Elusive bobcats inspire wonder

Smithsonian study seeks to protect species

If you spend a lot of time in the woods, but you’ve never seen a bobcat, chances are a bobcat has seen you. Virginia’s bobcat population is thriving, and these elusive creatures can show themselves—or not—with ease.

Though there are a lot of them in the Rappahannock County woods, bobcats garner little attention. So it may come as a surprise that it is legal to trap or hunt bobcats in Virginia from the beginning of October to the end of February.

Most hunters in Rappahannock do not set out searching for wild cats.

While deer hunting in Huntly one December morning, resident Jenny PerDieu spotted an unusual, stocky mammal, slightly bigger than a fox, trotting across a field in her direction. She was surprised by the encounter, but she kept her rifle down as the creature seemed to be of no threat.

PerDieu soon noticed the thick, healthy fur, the profile of the head and the pointy ears. “I immediately thought, that’s a big cat,” she recalled. Then she saw the short, stubby tail and realized she was looking at a bobcat.

Even after the bobcat spotted her, it never broke its stride or changed course. Within seconds, PerDieu watched it vanish into the next patch of woods.

“It could very well have been a once-in-a-lifetime moment, and I’m glad I was able to experience it,” she said. “I know there are hunters out there that would kill one, given the chance, but I don’t think I ever would.”

A “robust” population

Virginia’s population of bobcats is healthy, with abundant numbers in the Piedmont region and westward, according to Virginia’s Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR). Fewer bobcats roam east of I-95, in the Coastal Plain area, with a scant presence on the Eastern Shore.

Rolf Gubler, a biologist for Shenandoah National Park, sees the bobcat population as robust by the amount of scat or droppings on park trails and by bobcat images on game cameras. Also, Gubler has not seen any disease in bobcats. No hunting or trapping is permitted within the park boundaries.

In the winter of 2022-23, DWR logged 1,671 bobcats killed during the bobcat hunting and trapping seasons in Virginia. According to Mike Fies, DWR furbearer biologist, almost all bobcats killed by hunters were killed incidentally, primarily while hunting deer.

“Our current regulations are set up, in both hunting and trapping, so that the harvest does not have a detrimental impact on numbers,” Fies said regarding the bobcat population.

Bobcats usually weigh 15-30 pounds and are two to three feet long. They are known by their short tail, furry sideburns and tufted ears, with a distinct white patch on the back of each ear.

These forest cats are patient, secretive and light-footed when on the prowl, preferring to be most active at night. Bobcats are sight hunters who mostly eat rabbits and rodents.

Local taxidermists say hunters request a full bobcat mount as a trophy because the animal is so rarely seen.

Public opinion on hunting and trapping bobcats can vary greatly.

The Humane Society of the United States opposes the trophy hunting and trapping of bobcats because they say those practices are “unspeakably cruel” and aimed at animals that are not overpopulated.

“The recreational killing of bobcats allows a tiny percentage of Virginia residents to exploit and commercialize our wildlife for personal profit,” HSUS Virginia state director Cheryl Crowe wrote in an email. “All for nothing more than a trophy or a pelt for a dying fur industry.”

Around the state, bobcats have been misidentified because they come and go in a flash. 

David Kocka, DWR’s district wildlife biologist for Rappahannock County, says the agency frequently fields calls about cats bigger than bobcats living in the state, but says there is no verifiable evidence—a photograph, carcass, or paw print—to confirm the presence of a mountain lion population in Virginia.

Bobcat conservation

To protect Virginia bobcats and their habitats, biologists have been trapping and tracking bobcats to collect blood and tissue samples and observe their behavior.

A study supported by the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal is ongoing in Albemarle County.

Nicole Gorman, Virginia Tech PhD student and project leader, worked with a team last year to trap and put GPS collars onto six bobcats between January and April 2023. They will finish trapping and collaring more by April.

Although rarely studied, bobcats are considered an umbrella species, so “their needs are likely to encompass the needs of a large variety of other wildlife,” Gorman said.

Using the GPS data, the researchers will map the corridors bobcats use to learn how to connect and protect those habitat areas. This data can inform local planning decisions regarding land management and ecological processes.

“Even without a lot of roads or dense human populations, wildlife could still benefit from corridors that provide safe passage through what they would perceive to be risky or suboptimal habitat,” Gorman said.

Bobcat trapping: A dying trade

Carl McGlothlin of Castleton is one who traps and kills bobcats.

McGlothlin, originally from Fauquier, has lived in Rappahannock for the past 25 years. He took up trapping as a serious hobby after retiring from his roofing business.

He began by trapping and killing coyotes that were causing problems for property owners. Later he expanded his sport to include trapping bobcats.

McGlothlin catches many more bobcats than he kills, trapping 40 to 50 in one season across the region, including Rappahannock.

“But I only keep about half – the adult males,” he says.

Any female or younger male bobcats he catches are set free.

During the 2022-23 season McGlothlin killed a dozen bobcats in the county.

For many years McGlothlin shipped his furs to an auction house in Canada to be sold on the international market, where he said pelts could go for $200 or more. Buyers from Russia and China would bid on the bobcat fur to use as trim – cuffs or collars – on mink coats. But in recent years the international fur trade has dropped off.

Now McGlothlin attends fur auctions through the Virginia Trappers Association to sell his pelts. DWR furbearer biologist Mike Fies said the current market rate for bobcat fur is $44.22.

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“Bobcats are the most valuable, on average, of all furbearing pelts out there,” Fies said.

Tim Bostic, Conservation Police Officer for Rappahannock County since 2016, came to know McGlothlin from talking with farmers who spoke highly of the trapper for efficiently removing coyotes, which are considered nuisance wildlife because they prey on sheep, goats and chickens.

Bostic, who describes trapping as a dying trade, has had minimal contact with trappers.

Most interactions involve issuing a requested CITES (Convention on Trade in Endangered Species) tag to a bobcat hunter or trapper after a reported kill. Bobcat pelts must have a CITES seal, a guarantee the animal is not an endangered species, from the state where the animal was harvested before being sold out of state.

Separately, Bostic has handled two cases in the county when a new trapper failed to check traps daily, as required by law.

— Lisa Ramey

Foothills Forum is an independent, community-supported nonprofit tackling the need for in-depth research and reporting on Rappahannock County issues.

The group has an agreement with Rappahannock Media, owner of the Rappahannock News, to present this series and other award-winning reporting projects. More at foothillsforum.org.