

Researchers estimating bobcat population

Nov. 8, 2011

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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point are working with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in an attempt to estimate the bobcat population in central Wisconsin.

If successful, the research would have wide-ranging uses. It would provide the DNR with a tool for future wildlife management decisions, and the research techniques could provide a blueprint to other states looking to estimate their own bobcat populations.

Wisconsin only has bobcat population estimates for the northern third of the state, roughly north of Highway 64, which stretches across the state, from hunting data. Without an estimate in the rest of the state, there is no way to know how many could be safely hunted, so hunting and trapping are banned, said David MacFarland, a research scientist for the DNR.

But interest about the population size from hunters in the southern two-thirds of the state is growing, and the Wisconsin Trappers Association recently agreed to double the fee to apply for a bobcat permit to fund the research, to see whether hunting could work in the rest of the state. The rest of the project's funding comes from a federal wildlife program.

Gallery: We're collecting your bobcat photos caught on trail cameras.

In 2009, 13,087 hunters and trappers applied for 475 bobcat permits, according to the DNR.

"South of (Highway) 64, we know there are cats there, but this is the first attempt to gather more information on key parameters, like population and habitat," MacFarland said. "The community is seeing cats in central Wisconsin and starting to ask whether there will be a hunting and trapping season."

Many other states are faced with the same questions, said Eric Anderson, a wildlife ecology professor at UWSP who is working on the project. If those states could take this research and use it to map their own bobcat populations, they could better regulate their hunting and trapping.

"How do you know how many to take if you don't know how many there are?" Anderson said. "Getting that piece could be huge."

Anderson and his graduate assistant, John Clare, are creating a population estimate by surveying seven to eight swaths of land of varying habitats, across central Wisconsin, from the Mead Wildlife Refuge to the Langlade County Forest. This summer, they hired a team of dogs trained like bomb-detecting dogs to sniff out bobcat excrement, called scat, on the 25-square-mile plots. Researchers then tried to identify DNA from the scat, which can be tied to a specific bobcat.

Anderson and Clare also set up motion-activated trail cameras throughout the areas to try to capture images to identify individual cats.

If they can successfully identify a certain number of bobcats, they can use statistical models to calculate a population density estimate.

The researchers are treating this first year of the three-year project, which began this summer, as a test of their methods, to see how effective the scat and camera combination is. The next two years will be spent refining the method and gathering usable data.

If the project works, they can give the data to the DNR and other organizations to research bobcat populations nationwide.

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