| Summary: | A random sample of 1,200 persons who purchased a 2010 resident Illinois trapping license was generated from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources licensing database. Licensees were mailed a 4-page questionnaire, and we received 767 (66%) questionnaires. Trapping license sales increased 12% from 2009 (3,751 licenses) to 2010 (4,202 licenses).Trappers set an average of 23 traps for an average of 27.8 days or nights during the 2010-2011 season, and they harvested an estimated 198,653furbearers (up 69% from the 117,597harvested in 2009-2010). An estimated 88,233 raccoons (Procyon lotor) were trapped by trappers during the 2010-2011 Illinois trapping season, an increase of 68% from the estimated 52,431 trapped during the 2009-2010 season. Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) harvest was the next highest at 63,257 muskrats trapped (98% increase from previous year). Twenty-one percent of trappers hadtaken the trapper’s education course, and 53% of trappers introduced at least one person to trapping in the past five years. Sightings of North American river otter (Lontra Canadensis) and bobcat (Lynx rufus) by trappers, and harvest of furbearers by hunting,were also documented. Illinois Department of Natural Resources; Illinois Natural History Survey Grant/Contract No: W-112-R-20 unpublished not peer reviewed
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