*The video above is from the DNR discussing bobcat sightings in northeast Indiana in 2023
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — On Tuesday, the Indiana Natural Resources Committee (NRC) voted to approve a proposal that sets parameters for a bobcat trapping season in Indiana.
The approval took place during a 10 a.m. meeting at Fort Harrison State Park in Indianapolis.
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The move comes after the Indiana General Assembly pushed through a law during the 2024 legislative season that required the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to establish a bobcat trapping season by July 1, 2025.
The NRC is an “autonomous board” that addresses DNR-related issues and consists of six Hoosiers chosen by the governor on a “bipartisan basis,” along with three people from other state agencies, DNR Director Alan Morrison and a representative from the Indiana Academy of Science.
The newly approved trapping season for bobcats will take place from Nov. 8 to Jan. 31 and includes a statewide quota of 250 bobcats per season.
Hunters would only be allowed to trap bobcat in 40 counties that all reside in southern Indiana while maintaining an individual bag limit of one bobcat.
According to the DNR, the bobcat trapping season would still allow the department to manage Indiana’s natural resources responsibly and would also tackle “emerging bobcat damage issues” such as the taking of livestock.
It also sets rules on what traps can be used and what can be done with the animal after being captured.
One group against the proposal, Humane World for Animals, attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak out against the idea of a bobcat trapping season.
The organization issued the following statement following the vote and approval.
“It is a sad day for wildlife conservation in Indiana. The Natural Resources Commission’s decision to greenlight the trapping and killing of 250 of Indiana’s recovering bobcats – when there is still no adequate population data and no scientific evidence to justify killing hundreds of bobcats – contradicts ethical and science-based wildlife conservation. This instead favors a tiny special interest group who wish to profit off Indiana’s wildlife by selling bobcat furs to overseas markets,” said Samantha Chapman, Indiana state director at Humane World for Animals.
“Making matters worse, the Commission limited public participation by cutting off testimony, silencing many advocates who had signed up to speak against this decision. The Commission had the authority to establish a bobcat trapping quota of zero but failed to listen to the vast majority of Hoosiers who oppose recreationally trapping bobcats with neck snares, leghold traps, and cage traps – inhumane devices that also endanger pets. I hope that the Commission will revisit their decision as soon as possible.”
“We believe that there is really a lack of data,” Chapman said. “There hasn’t been a population study fully conducted to understand how many bobcats we actually have within the state.”
Bobcats are Indiana’s only native species of wild cat, and while they are more common in southern Indiana, the DNR has also seen sightings increase in the state’s northeast quadrant in recent years.
The bobcat was removed from Indiana’s endangered species list in 2005 after being on the state’s initial list in 1969. According to the DNR, bobcats were almost completely gone from Indiana in the early 1900s.
The full proposal can also be viewed on the DNR’s website.
*The video above is from the DNR discussing bobcat sightings in northeast Indiana in 2023
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — On Tuesday, the Indiana Natural Resources Committee (NRC) voted to approve a proposal that sets parameters for a bobcat trapping season in Indiana.
The approval took place during a 10 a.m. meeting at Fort Harrison State Park in Indianapolis.
Up Next – Federal Reserve meets this week amid economic uncertainty
The move comes after the Indiana General Assembly pushed through a law during the 2024 legislative season that required the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to establish a bobcat trapping season by July 1, 2025.
The NRC is an “autonomous board” that addresses DNR-related issues and consists of six Hoosiers chosen by the governor on a “bipartisan basis,” along with three people from other state agencies, DNR Director Alan Morrison and a representative from the Indiana Academy of Science.
The newly approved trapping season for bobcats will take place from Nov. 8 to Jan. 31 and includes a statewide quota of 250 bobcats per season.
Hunters would only be allowed to trap bobcat in 40 counties that all reside in southern Indiana while maintaining an individual bag limit of one bobcat.
According to the DNR, the bobcat trapping season would still allow the department to manage Indiana’s natural resources responsibly and would also tackle “emerging bobcat damage issues” such as the taking of livestock.
It also sets rules on what traps can be used and what can be done with the animal after being captured.
One group against the proposal, Humane World for Animals, attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak out against the idea of a bobcat trapping season.
The organization issued the following statement following the vote and approval.
“It is a sad day for wildlife conservation in Indiana. The Natural Resources Commission’s decision to greenlight the trapping and killing of 250 of Indiana’s recovering bobcats – when there is still no adequate population data and no scientific evidence to justify killing hundreds of bobcats – contradicts ethical and science-based wildlife conservation. This instead favors a tiny special interest group who wish to profit off Indiana’s wildlife by selling bobcat furs to overseas markets,” said Samantha Chapman, Indiana state director at Humane World for Animals.
