Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum FL Bear Season ?

There is an E-mail address at the bottom of the article for residents to comment. I hope FL residents take advantage of it. Issuing tags seems to make a lot of sense.

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/florida-potential-black-bear-hunt/





I don't care to harvest one, but hope others will.

I just sent my email in support. I hate a black bear.

We have needed a season for years. I am in the city, and I have them in my yard and on my back deck drinking water from my bird bath. Awful lot of bear lovers around, I will be surprised if we have a season.

South Bama needs one too! Sumbitch's tear up everything!

Yep. Needed. Commented support a few weeks ago.

They are everywhere around the Panhandle of Florida. Even near the beach.

They are definitely a problem where I hunt on both sides of I-10. With that being said I've been very fortunate that the few I've had didn't stay around and moved on but I've got friends who are not so lucky.

Louisiana did a trial run with it last year. I think they issued 6 tags in a small controlled area. That killed sum studs.

Haven’t seen them in NW Holmes but I know further south around Ponce de Leon folks have seen them. Friend showed me a trail cam picture that a friend of his shared of a big black bear. I’d pop one in a minute to try bear meat and a rug. But I think they won’t come up north so much.

Hopefully you won't end up with any. I hunt 3 different properties in gadsden county and have had bears on 2 of them off and on through the years. In jackson county where I live they are starting to show up quite a bit especially on property along the apalachicola river.

They will destroy feeders like no one's business.

and eat you and your dog!

Can’t believe they say the western panhandle is below minimum. There are a lot of bears here.

Gator also tipped a canoe and killed a Woman at Kissimmee in the same week.

I agree that it sounds like it's time for Florida (and maybe even Alabama) to open black bear hunting. Black bears are typically not aggressive, but they are a real nuisance when they start getting acclimated to humans, eating trash, breaking into bird feeders, etc. This is also when attacks happen because they get themselves in situations where people unknowingly surprise them or "corner" them, particularly bad if it's a sow with a cub.

Yep , I got problems with them here at my house also south Mississippi.

Giant raccoons is all they are

I hunted it back in 2015 (no luck). It was a PR disaster.
Tree huggers protesting at the check stations.

Well just reading article about Florida’s recent first fatal black bear attack. 89 year old man and his dog in eastern Collier County Jerome area. FWC killed 3 black bears and found the victim’s DNA in stomach of 1 of the 3 killed bears. Apparently there was sign of black bears breaking into the occupied house. Found body 100 yards from the house. I would have thought something like this would happen up north or central FL not an 1 hour and 15 minutes away from me in South Florida. Need a bear hunt for sure.

https://www.winknews.com/news/colli...8e95c25-1d64-4613-a7d1-cee21a8f575c.html

Well commission approved in 4-1 vote but looks like a bunch of bs coming. Highly restricted from headlines in email I got. Reaction on Facebook from west coast liberal news station has bunny huggers complaining and suggesting folks against the hunt buy hunting licenses and permits to prevent folks from killing bears. Idiot bunny bear huggers. This will not develop into a regular hunt like some already said. FWC drops the ball again. Read below:

FWC approves highly regulated black bear hunting proposed rule amendments for advertising

At this week’s Commission meeting in Ocala, Commissioners of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted to approve proposed amendments to bear hunting rules for advertising in the Florida Administrative Register. The rule proposals are expected to be brought back before the Commission at its August 2025 meeting for a final hearing and, if the final rules are approved, most changes would take effect during the 2025-26 hunting season.

At its December 2024 Commission meeting, the FWC’s Bear Management Program gave Commissioners a 5-year update on implementing the 2019 Florida Black Bear Management Plan, highlighting recent bear management and research efforts. Following the presentation, the Commissioners directed staff to return to a future Commission meeting to propose options for implementing a potential bear hunt.

FWC staff presented bear hunt options at the May 2025 Commission meeting, which were developed with input from stakeholder groups and public meetings on March 13 and April 2, 3 and 5. Between Dec. 6, 2024, and April 20, 2025, staff received and compiled more than 3,900 comments from the public on this topic. An online comment tool was also open from April 2 to 20, 2025, resulting in more than 13,000 unique responses.

“The resurgence of the Florida black bear is not just a victory for conservationists; it’s a win for all Floridians,” said Rodney Barreto, Chairman of the FWC. “Hunting is a biologically sound method to slow population growth, resulting in a healthy and well-managed Florida black bear population for the future.”

Hunting would allow the FWC to start managing population growth rates for the Bear Management Units, or BMUs, with the largest bear subpopulations. Balancing species population growth with suitable habitat helps to maintain a healthy population. Hunting is an important and effective tool for managing wildlife populations around the world, but it is important to acknowledge that managing bear populations does not manage human-bear conflicts. Conflict prevention and bear management practices will still need to continue regardless of whether Commissioners approve final rules for reopening regulated bear hunting in the future.

For more information, including answers to frequently asked questions about this topic, visit MyFWC.com/BearHunting. To learn more about black bears and how to avoid conflicts with them, visit BearWise.org.