Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is committed to gathering the most accurate wildlife harvest data that inform the management of these species. This winter, FWP is launching a voluntary collection of bobcat genetic samples as part of a research project in Montana.
Bobcats are a highly regulated species harvested throughout the state by trappers and hunters. Determining the sex of your harvest can be challenging for some.
Recent research from some western states has shown up to 21 percent of harvested bobcats are identified as the incorrect sex. This error can generate larger implications when applied to population models at the statewide level.
To continue to ensure the most accurate bobcat population estimates, harvest quotas, and data being gathered, FWP is conducting a voluntary study to compare the trapper-determined sex at the time of registering your harvest to a genetic determination.
FWP would like to gather high-quality muscle tissue samples the size of a pencil eraser from each bobcat harvested.
You can pick up a sampling kit and Tyvek identifier tags at the Miles City regional FWP office.
To help keep track of which sample goes with which bobcat, please use the below process for tagging and sampling your bobcat. You will need two Tyvek label tags and one tissue sample vial per bobcat.
For any questions, please contact furbearer biologist Emily Mitchell at 406-234-0923.
Sample submission steps
1. Pick up sampling kits and Tyvek identifier tags at an FWP regional office.
2. Upon registering your bobcat within 24 hours of the harvest, please attach one Tyvek carcass label to the bobcat and fill out the MRRE number given to you at registration. You can attach this to any part of the animal, before or after skinning. Keep this tag with the pelt until it is tagged.
3. After skinning, fill out another Tyvek tag with the same registration number as the pelt. Attach that label tag to the skull and keep that tag with the skull/jaw until it is submitted for aging.
4. Cut an eraser-sized sample of fresh muscle tissue from the bobcat carcass and place in the prelabeled vial filled with desiccant.
5. Please return all vials to FWP when you come in for the mandatory check of your bobcat.
