Bobcat Summit Yields New Season Proposal

A couple weeks ago, I attended a bobcat management meeting in Stevens Point, Wis. The meeting was the result of continuing efforts to address concerns by hunters and trappers that believe they should have a longer season and more area to take bobcats.

Wisconsin has a very restrictive bobcat season, with only the northern third of the state open to harvest, which is controlled by a preference point permit system. This year, only 540 tags were issued. More than 12,600 people applied.

I attended the meeting, which was moderated by the Wisconsin DNR, as a representative of Wisconsin Outdoor News. My story appears on Page 1 of the current issue, but can also be found online at www.wisconsinoutdoornews.com.

Hopefully, the meeting will result in longer seasons and more opportunity to hunt bobcats in Wisconsin.

Guns: The Obama Factor

Obviously, people are expecting changes to gun laws in the United States once Barack Obama takes office in January. Stories of record sales of handguns, ammunition and AR-style weapons have been widely reported.

I’m hopeful the fears of hunters, shooters and people who buy munitions turn out to be nothing more substantial than the Y2K computer crisis. But I’m savvy enough to know there’s legitimate cause for concern.

Given the country’s current economic woes, it sure seems like legislating tighter gun laws so people like us who hunt predators have fewer options would be about the 10,486th priority on the list. However, I know that when people in charge of a department, a company or a country don’t have solutions to the real problems, they often bite off a battle in another area, just so they are doing something.

Let’s hope all-out war on the second amendment and law-abiding gun owners doesn’t become the focal point because the new leadership has no idea how to fix the economy, bolster health care or get our soldiers home.

So, I ask you: How concerned are you about the new president’s impact on your rights to own guns?

Bobcat Study Could Expand Hunt

A population and distribution study about bobcats in Wisconsin could lead to more opportunity to hunt and trap the highly regulated furbearer.

As it stands now, Wisconsin predator hunters can only take a bobcat north of Highway 64, which means only the northern third or so of the state is open to bobcat hunting and trapping. In addition, bobcats are a special tag species, so hunters must pay $3 every year to apply for a tag. Tags are issued in a lottery based on preference points. In general, it has been taking four to five years to draw a tag. This year, 12,684 people applied for 540 permits.

Leslie Adams, a University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point graduate researcher, is investigating population distribution and abundance by using hair collected at snaring stations. More than half of her hair snare locations were south of Highway 64.

The bobcat population is thought to be increasing in Wisconsin. Road-killed animals and incidentally trapped bobcats are becoming far more common in the southern half of the state.

Adams’s study might provide the Wisconsin DNR with the data necessary to not only expand the area open to bobcat harvest, it could also lead to more tags being issued.

I have written an extensive feature article about the bobcat situation for Wisconsin Outdoor News. It appears on Page 1 of the Oct. 31 issue. The full article is also posted online at wisconsinoutdoornews.com - it is article No. 2 in the rotating news cue on the home page.

I will also be attending a special management meeting about bobcats on Nov. 14, and will have a full report in an upcoming issue of WON. I’ll also share some of the highlights here.

Photo courtesy of Leslie Adams

Surviving a Fur Market Crash

So much for $40 raccoons and an improving fur market.

The recent economic downturn turned recession signaled by the tumultuous ride on Wall Street has sent fur buyers into hiding. Those who are answering the shop door and running fur collection routes have become super stingy.

Recent reports of $5 to $7 averages on skinned raccoons from places with traditionally excellent fur such as Iowa and Wisconsin have dampened the spirits of many trappers and fur hunters.

Unfortunately, early coyote fur prices seem equally grim, that is for those who are offered anything at all.

In what is now a global economy, Russia and China are also experiencing economic struggles. Russia has fallen on hard times because it relies heavily on the export of crude oil, and oil prices have dropped like a rock since the stock market went into a seeming freefall last month. Russian consumers take the bulk of North America’s raccoon pelts, while a lot of the coyotes end up as trim on garments worn by Chinese folks.

The good news: Just like the recession, eventually, the market will improve. We all hope that happens sooner rather than later. The silver lining is that gasoline prices have fallen dramatically, making predator calling excursions much more affordable.

So don’t fret about fur prices. Go call ‘em in!