First year's a charm for bobcat local trapper
By Jim Zoschg Outdoor Writer

Emporium's Ralph Grovanz trapped this bobcat after being drawn from a field of nearly 4,500 applicants.

It is every trapper's dream to be drawn for a bobcat tag and have a chance to catch Pennsylvania's most elusive furbearer. For one local, firsttime trapper, that dream became a reality this season.

After the bobcat season was closed for several decades, in 2000 the Game Commission reopened the season, giving out 290 permits in northcentral and northeastern Pennsylvania. That first year, 58 bobcats were legally harvested in Pennsylvania.

The number of tags has gradually increased each year, as have the number of cats harvested. During the 2006-2007 trapping season, 720 bobcat permits were issued with 258 cats taken. This season, 1,010 permits have been issued.

Ralph Grovanz of Emporium had his name drawn out of a field of approximately 4,500 applicants.

"After being drawn, I started doing some research," Grovanz recalled. "I read every piece of information I could find on trapping, especially on bobcats."

A friend and experienced trapper, Jim Harrison, took the novice under his wing.

"We didn't set any actual traps, but he taught me about dirt and blind sets and how to be observant and anticipate where animals will travel," Grovanz said.

The teaching must have paid off; Ralph took a bobcat on the first night he set his traps. Initially, when the bobcat season opened on Oct. 20, Ralph did not trap. He waited until later in the season, when the animals' fur would be prime.

On Nov. 30, Grovanz set his first traps. He took measures to keep human scent out of the area and carefully concealed the traps. By the following morning, he had a cat in his trap.

"I was so excited when I saw the bobcat. It was a big female and weighed 22 pounds," recounted Grovanz. "When I took it to Cesna's (taxidermist), where he told me that although he had received some larger bobcats this fall, this was the first cat whose fur was prime."

He plans on getting a fullbody mount of the trophy stalking uphill.

Last season, 11 bobcats were harvested in Cameron County and 31 in Potter County. In total, 1,154 bobcats have been harvested in the seven years in Pennsylvania since the season reopened.

Bobcat trapping in Pennsylvania has been a classical wildlife management success story. After years of bounties, unregulated trapping, and habitat loss, bobcat populations were protected for several decades and their population recovered.

Bobcat populations are being managed in a sustainable manner to allow trapping, but at the same time being careful not to over-harvest and harm this unique carnivore's populations.