Illinois bobcat season concludes with 627 harvested

Monday, March 16, 2026 at 5:26 PM

By Staff report

The 2025-2026 Illinois bobcat season concluded Feb. 15 with 627 bobcats harvested by hunters and trappers.
A total of 405 (62%) bobcats were taken by hunting, while trapping accounted for 222 (34%) of the harvest. Twenty-seven (4%) were salvaged by permit holders from circumstances such as roadkill. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) issued 2,000 permits for the 2025 season out of 9,700 bobcat lottery applicants.
Hunters and trappers in Jefferson County reported 33 bobcats, which was the most for any county this year. Macoupin County was second with 28 bobcats reported.
IDNR continues to monitor the status of bobcats and will evaluate the program as new data become available from ongoing research. For more information about bobcat hunting and trapping, visit huntillinois.org/bobcat.

Illinois Bobcat Season Summary 2016-2025
Year	Hunting	Trapping	Total Harvest	Salvage	Permits Filled
2016	81	49	130	11	141
2017	159	159	318	40	358
2018	177	129	306	37	343
2019	151	155	306	29	335
2020	196	143	339	22	361
2021	174	116	290	23	313
2022	198	169	367	16	383
2023	214	156	370	19	389
2024	415	234	649	25	674
2025	405	222	627	27	654