If you’ve had trouble keeping track of what is happening with Indiana’s Bobcat hunting rules, you’re not alone.
The process has been unusually confusing. Indiana held its first modern bobcat hunting season just last year, with trapping only and a statewide quota of 250 bobcats killed. Almost immediately afterward, DNR moved to expand the season to include hunting and raise the quota to 400, using both an interim rule for the 2025-2026 season and a separate permanent rulemaking process. The permanent proposal has gone through two rounds of public comment and hearings, while the rules governing this winter’s season (the “interim rule”) have continued moving ahead separately.
The result is a situation that is understandably hard for the public to follow: Indiana’s permanent 400-bobcat rule is still pending, but the 2026–27 season is already set to allow both hunting and trapping with a statewide quota of 400 bobcats due to the passage of the interim rule. No wonder Hoosiers are confused.
While the public debate has primarily focused on the permanent rule, the expanded 2026–27 season was actually put in place through a separate interim rule. That rule received a 30-day written comment period this spring, but no public hearing. The final filing confirms that comments were received, but does not disclose how many people participated. By contrast, the permanent rule has gone through two public comment periods and two public hearings.
In other words, while Hoosiers were participating in the much more visible permanent rule process, a separate temporary rule was moving forward that would actually put the expanded 400-bobcat hunting and trapping season into effect this fall.
And this process has unfolded during an extraordinary period of upheaval at the Natural Resources Commission. (NRC)
Categories: Water & Wilderness Protection