Bobcats are apex carnivores and may serve as a stabilizing force within wildlife communities. However, bobcats may be a major predator of northern bobwhite (hereafter quail). Currently, bobcats are controlled on most quail plantations, but the usefulness of controlling top carnivores as a quail management tool has not been studied. Indeed, the only study of bobcat ecology on lands specifically managed for quail indicated that bobcats were not a significant predator of quail. However, habitat conditions between study sites used during this previous study differ substantially from habitat found on southern Georgia and northern Florida quail plantations. Therefore, this study will investigate bobcat ecology relative to quail management on Ichauway, the outdoor lab of the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center. Ultimately, these data will be used to model the effects of bobcats on quail populations.

Research began in fall 2001 on this 5-year project. The specific objectives are: 1) study the habitat use of bobcats with special regard to food plots, 2) study the home range of bobcats and how they are affected by supplemental food, food plots, and burning, and 3) study bobcat diets.