by: Matt Christy
Posted: Apr 15, 2026 / 03:07 PM EDT
Updated: Apr 15, 2026 / 04:27 PM EDT
SHARE Indiana proposes upping how many bobcats hunters can legally kill
INDIANAPOLIS — Last year, Hoosier trappers killed 250 bobcats. It was the first time the state’s only native wild cat had been legally hunted since 1969.
Now, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources wants to expand the hunting of the once-endangered animal. A recent proposal seeks to increase the quota by 60% while also allowing Hoosier hunters to kill bobcats in more ways.
For more than 50 years, bobcats were listed as an endangered species in Indiana. Then, in 2024, State Senator Scott Baldwin, a hunter himself, pushed a hotly debated law that required DNR to establish a bobcat hunting season.
While removed from Indiana’s endangered species list in 2005, many questioned if an 18-year span was enough time for a recovering bobcat population to go from endangered to being culled annually through hunting seasons.
Despite a lack of data supporting the argument that the bobcat population was healthy enough to withstand a regular hunting season, Indiana pushed ahead with Baldwin’s bill and then-Governor Eric Holcomb signed it into law in March 2024.
The first bobcat hunting season allowed the trapping of the wild cat from Nov. 8 to Jan. 31. The quota was set at 250 harvested bobcats. The trapping season ended early after the quota was reached in December.
Expanding the quota, increasing the ways to kill
With one season under its belt, DNR is looking to increase the number of bobcats hunters can trap and kill. The state agency’s new proposal seeks to push the statewide quota from 250 to 400 bobcats, a nearly 60% jump.
Trapping also won’t be the only way bobcats can be legally harvested in Indiana if the new rule change passes. DNR wants to expand the hunting of bobcats to nearly all methods. Under the new proposal, bobcats could be hunted with bow and arrows, crossbows, shotguns, rifles, handguns, muzzleloaders and air guns.
But more dead bobcats means more strain on an already questionable bobcat population. Bobcats are already killed at a higher rate than just the quota would suggest. In Indiana, bobcats can be legally killed through other means, such as a nuisance wild animal control permit.
A DNR reported that in 2023, 39 of these permits were issued. In 2025, more than 25 were issued. DNR added that not every permit results in a bobcat being killed, so an exact number of additional bobcat deaths couldn’t be provided.
A bobcat survival model released by DNA and Purdue University also revealed that the highest cause of death for bobcats in Indiana is being hit by a vehicle. Roughly one in every two bobcats is killed this way, with most vehicle-related deaths happening between November and January, the same months when culling from hunting would be occurring.
Wildlife conservationists, such as Humane World for Animals, argue that this very data, provided by DNR, shows that a higher hunting quota “could devastate or eliminate Indiana’s bobcat population.”
“Hoosiers never wanted bobcats killed in the first place, and now this shady rule — which would drastically increase the number of bobcats killed and add more killing methods — is being pushed with absolutely no scientific justification and could drive them back to extinction in Indiana,” said Samantha Chapman, Indiana state director for Humane World for Animals.
Chapman is referencing a January 2025 statewide poll conducted by Remington Research Group and commissioned by Humane World for Animals that found 71% of polled Indiana voters opposed the recreational trapping of bobcats in Indiana with wire neck snares, steel-jawed leghold traps, and cage traps.
A majority polled also wanted the quota limit for bobcats to be set at zero, with 75% opposing the trophy hunting of bobcats in Indiana.
“It’s a shame that special interests are trying to pull strings to dictate wildlife policy in our state,” Chapman said.
But DNR argues the same data Humane World for Animals says proves a potential breaking point for the bobcat population actually supports the need for managing the wild cat’s population through increased hunting.
“The number of landowners requesting a permit to take bobcats that are killing livestock increased from 14 in 2018 to 34 in 2025, an increase of more than 140% in negative human-bobcat interactions reported over seven years,” said DNR spokesperson Holly Lawson.
DNR also argued that a higher number of bobcats found dead on the side of the road is a sign of more bobcats moving through the state.
Public comment on the new proposal
Hoosiers who want to weigh in on the proposed expansion of bobcat hunting in Indiana can do so until May 19.
Emailed comments must be sent to lianderson@dnr.in.gov. Only comments sent to that address will be officially considered.
Comments can also be mailed to the following address:
LSA Document #26-98 Bobcat Hunting
Lisa L. Anderson
Natural Resources Commission
C/O Department of Natural Resources, Legal Division
Indiana Government Center South
402 West Washington Street, Room W255-A
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2273
A public hearing will also be held on May 19 at 12:30 p.m. at the Fort Harrison State Park, Garrison Conference Center, Blue Heron Ballroom, 6002 North Post Road in Indianapolis.