[Reprinted from original]

The Iowa Natural Resources Commission has approved adding bobcat seasons in Delaware and Jones Counties — but is delaying the addition of Dubuque County.

The DNR’s Todd Bishop says 20 of 23 comments in Dubuque County were against adding the bobcat season.

Bishop says the opposition came from landowners and it was not against bobcat trapping — it centered on numbers.

Bishop says it can be hard to get a handle on the bobcat populations as they are an animal that stays away from people as much as possible. He says the DNR is very conservative in deciding when to add a season and will work more with the residents before moving ahead.

This new rule approved Thursday allows trappers in Delaware and Jones counties to take one bobcat. You are now allowed to take a bobcat in more than forty counties across Iowa.