The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, in consultation with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission, has withdrawn the proposed administrative rule regarding a limited bobcat season.

On April 1, 2016, the New Hampshire Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR) entered a “Preliminary Objection” to the text of the proposed administrative rule regarding a “Limited Bobcat Season” (proceeding #2015-206).

The Process

• The N.H. Fish and Game Commission voted in October of 2015 in favor of initiating rule-making for a bobcat hunting and trapping season, to include the issuance of 50 permits (for NH residents only) via a lottery system.
• In December of 2015, the Commission approved a final draft season proposal presented by the Department, opening the way for the rule-making process to begin. The formal solicitation of public comment included collection of written input, email correspondence and comments at a two-session public hearing.
• On February 17, 2016, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission voted 5 to 4 to move forward on a proposal to establish a bobcat hunting and trapping season in New Hampshire.

Background

Following completion of Fish and Game’s collaborative bobcat research study with the University of New Hampshire, the Commission asked the Department if the state’s bobcat population could sustain harvest.

The Department concluded that the population could sustain modest harvest (a conservatively estimated 77 cats). Subsequently, the Commission asked the Department to generate a draft season framework.

This framework, which was presented as an information item to the Commission in April of 2015, entailed the issuance of bobcat permits through a lottery process. The timing and attributes of the draft season emulated New Hampshire’s existing fisher season, with December trapping and January hunting.