Trail camera sighting highlights bobcats’ stealthy presence in Will County

When a trail camera set up by the Forest Preserve District of Will County in a preserve in the south end of the county captured images of two bobcats, naturalists saw that one of the animals had a pronounced limp.

They were glad to see it.

Becky Blankenship, a wildlife ecologist at the Forest Preserve District of Will County, said the bobcat with a limp also appeared on trail camera footage back in 2022. That implies that the bobcat is recovering well and has been able to support itself in the wild, she said.

Though bobcats are native to Illinois and have seen a major population resurgence in the past decade, they’re much more likely to be caught on film rather than seen in person.

Blankenship said that bobcats pop up pretty regularly in southern Will County. The district has seen several bobcats on trail cams over the years and said that they are known to be in the area.

“I get a lot of anecdotal evidence of people saying that they’ve seen them a few years ago, or once in their yard or something like that,” Blankenship said.

However, seeing one in person can be quite rare depending on where you are.

“Not a lot of people get to see these critters,” Blankenship said. “It’s a pretty cool species, so if you do get to see it, it’s a really cool moment.”

Bobcats can be found statewide and often live in areas with wooded bluffs and rolling hills and in bottomland forests, she said. They are also carnivores that hunt and consume prey such as cottontail rabbits and squirrels.

Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, associate professor at Southern Illinois University, said the Illinois bobcat population has been rebounding after a long period of decline.

According to Bastille-Rousseau, the number of bobcats in Illinois started to decline in the 1970s, and they were listed as a threatened population. As the population continued to decline, the state halted legal hunting of bobcats in 1977. By that time, the state’s bobcat population was primarily concentrated in southern Illinois, where forests are abundant.

In 2001, Bastille-Rousseau said the bobcats began to rebound in Illinois, and they have been able to recolonize areas across the state. Bobcats were officially taken off the state’s threatened species list in 1999, according to the Illinois Bobcat Foundation.

Bastille-Rousseau said bobcat hunting season in Illinois was re-established in 2016, ending a 44-year ban.

The upcoming bobcat hunting and trapping seasons will take place between Nov. 10 and Feb. 15. Hunters can go out any time during the day but must possess a bobcat hunting and trapping permit beforehand, according to Hunt Illinois.

Bastille-Rousseau said approximately 2,000 bobcat hunting and trapping permits are issued per season. Permit holders are limited to harvest one bobcat per season.

According to Blankenship, bobcats cannot be legally hunted or trapped in Will County as harvesting is restricted to the southern and western halves of Illinois.

To properly hunt or trap them, Blankenship said that hunters need to properly educate themselves about ethical practices.

“Hunters and trappers must complete education courses that teach them how to harvest game animals ethically and responsibly. Ethics applies to sustainable levels of harvest, which must be based on the best available science,” Blankenship said.

While bobcats are considered wild animals, Bastille-Rousseau said they are not dangerous and will not attack humans. In fact, they can be quite scared of people and tend to avoid them.

He said although bobcats are bigger than a domestic house cat, they are no larger than a medium sized dog and only weigh between 15 to 30 pounds.

If you have your hopes set on seeing a bobcat for yourself, Blankenship said they are primarily crepuscular, meaning they are more active at dawn and dusk. However, it is not impossible to see one during the day.

Blankenship advised that if you see a bobcat out in the wild, do not approach it or call for it to come closer. She said people do not have to take any precautions and can appreciate them from a distance.

etittel@chicagotribune.com