The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioners unanimously approved rules that will resume an annual black bear hunting season. The bear hunt will take place for 23 days, starting for the first time in a decade this December.
At the conclusion of more than two and half hours of public testimony nearly evenly divided between proponents and opponents, commissioners voted 5–0 to reinstate the hunting season in hopes of slowing the growth of the state's bear population.
Hunters can use bait traps, guns and archery to capture a total of 187 bears – one bear per permit – across 31 counties during the first two years. After two years of training, hunting dogs will be allowed starting in 2027.
Florida's last black bear hunt in 2015 – the first in 20 years, at the time – was marred by controversy. That hunt was planned to be seven-day event, but it was closed after just two days because bears were harvested too rapidly. Several rules were also violated:
Black bears are the only species of bear found in Florida. In the 1970s, the Florida black bear population fell its lowest point with an estimated 300-500 bears remaining in the wild. This dramatic decline stemmed from habitat loss and unregulated hunting. That led Florida officials to designate the bears as a Threatened species in 1974.
