furtaker license or a combination hunting-and-furtaker license prior to submitting a completed permit application and a nonrefundable $5 application fee. The number of permits issued was limited in order to regulate the harvest, and permit recipients were allowed to harvest one bobcat during the established season. The season length was approximately 120 days and ran concurrent to trapping seasons for foxes, coyotes and raccoons. During 2003, the Game Commission began awarding preference points to individuals who applied for, but did JULY 2015 Joe Kosack Bobcats are back. Harvests show promise. not receive, a bobcat harvest permit during a given year. This preference-point system was designed to incrementally increase an unsuccessful applicant's probability of receiving a permit in subsequent years. Bobcat permits were awarded using a random computer drawing from an applicant. The number of preference points was a multiplier that was applied to the applicant's name prior to the drawing. Thus, an applicant with four preference points was placed into the pool four times, whereas a person applying for the first time was entered into the pool once. Applicants who were selected and received a permit were prohibited from applying the following year and their preference points were set back to zero. Because the selection process was random it was possible that a person could maintain maximum preference points and never be selected to receive a permit. Changes occur During 2007, staff in the Game Commission's Game Mammals Section used the existing applicant database to examine trends and preference-point patterns in the bobcat permit database as they related to future modifications to bobcat permits. Based on these analyses, it was determined that applicants with six preference points could be guaranteed a bobcat permit without significantly impacting the chances of other applicants being selected. This system was maintained until 2010 when the bobcat season was shortened and an unlimited number of bobcat permits were made available to hunters and trappers. 11