Florida’s Bears: A Short History
In 2015, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission considered opening a bear hunting season for the first time in over two decades (1994!) and held a series of meetings to hear from the public on the proposal. I (Ashlee Ellis Smith) was at one of those meetings. Walking into the basketball arena at one of the major universities in Florida that day back in 2015, I was not prepared for the scene I was about to encounter. It was, to put it mildly, a complete circus. And not because Florida residents turned out in any unusual fashion or numbers – but because NON-Florida residents, members of anti-hunting groups such as the Humane Society and the SPCA had flooded the city from places like New York and California – many dressed up in COSTUMES such as bears, bearing placards and signs with all sorts of paraphernalia trying to warn commission members and the public of the cruelty that would ensue if Florida held a bear season.
Ignoring the circus and the immense pressure from outside the state, the FWC stuck to science and did in fact hold a bear season in October 2015. FWC raised $388,000 from the licenses sold for bear tags for that 2015 hunt, funds that went straight back into the bear conservation program run by FWC.
The hunt was originally set to be open for a week. However, FWC quickly closed it after 2 days. The reason wasn’t a good one. The quota set had been exceeded after a higher number of bears were harvested than expected. At the time wildlife officials stated that the numbers harvested suggested the bear population was higher than they thought, which was true. However, given the sensitivity around this hunt, and the eyeballs watching it unfold, FWC should have had a contingency plan, actually should have had multiple, including redundancies for this exact situation. The hunt should have had in place mandatory check in’s as well as live/instant text message updates to tag holders about harvest statistics, etc. I don’t think a hunter with a tag would have argued with a couple more rules to follow. Because of that situation, Black bear hunting has been shut down for the last 10 years in Florida.
Current data suggests that Florida’s bear population now sits between a healthy 4,000-6,000, and discussions our of the commission suggest that may be about to change. At a public meeting December 11th, 2024 agency biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission presented an updated report on the black bear management plan which was released to the public in 2019. At the meeting, commissioners asked agency staff to bring forward a proposal for a bear season by May 2025. By setting the May deadline, they have allowed FWC time to update population data on bears within the state before the commissioners make their decision. At the December meeting, both hunters and anti-hunters spoke for and against another bear season in FL.
We at Blood Origins particularly appreciate this comment by Mark Barton, an ecologist and hunter within the state, “there are hunters throughout the state that would willingly pay to participate in a limited and highly regulated bear hunt so that we not only stop wasting those resources but regain resources in the process.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Mark. Thanks for speaking up for conservation-based wildlife management. We’ll keep everyone posted as this develops in Florida.
