DEC releases bobcat management plan

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February 3, 2012

BY JOE MAHONEY Staff Writer The Daily Star Fri Feb 03, 2012, 09:47 AM EST

COOPERSTOWN -- With the bobcat population growing in New York, state officials are seeking public comment on a plan that would expand the legal hunting and trapping grounds for the furry predators.

Parts of Otsego, Delaware and Schoharie counties are included in the region where bobcat hunting and trapping would be authorized if the draft bobcat management plan is adopted by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

"The habitat here has become pretty suitable for them," DEC wildlife biologist Andy McDuff said in explaining why the population of stealthy cats is on the rise.

New York is home to an estimated 5,000 bobcats. About 500 of them are harvested each year by hunters and trappers. Noting native bobcats are being joined by bobcats moving in from Pennsylvania, McDuff said, "We believe our population could withstand a 20 percent harvest rate, although we don't expect to achieve that many."

The management plan states that bobcats have begun to venture outside of their "historic core range" in the Taconic, Catskill and Adirondack mountains into central and western New York.

Veteran hunter Bob Borow, who runs Borow's Taxidermy in Delhi, said he believes bobcats are in plentiful supply.

"There is no reason not to harvest them," he said. "Politics was one of the reasons why it wasn't open here. Shooting a few here and there is not going to hurt the population."

Cornell University researcher Charlie Smith, a member of the The Wildlife Society, said bobcats thrive in the mix of forest and farmland that upstate New York has in abundance. They are nocturnal mammals who often snack on rodents and cottontail rabbits.

"They typically see you well before you see them," Smith said.

Over the past few years, bobcat pelt prices have ranged from $50 to $200, DEC spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach said.

"There is considerable interest among trappers and hunters throughout New York for opportunities to harvest bobcats for their pelts," Rosenbach said.

The bobcat hunting season runs from Oct. 25 to Feb. 15, she said. Trapping season is shorter, but the new plan would extend that period in some regions to match the hunting season.

She said "nuisance issues" were not the driving force behind the effort to expand the harvesting of bobcats. The state agency fields "very few" complaints related to bobcats preying on livestock.

The full bobcat management plan can be viewed at www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9360.html.