Florida wildlife leaders weighing state's first potential black bear hunt in a decade

FWC holding meetings on proposed bear hunt

FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is holding a series of virtual public meetings this week, as it asks for feedback about the state's first potential black bear hunt in a decade.

More than 200 people joined the meeting on Wednesday, with two more scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

READ: Hurricane Helene storm surge relocates dozens of Egmont Key tortoises to Fort De Soto

What they're saying:

The topic is receiving passionate opinions on both sides of the debate. Mark Barton, who has a PhD in ecology and is a member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers' Florida chapter, has been monitoring the meetings and supports allowing a bear hunt.

"It's clear that the population has not stopped growing for the past 20 years," Barton said. "The hunt can be used as a management tool to control the densities in areas where they're just too high. And the second is that the funds that are raised can be used for, like I said, land acquisitions, habitat restorations."

Big picture view:

FWC is considering opening a bear hunting season in December and issuing 187 hunting permits at random.

Follow FOX 13 on YouTube

Supporters said that's a fraction of the number of bears in the state, which FWC estimated to be at least 4,000, according to a study conducted 10 years ago.

"It can easily sustain a limited hunt, and it has the potential to raise substantial amounts of funding for conservation," Barton told FOX 13.

The other side:

Chuck O'Neal, with the conservation nonprofit, "Speak Up Wekiva," doesn't think Florida's black bear population has expanded much since 2015 and believes it should be allowed to grow.

O'Neal said, if an area becomes over-populated, there are other solutions.

MORE: Florida angler attempts to save great blue heron ensnared in fishing line

"They can be trapped and relocated to the bear management units that need bears that are below par that are not meeting the bear management plan," O'Neal said, adding, "as far as we can tell, the population is about the same as it was in 2015."

O'Neal also worried about whether the state could effectively limit the number of bears killed.

"There's no way in the middle of the woods in Ocala National Forest or up in the Panhandle to enforce these rules," he said.

Dig deeper:

The discussion follows the passage of Amendment 2 last November, which added the right to hunt and fish to the Florida Constitution.

What's next:

FWC is expected take up the topic during their official commission meeting in May.

The Source: The information in this story was gathered during the first of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's virtual public meetings on a potential black bear hunt as well as interviews with Mark Barton and Chuck O'Neal.

STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: