2015-2016 Illinois Trapper Report: Harvest, Effort, and Motivations

Ryan J. Conat, Brent D. Williams, Linda K. Campbell, Craig A. Miller

Research output: Book/Report/Conference proceedingTechnical report

Abstract

We sampled 1,200 purchasers of 2015 resident Illinois trapping licenses from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources licensing database. Licensees were mailed a 4-page questionnaire, and we received 788 (65%) questionnaires. Trapping license sales decreased 22% from 2014 (8,303 licenses) to 2015 (6,468). Trappers set an average of 15.5 traps for an average of 24.1 days or nights during the 2015-2016 season, and harvested an estimated 125,314 furbearers (down 30% from the 179,978 harvested in 2014-2015). An estimated 55,390 raccoons (Procyon lotor) were trapped during the 2015-2016 Illinois trapping season, a decrease of 45% from the estimated 101,035 trapped during the 2014-2015 season. Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) harvest was the next highest at 32,038 muskrats (5% decrease from the previous year).
Original languageEnglish (US)
PublisherIllinois Natural History Survey
StatePublished - Jul 12 2016

Publication series

NameINHS Technical Report 2016 (27)
No.27

Keywords

  • INHS

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of '2015-2016 Illinois Trapper Report: Harvest, Effort, and Motivations'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this