The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says the number of people applying for the state’s first legal bobcat hunt was 13 times more than the number of available permits.
Nearly 6,500 hunters applied for 500 permits.
Gov.Bruce Rauner signed a law last year permitting bobcat hunting after the department determined the current population of about 5,000 bobcats is stable. The animal was removed from the state’s threatened species list in 1999.
Each of the 500 permit holders will be allowed to take one bobcat, either by hunting, trapping or salvaging roadkill.
The season runs November 10 to January 31.
