Florida Could See Bear Hunt Return This Fall

In mid-December, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) indicated that they would consider a black bear hunt in the state this coming fall due to recent increases in human-bear interactions. Currently, biologists estimate that there are approximately 4,000 bears living in Florida—up from an all-time low of about 500 in the 1970s—with numbers increasing every year.

The hunt, however, wouldn’t be Florida’s first attempt at an annual harvest. In October 2015, the commissioners implemented an over-the-counter, weeklong bear hunt,ultimately resulting in a public relations nightmare. The hunt began with a target of removing 320 bears. However, hunters killed 298 animals in the opening weekend free-for-all, and the season was closed in less than 48 hours.

In the firestorm that followed, some people were enraged because they were anti-hunting to begin with, but another subset was unhappy with the science and management decisions leading up to the hunt. At the time the last statewide bear population assessment occurred 13 years prior, in 2002. FWC’s director of habitat and species conservation claimed that a study currently in progress showed, preliminary, a large enough population to warrant a hunt—the first since 1994.

After the disaster, subsequent bear hunts were tabled…until this year. In early December, per request from the FWC commissioners,biologists presented an update on the status of bear populationsand the state’s2019 Black Bear Management Plan. Key takeaways from the update included increases in population in all seven of the state’s bear management units (four of the units have seen growth in the point of populations 2.5 to 5 times over minimum objectives needed for long-term population health), and an increase in bear-related phone calls to the agency—up 42% from 2016—indicating that bear populations are expanding and overlapping more with urban areas.

Also of note in the update are the facts that Florida currently has 17,000 square miles of suitable bear habitat (which biologists believe is enough to maintain a viable long-term population), and that the state has provided $2.1 million to cities to provide bear-proof trash cans. Still, biologists say this wasn’t nearly enough in terms of preventative measures, as conflicts are still on the rise.

After the meeting presentation, commissioners requested that biologists put together bear hunt proposals by May of this year for approval of a hunt this coming fall. Proponents argue that it would reduce human-bear conflicts—including the need to euthanize so many problem animals—while simultaneously providing a unique hunting opportunity They also point to the fact the67% of voters in the state supported an amendmentin November’s election enshrining the right to hunt and fish in the state’s constitution.

“I do believe the people overwhelmingly spoke in the election about utilizing hunting as a primary tool to manage populations,” said one sportsman in a public comment at the commission meeting.

This proposed hunt would likely look different than the 2015 disaster. “The way it is actually on the books now, to where it is a tag system, they would only sell the tags for the number of bears they wanted to harvest,” Brad Lowery, president of the Florida Bowhunters Council,told a local Florida news outlet. “It wouldn’t create the circus atmosphere that came out of the first hunt.”

Florida’s proposal comes on the heels of Louisiana’s first bear hunt since 1993.The 16-day hunt in December was a success, according to the state’s wildlife department, and included the harvest of a monstrous 700-pound bruin. The controlled hunt received 973 applicants and administered 649 tags.According to the state, all license revenue generated from the hunt “will assist biologists in continuing to conduct bear-management operations such as annual live trapping and radio collaring of bears, winter den checks to monitor reproductive rates, and non-invasive hair sampling to monitor range expansion.”

It’s a safe bet that a Florida hunting season would provide similar resources for management in the Sunshine State. For now, though, a dark cloud still looms over the hunt, but that could change before the next hunting season, depending on what the Commission decides this spring.

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