Illinois' Bobcat Population, Sightings Continues To Grow, DNR Says

ILLINOIS — Illinois wildlife experts believe there are as many as 5,000 bobcats roaming around the state after at one time, the cats were nearly extinct.

While bobcat sightings were once considered rare, more and more are being reported not only in the state’s rural and forested areas but in suburban Chicago locations as well.

Since 2016, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has allowed for the trapping and hunting of bobcats. In 2022, state officials report that 367 bobcats were killed, 50 percent of which were killed by hunters while the rest were either trapped or killed on Illinois roads, records show.

In 1999, DNR officials reported seeing bobcats in 99 of Illinois’ 102 counties after bobcats were removed from the state’s endangered species list. Bobcats joined 13 other species of furbearers that can be hunted and trapped in Illinois, where the number of sightings by deer hunters has increased steadily over the years.

Between 1992 and 2018, the number of hunters that reported seeing bobcats around Illinois jumped from 0.5 bobcats were 1,000 hours of observation to 6.5 bobcats seen in 1,000 hours. By comparison, DNR officials said hunters saw 1,096.6 deer, 36.7 coyotes, and 3.5 red foxes per 1,000 hours in 2018.

Wildlife experts said that bobcats are not dangerous and describe them as “typically quiet animals” who occasionally growl or make high-pitched screams. During the breeding season, bobcats may also vocalize by using squalls, howls, meows, and yowls, officials said.

Male bobcats are considered solitary animals and are most active between sunset and dawn. Young bobcats remain with females between the spring and fall of each year.

Bobcats may be hunted or trapped by permit holders from mid-November through mid-February, except during firearm deer season in counties with firearm deer hunting.

While the DNR regulates how and when bobcats may be hunted or harvested, they do so to regulate a healthy population of bobcats for hunters and trappers. This also helps to ensure a steady population of the cats, whose presence in the state has increased each year since 2016 and is expected to continue, especially in areas of the state with rivers and forests.

Doug Brown, a DNR biologist, wrote in a post for the Illinois Outdoor Journal that as bobcats continue to repopulate across more residential areas of the state, it is important to recognize the potential for encountering them. That is especially true in the spring when the instincts of a mother with the young may alert humans of their presence despite normally being shy and reclusive by nature.