Biologist Matthew Lovallo of the Pennsylvania Game Commission has penned a comprehensive management plan for the Bobcat in the "Keystone State" for the 10 years going forward 2013-2022...................Included in this comprehensive treatise is the following---"the Bobcat is the most widely distributed native felid in North America and ranges as far north as central British Columbia and south to Oaxaca, Mexico"..............."Currently, the Bobcat occurs in all the contiguous USA, although it's distribution is greatly restricted in agriculture-dominated areas in the Midwest"................."Historically, the Bobcat occurred in all 48 states"..............."During the last century, it expanded into northern Minnesota, southern Ontario and Manitoba as lumbering, fire and farming opened the dense unbroken coniferous forests of these areas"..................."Bobcat populations in Pennsylvania are continuing to expand geographically and numerically, with the most recent estimates suggesting that continuous populations extend across the northern tier through the central mountains and into southwest and the south central sections of the state".........Pennsylvania's Bobcat population is important regionally as it provides a critical link between established populations in New York and New Jersey and those in West Virginia, Virginia and southern Ohio"........Human trapping and hunting is the major cause of Bobcat death(roadkills regionally as well)----Coyotes, Wolves and Pumas will prey on Bobcats with Fishers known to kill juvenile "Cats"...........Like virtually all Felines, Bobcats are almost 100% carnivorous with rabbits and hares often being up to 90% of their diet..............In the South and upper Midwest, Cotton Rats are major foodstuffs and in the most northern regions, whitetail deer is often on their menu as deep snow often make the deer vulnerable...........bobcats also kill deer fawns and can take down adult deer outside of the cold months as well................Bobcats in Washington State consume large numbers of Mountain Beaver...................Those in the southwest gorge on Wood Rats...........Both game and non-game birds are also targets for Bobcats across their entire range........Fish, reptiles, amphibians, rodents, insects and eggs are also menu items for Bobcats everywhere.........While a stray Sheep, Goat and Chicken will be taken by Bobcats, Bobcat predation on domestic livestock is of minor consequence across it's range and in the farming state of Pennsylvania, there are only 30 to 50 phone calls to Game Officials annually complaining about Bobcat attacks on livestock..................Bobcat activity is greatest around sunrise and sunset(crepuscular periods of the day) coinciding with the movements of rabbits................Bobcats had a bounty on their hide of $1 starting in 1819..............One hundred years later in 1916 a $15 bounty was paid for every Bobcat killed in the state..........7000 Bobcats were bountied between 1916-1937..........Bounties were eliminated in 1937 but Bobcats remained unprotected in Pennsylvania until 1970 when they were classified as a "Game Animal" with only certain times of the year when they could be trapped and hunted............Population modeling by the Penn Game Commission projects that there are some 3100 Bobcats roaming the state currently and it is thought that the population is increasing 4 to 6% annually..............For the last three years, 2010-11 through 2012-13, about 1000 Bobcats have been killed via tapping/hunting(roughly 33% of the total state population)......................Combined with an unidentified smaller number(according to Pa. Officials) of road-killed Bobcats, this Blogger comes away from the Lovallo report feeling that Bobcats are under significant human caused mortality pressure in Pennsylvania---33+ percent of a carnivore population killed each year is certainly causing significant social disorder among Bobcats and disorder leads to a breakdown in their ecosystem services functions as it relates to their impact on rodents et.al and the erratic cascading top down impact on the health of Pennsylvania woodlands and fields..............Something does not "smell right" to me with this type Bobcat management plan for the upcoming decade..........Much too skewed(as it most often is by our State Game Comissions) to the whim of the trapper and hunter, not for the health of the "Cats" or the land they roam

CLICK HERE TO READ: BOBCAT(LYNX RUFUS) MANAGEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA
(2013-2022)---BY DR. MATTHEW J. LOVALLO; GAME MAMMALS SECTION;BUREAU OF 
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT; PENNSYLVANIA GAME COMMISSION; 2001 ELMERTON AVENUE; HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17110