ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hosted a public meeting on Wednesday, looking for input on highly regulated bear hunting measures for a potential bear hunting season.

What You Need To Know

  • A potential 23 day bear hunting season would take place in December

  • Hunters express mixed feelings; some cite ethical concerns while others see it as necessary for population control

  • Public hearings for input on the potential bear hunt continue Thursday and Saturday

The proposed season would be 23 days in December, with either gun or bow hunting allowed.

Other measures would limit animal cruelty and set a number of permits being sold.

The FWC estimates there are just over 4,000 black bears in the state, which is the same number the FWC’s 2019 Black Bear Management Plan documented.

The last bear hunt in Florida was back in 2015 and before that in 1994.

During the 2015 hunt, permits were available for nearly three months and over 3,700 were sold.

The objective was to max out at 320 bears.

A total of 304 were killed, including 143 in Central Florida, which was 43 more than the intended amount for the area.

Orlando resident and recreational hunter David Porter says the proposed hunt is only occurring due to urban sprawl and a growing population, which FWC reports will be almost 36 million by 2060.

“That is happening because we overdeveloped Florida,” Porter said. “We cut into their territory and they need to forage for food all the time. That’s all bears do.”

Porter says he has been hunting for more than 30 years, rounding up large game including deer and wild boar as well as smaller animals like squirrels or rabbits.

When it comes to a potential bear hunting season, though, he is not interested.

“I hunt things I can eat,” Porter said. “I guess there might be people who eat bear, but it’s not something I have any interest in hunting.”

Other hunters, however, did explain why they are in favor of a bear hunt.

“Controlling bear population through a hunt, which benefits the biological study and management of that wildlife, is far better than just watching those animals die,” Chuck Echenique, a hunter in the Tampa area, said. “Watching them die needlessly through euthanization or vehicle collision.”

There will be two more public meetings on regulated hunting proposals on Thursday, April 3 and Saturday, April 5.

Those interested in attending the meeting can join by going to MyFWC.com/hunting/bear.