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Rules Outlined For Return Of Bear Hunting
May 14, 2015
Rules for the state’s first bear hunt in more than 20 years have been published as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is expected next month to give final approval to the hunt.
The posting of the rules came as the Humane Society has reached out to Gov. Rick Scott to halt the pending hunt because the commission has yet to determine how many bears are in Florida.
“This is very premature,” said Kate MacFall, the Humane Society’s Florida director. “They haven’t even finished the count. They don’t even know about the bear population.”
The society has not heard back from Scott.
The proposed rules were published Tuesday in the Florida Administrative Register and outline how the hunt is expected to occur in four regions of the state starting Oct. 24.
The hunt is considered one way to control the bear population as Florida has seen a growing number of bear and human conflicts.
The wildlife commission on April 15 gave tentative approval to the hunt and is expected to take a final vote the week of June 22 in Sarasota.
The proposed rules were issued after two black bears, both estimated to weigh more than 400 pounds, were killed this month in separate collisions with cars outside Micanopy and Hawthorne, both in Alachua County.
Opponents of the proposed hunt have argued the state should consider relocating problem bears and that people need to be held more responsible for leaving out unsecured food and trash that attracts bears.
“It’s a trash problem,” MacFall said. “The bears are attracted to trash, and that is where the focus should be, large-scale trash management.”
State lawmakers this spring approved a bill (HB 7021) that would in part increase penalties for people charged a fourth time with feeding bears and alligators not in captivity. The charge would be a third-degree felony. Currently, a fourth offense of illegally feeding wildlife within a 10-year period is a first-degree misdemeanor.
The bill has yet to be sent to Scott.
The hunt, meanwhile, is expected to last from two to six days, depending on when quotas are reached in the different regions — the eastern Panhandle, Northeast Florida, east-central Florida and South Florida.
Diane Eggeman, director of the commission’s Division of Hunting and Game Management, said the agency expects to have hunt quota numbers ready for the commission to approve in September.
“We should have the new estimates from the South and Central bear management units sometime this summer,” Eggeman said. “There is a chance that they’ll be ready by the June meeting, but that is unlikely.”
The hunt will target less than 20 percent of the population in the four bear-management areas.
Black bears were placed on the state’s threatened list in 1974, when there were between 300 and 500 across Florida. At the time, hunting black bear was limited to three counties. In 1994, the hunting season was closed statewide.
In moving forward with the plans for the hunt, the state commission has used 2002 numbers, which estimate there are a combined 2,500 black bears in the four regions.
Under the proposed rules, the cost of the hunt would be $100 for Floridians and $300 for non-Floridians. There had been talk by commissioners of lowering the fee for Florida residents to $50, as it is unknown how many will pay to join the hunt.
Each hunter would be limited to one bear, and the kill would have to be registered and tagged within 12 hours.
Also, hunters would be prohibited from killing bears within 100 yards of active game-feeding stations.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Comments
10 Responses to “Rules Outlined For Return Of Bear Hunting”
This is a hideous law. Why not put forth a law in Florida to stop Construction on new homes being built. There are enough short sales and fore-closers in this state to live in, grandfather in properties that have been sold with intentions to build on and that’s it. We buy and build in areas, like the everglades, corkscrew swamp and other areas that are nesting grounds for our beloved wildlife, but when this wildlife wanders into the over-built housing area then we want to kill kill kill. What the heck is wrong with this human generation? We take their habitat then want to kill them because we roam upon areas that they use to find food on that we have taken away from them. Bad Idea,
Hunters like to hunt and be successful, the more game the greater chance of success. The whitetail deer and wild turkey are two of the most sought after animals in the country. Yet their numbers keep growing and that is because hunters take the time to better and protect their habitat. As hunters we are taught to love and respect the land and the animal we are hunting. Loads of time and money goes into preserving the land and increasing the flocks and herds for future generations to enjoy. If you want to save the Bears then hunt them.
i couldnt eat bear meat if me gun depended on it. Oh yeah ..i know what I was gonna say….ummmmmmmmmmmm…do bears eat other bears…and do they carry weapons like the hunters get to do.
@ BEar meat is nasty… If properly cleaned and prepared you wouldn’t know the difference between bear and beef, except you will likely find bear tastier.
The fact you suggest it was greasy tells me first that the bear meat you tried was NOT properly cleaned. You can’t leave any fat on the meat; you also need to remove all tendon and cartilage, and you should remove any bone. All will depart gamey flavor in any wild meat, and since bear is gamier than most, it is especially critical on bear meat. As is the case with any wild game, gamey flavor can be covered up with a variety of spices, (garlic and onion top the list there), and the acids in tomatoe sauce or paste help to neutralize gamey flavor, as does the use of wine in a recipe.
When properly cleaned, it makes excellent finger or butterfly steak, terrific stew, and if ground, some of the tastiest spaghetti and chili you’ll ever want to eat.
@inquiring minds… Yes and No. No they do not den up and sleep for months at a time, but yes they experience a period of reduced activity January to late April.
The commision isn’t; they are currently completing a statewide study of bear numbers, in Category I habitat. (Category I being, prime bear habitat). Bear numbers on Category II habitat, according to the Black Bear Management Plan are difficult to estimate, and therefore they don’t attempt to estimate them. Category I habitat comprises less than 20% of the land in Florida, has a limited biological carrying capacity, and as carrying capacity is met bear in Category I habitat are pushed into Category II habitat. Hmmm… I guess we will never have more bear in the state than Category I Habitat can support, regardless of how many show in town eating garbage under that pretense.
There was discussion of minimum weight requirements, whether it will be built into the final ruling or not is up to the commission. Since the USHS is dictating much of the policy on this matter, I would almost guarantee it.
Inquiring minds want to know do bears in the south hibernate as northern bears do?
How can the commission use statistics from 2002 to decide how many bears should be slaughtered? There are to many variables to know precisely how many bear there are roaming around since then. Is there a rule that states they have to be a certain size(no killing of juvenile bears)?
We tear down woodlands that these animals live in to make way for more housing,shopping malls and industry, causing them less area in which to find food and then we wonder why they’ve come into our communities. Typical of humans to blame the bear for wondering into our communities after we’ve taken theirs.
Do we attack an animal because they enter human territory. Look at the great white shark, humans are reaching out further into bear country. Humsns kill enough cougars and bears on the road. I had a bear pass thru our Molino home several months back.I had no intent to want to KILL IT.
I love eating wild game, but bear is something I don’t ever care to try again. I have had it twice, both bears from different parts of the country and both were nasty. It’s a very gamey, sinewy, greasy meat that is just not very good.
WOW. I think this is a hideous new law. And really one bear? Some of these over zealous rednecks are going to have a field day with this. An animal that once almost extinct and now we are going after them? Doesn’t make a lot of sense.
It’s lights out BOO BOO