Florida Is Considering Making It Legal to Hunt Bears Again

The Sunshine State is in the process of approving a proposal that would create an annual hunt to cull black bear populations. The three-week hunt, to take place in December, would be the first such event in a decade. A chaotic 2015 hunt was stopped early after over 300 bears were killed in just two days. More than half of the killed bears were females, and a fifth of those were lactating, meaning they likely had cubs depending on them for survival.

The proposal to reintroduce bear hunting this year was given preliminary approval by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) in a May hearing, and is set to be voted on during a final hearing in August. The hunt would take place from December 6 to 28, and hunters would participate via a lottery-style permitting process. The permits would allow for a total of 187 bears to be “harvested” in four hunting zones around the state. Under the FWC proposal, up to six dogs could be used in each hunt, and bears could also be hunted at game feeding stations.

According to the FWC’s Black Bear Management Plan, the state’s black bear population currently sits at approximately 4,050, up from near-extinction in the 1970s. Bear hunting was legal in Florida from the 1930s until 1994, but in the past three decades, the only hunt held was the truncated one in 2015. Currently, Florida is one of only six states in the U.S. that has a resident black bear population but does not allow hunting to manage the population. Of those six states—which also include Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Ohio, and Connecticut—Florida’s bear population is by far the largest.

“When we look at game species across North America, there’s not a single game species that has gone extinct or come close through regulated hunting,” George Warthen, the agency’s chief conservation officer, told local radio station WUSF. “Instead, we see more money, more attention and a lot more benefits for that animal. And this can be a tough conversation to have. And so the why, for Florida, becomes we’re one of the only states that is not participating in regulated bear hunting in states that have abundant bear populations.”

The timing of the hunt, in December, when most females are in their dens, is reportedly intended to reduce the killing of females and prevent orphaned cubs this time around. The funds that are generated from application and permit sales—a permit will cost $100 for Florida residents and $300 for non-residents—are to be sent to the State Game Trust Fund and used for wildlife conservation.

In an exhaustive Q&A series on the FWC website, the agency addresses a number of concerns about the upcoming potential bear hunt, noting that, although there is no cap on the number of female bears that can be hunted under the provision, the total allotment of 187 bears was specifically chosen because that is the maximum number of female bears that could be killed without resulting in a negative population growth rate. Therefore, even if every single bear killed in the proposed hunt was a female, populations would remain stable, according to the FWC site.

The FWC also addressed the controversial results of the hunt ten years ago, noting changes in the structure this time around. In the previous hunt, 3,776 permits were sold, but the “harvest objective” was only 320 bears. The FWC explained that this system, while still allowing them to keep hunting rates within their target range, inadvertently “put pressure on hunters to harvest the first bear they encountered in the field.” Essentially, 3,776 hunters were all competing to kill bears as quickly as possible, because they all knew that there were only 320 bears that could be hunted before the hunt was closed.

Under the new proposal, the FWC would only sell 187 permits in the first place, so everyone who received a permit could be selective over the three-week period.” This is also the train of thought behind allowing the use of hunting dogs and the killing of bears at game feeding stations. Both tactics, although controversial, would “allow hunters time to be more selective about which bear they take” and avoid targeting females who could be raising cubs.

Black bears were protected under Florida state law until 2012, when scientists determined their populations had recovered enough from the 1970s lows to no longer be threatened by extinction. However bear hunting remains a controversial subject in Florida, particularly after the 2015 cull. A survey the following year—the results of which were included in the FWC proposal—found that residents were in close contention about the issue. Roughly 47 percent of those surveyed supported the idea, and 43 percent opposed it. When the same respondents were asked if they would support bear hunting if it were compatible with maintaining healthy bear numbers, however, those in favor increased to 62 percent.

Still, the FWC website received over 13,000 comments about the potential 2025 bear hunt, and around three-quarters of them were opposed to the idea. The agency’s position is that, sooner or later, the growing bear population is going to have to be checked. “While all wildlife species, theoretically, will reach some population level that triggers a decline, black bear populations have not reached levels where self-regulation has been exhibited anywhere in North America,” the FWC says. “Rather, as bear numbers reach high enough levels, human presence can begin to influence [them].”

Florida reports an average of 191 bears are already killed each year as a result of human interaction—such as vehicle strikes, required euthanization due to habituation, and illegal hunting. “Once there are enough bears in suitable habitats, bear presence will increase in marginal habitats (e.g., neighborhoods), which increases the likelihood of human-bear conflicts and the subsequent risk to public safety, as well as safety for the bears.”

The number of bear-human interactions in Florida has increased dramatically since the turn of the century, as both bear and human populations have climbed. The first fatal bear attack in state history occurred last year. (An 89-year-old man and his dog were killed near Naples.)