By RFD Radio/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – Five-hundred Illinois hunters will literally get a shot this year at bobcats roaming the state.
For the first time in four decades, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has opened applications to hunt and trap bobcats. IDNR spokesman Tim Schweizer said those lucky enough to receive a permit can hunt and trap bobcats in early November.
Schweizer said the return of hunting bobcats in the state represents a “conservation success story.”
“It’s a good recovery of a species that had been hunted to near extinction in the state,” Schwiezer said.
IDNR estimates as many as five-thousand of the predators now roam Illinois.
The deadline to apply in Sept. 30.
