Survival and cause-specific mortality of adult bobcats in central Mississippi

Precise and unbiased estimates of survival and mortality patterns are requisite to understand population dynamics of bobcats (Lynx rufus) within temperate ecosystems. Although previous research has examined bobcat survival, most studies have been short term (<5 yr) and provided limited information on sex- and season-specific mortality rates. We determined annual and seasonal survival rates of 68 radiomarked bobcats during 1989-97 in central Mississippi. Annual survival (S) did not differ between males (S = 0.75, SE = 0.13) and females (S = 0.84, SE = 0.09), nor did survival vary among years. Legal harvest (incidental take) accounted for most (45%) bobcat deaths. Males were more likely to be harvested than females, with all hunting mortality occurring during the fall-winter white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) hunting seasons. Females were more likely to experience mortality during parturiton-young-rearing periods than were males. Probability of incidental harvest for females was correlated with crepuscular movement rates and distances moved during diurnal periods. We suggest movement patterns and differences in breeding behavior influence incidental harvest of bobcats, and hence annual and season survival.