Well Illinois folks the bobcat lottery has been completed. Please check your account for your annual "not selected" notification and thank you from the DNR for your non refundable donation.

My brother and I have applied every year since it began and have yet to draw a tag. My son has not drawn a tag in his 4 or 5 years applying for a tag. And my daughter has applied the last 2 years and failed to draw.

Like everything else in this state this bobcat lottery is a cluster.

I have 35 years in for a Park elk tag and well over 100 points for other tags that I never seem to get. LOL Luck no draw to trap cats here and no limit West River.

So who is getting the tags? Are anti's applying to keep trappers from getting them?

Anti's definitely flood the lottery and if drawn of course never use tag. Add that to the low number of tags available anyway and the odds are terrible for getting drawn. We dont even earn preference points for not drawing a tag. Some folks have drawn tags multiple years in a row. Some claim to have never failed to get a tag. Its just a mess. We have a limit of 5 otter per season, they could put the limit on bobcats at 2 or 3 a year and not even dent the population.

Just looked and the state said there was 6200 applications for the 1000 tags the dnr issued in 2022. And only 383 harvested. Which definitely shows the effect of antis because bobcats are all over here in Southern Illinois.

At least you have a chance to keep them. We have to let them go. We get 2 otter but seasion closes once 600 or so get tagged. After that the one's you have dead in your beaver sets have to be turned in.

It's sad you don't get any points.

Just like everything else in El-annoy.

I quit donating to that lottery. 5 dollars to get in drawing right? So they made 31,000 just in drawing fees

Yep $5 plus a $4 convenience fee so $9 total. So $55,800 counting the fee.

We really do have it good down here in Louisiana..

Convenience fee I forgot. What a joke lol. Convenient for someone but not the trapper. Waiting on otter tags can be frustrating also. Don’t remember what year it was but took forever to get my tags from the state and by the time I did otter had went down about 20 bucks a pelt.

Forgive me for sticking my nose where it doesn't belong but this is an outsiders prospective. What if you were required to have attended a trappers ed course and provide that number just to apply? Would that not weed out the anti's? I can't see them attending a day long trappers ed course just to apply. It's just a thought.

Does IL not require harvest surveys?

Randomly sent and voluntary is all I have ever seen. Other than when you check in a deer they ask if you saw any bobcats, turkeys, or wild hogs.

160user, it is going to take something along those lines or go to no lottery but a limit per hunter/trapper. But both of those make sense and this is Illinois where illegal immigrants can be police officers.

It was just a thought or suggestion to help you guys out. Like I said before, I don't mean to stick my nose where it doesn't belong but it was just an idea to throw at your state association as a thought.

Cutting edge wildlife management.
Not sure how you boys stand it.

Does the state require a trapping license to apply for the permit?

I quit apply after the first couple of years. First two years I knew a guy and his wife both got cat tags. Corruption at its finest. I didn’t know anyone else in the state that got a tag those years.
This year I applied since I knew a few people who had got a tag last year. I got a tag this year. Now to try and get permission where this spotted up kitty lives. The one with the collar will work as well. Both are in the same spot.

That collared one is going to have a terrible bald ring around the neck.