Environment DEC
From the November 2006 issue
Experimental Trapping Season Announced
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced that a three-year experimental research trapping season for fisher and bobcat will be implemented beginning November 1, 2006 through special permits issued to trappers. There will be an extended trapping season for fisher in wildlife management units (WMU) 6A, 6C and 6H, which include northern parts of Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence and Franklin counties. Under this program, trappers who obtain a special permit for the bobcat trapping season will be able to trap bobcats in WMUs 4F, 4N and 4O, which include parts of Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Broome and Chenango counties.
Bobcat Trapping
An experimental bobcat trapping
season is reopening after 20 years
- photo courtesy of USFW
The bobcat season has been closed for more than 20 years in the three WMUs that DEC is proposing to open for trapping this year. During that time, particularly within the past 10 years, DEC has received numerous reports of bobcat observations, road fatalities and incidental captures from the public. These reports have led DEC staff biologists to conclude that bobcats are now dispersed throughout the area proposed for experimental trapping.
During these research seasons, bobcat hunting will not be allowed in the three experimental WMUs. This year, the bobcat trapping season is running from November 1, 2006 to February 15, 2007. The following two years the season will begin on October 25 and run until February 15.
A trapper who wishes to participate in the experimental bobcat trapping seasons must obtain a free special permit from DEC, agree to keep a daily trapping log of their activities and, if successful, provide the entire skinned carcass to DEC. The trapper may keep the animal pelt.
Fisher Trapping
Fisher season will run from
late October to early January
The season for fisher in WMUs 6A, 6C, and 6H will run from October 25, 2006 to January 10, 2007. A trapper who wishes to trap fisher in these WMUs must obtain a free permit from DEC, agree to maintain and submit a daily trapping diary log book and submit the lower jaw of each fisher taken in these WMUs. A log book and jaw submission tags will be mailed to trappers with their permit.
Trappers may obtain permits by phone or mail from their regional DEC wildlife office. They must provide their names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses (if applicable) and trapping license ID numbers. The permit holder must carry a signed permit when trapping.
Project to Evaluate Furbearer Management
This experimental season is a part of a research project to collect biological harvest data and measure trapper effort to evaluate furbearer management in New York State. DEC biologists believe that a limited harvest season will provide vital clues to better estimate the population of bobcats in the area and enable biologists to better manage fisher in the future.
The seasons are set to run for no more than three years. The regular fisher trapping season will run from October 25 until December 10 in the other parts of the state which have a fisher season, including the Adirondacks, the Catskills and Tug Hill Plateau.