“Making matters worse, the Commission limited public participation by cutting off testimony, silencing many advocates who had signed up to speak against this decision. The Commission had the authority to establish a bobcat trapping quota of zero but failed to listen to the vast majority of Hoosiers who oppose recreationally trapping bobcats with neck snares, leghold traps, and cage traps – inhumane devices that also endanger pets. I hope that the Commission will revisit their decision as soon as possible.”
“We believe that there is really a lack of data,” Chapman said. “There hasn’t been a population study fully conducted to understand how many bobcats we actually have within the state.”
Bobcats are Indiana’s only native species of wild cat, and while they are more common in southern Indiana, the DNR has also seen sightings increase in the state’s northeast quadrant in recent years.
The bobcat was removed from Indiana’s endangered species list in 2005 after being on the state’s initial list in 1969. According to the DNR, bobcats were almost completely gone from Indiana in the early 1900s.
The full proposal can also be viewed on the DNR’s website.
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Colorado Has Become a Battleground for Disputes Over Hunting and Trapping
Siletz Tribe regains full fishing rights, 45 years after being forced to give them up
The tribe’s hunting, fishing and gathering rights have had strict limits under a 1980 agreement with the state and federal government, now set to be repealed.
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Author: Blair Best
Published: 5:08 PM PDT March 17, 2025
Updated: 7:01 PM PDT March 17, 2025
SILETZ, Ore. — For decades, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians have faced strict limitations on their hunting, fishing and gathering under a 1980 agreement between the tribe, the state of Oregon and the federal government. That agreement is now set to be repealed, restoring the tribe’s full right to its traditional foods.
In western Oregon, the Siletz River winds its way through the heart of the Siletz reservation. The name comes from the Tillamook language and refers to something coiled up like a rope, according to Siletz Tribal Council Member and Treasurer Robert Kentta.
“The town of Siletz is almost like an island because of this big loop the river takes,” he said.
The river is rich in resources like crawfish, Kentta said, but under the 1980 agreement, it’s been a struggle for tribal members to access those resources. Tribal member Kevin Goodell described it as a horrible change for tribal members who grew up eating indigenous foods.
The Siletz reservation was first formed in the 1850s, and is the most diverse confederation of tribes on a single reservation, according to Kentta. By the 1950s, they had lost their land under the Congressional Western Oregon Termination Act, part of a U.S. Indian termination policy.
“It meant the last bit of our reservation land was sold by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and a small check was received by each tribal member,” Kentta explained.
Credit: KGW
The tribe reorganized in the late 1970s, and the Siletz reservation was restored in 1980 — but in exchange, the tribe was forced to sign the agreement with the state and federal governments that placed limits on their fishing and hunting rights.
“Even though there was lots of pressure, lots of Oregon newspapers had headlines of ‘if the Siletz tribe is restored there will be nets all over the rivers and the fish will disappear.” Kentta said. “Well, that didn’t happen.”
The restrictions included limited fishing spots, and only several hundred deer and salmon tags, and just 25 elk tags handed out, lottery style, to about 6,000 tribal members — a system Kentta described as very competitive and not very fair.
“It was horrible, because I grew up with my dad who didn’t have any limits,” Goodell said. “And he would hunt and fish and do what he wanted with the community hunting and fishing.”
The decades-long restrictions forced the tribe to go elsewhere for food, falling into what Kentta described as more of a “Safeway and McDonalds culture,” which went against the tribe’s traditional beliefs.
“It means everything,” said Goodell. “I think it’s in our DNA, and what we’re eating today and what you buy in the stores, I have no clue what it’s doing to us.”
Credit: KGW
Two years ago, the tribe and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) entered a new, voluntary agreement, giving the tribe the power to manage their own hunting and fishing rules — but the 1980 agreement was still technically on the books.
That changed late last week, when the state finally repealed it — a move that ODFW Federal Policy Director Davia Palmeri called long overdue. The federal government had already done its part to leave the agreement in the past, so the state’s repeal was the final step to officially remove the restrictions after 45 years.
“It is important to the department and to the state that we can work together with tribal governments to give their members access to those culturally significant resources,” she said.
Gov. Tina Kotek’s office applauded the move in a statement, declaring that “No tribe should have to choose between their land or their sovereign rights.”
Tribal members who spoke to KGW expressed relief, saying that even though they’ve already been operating under the new agreement for the past two years, it felt like the old restrictions were hanging over their heads as long as the 1980 agreement still technically existed.
“It’s awesome for our people,” Goodell said. “Yeah, it’s a big step for us.”
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