Florida approves first black bear hunt in a decade amid fierce opposition and legal threats

HAVANA, Fla. — For the first time in ten years, Florida will allow black bear hunting. In a highly controversial unanimous vote Wednesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved a rule package creating a regulated hunting season starting December 2025 — a decision met with cheers from hunters in orange shirts and outrage from environmental activists, some of whom vowed to take the fight to court.

The new rules set a 23-day hunting season from the first Saturday in December to the last Sunday of the month. It will be limited to designated Bear Hunt Zones within larger Bear Management Units, with permits issued through a random draw and harvest caps based on population data and female bear survival rates. The package also allows the use of hunting dogs in 2027, bear harvests near game feeding stations, and special programs for large private landowners.

Supporters, including wildlife managers and hunting advocates, argue the hunt is necessary to manage the state’s estimated 3,800 black bears and curb rising human-bear encounters — including a recent fatal attack in Collier County. “Somebody going to get up getting killed,” said hunter Rodney Roberts. “They’re just… getting closer to families and kids and everything.”

WATCH: Florida approves first black bear hunt in a decade amid fierce opposition and legal threats

Others, like Daniel Crawford, think the bear population has grown large enough to accommodate recreational hunting. “I’m an avid dog hunter,” he said. “ I would really like to see us have the ability to do something that my dad, grandfather, my great grandfather did in the same tradition.“

Opponents call the move unscientific and driven by politics. Raquel Levy, an attorney for Bear Warriors United, held up a lawsuit outside the meeting. “We believe the FWC has violated their own rules. This is wrong. We do not have an overpopulation of bears. We have an overpopulation of greed and of money and of people trying to take away their habitat,” Levy said. She accused commissioners of relying on “very stale data” and promised immediate legal action in Leon County administrative court.

Levy linked bear encounters to Florida’s rapid development. “Virgin, lush, green land is being bulldozed by the tens of thousands of acres, leaving wildlife displaced… Conservation does not begin and end with a bullet,” she said.

Animal advocates warned the hunt would worsen risks, not reduce them. “More guns will be bought. More bullets will be,” said Kristin Rubin. “Who does this really help? Not the bear.”

With more than 10,000 public comments submitted before the meeting — and more than 160 people speaking Wednesday — the vote underscored deep divisions over how Florida should balance human safety, habitat loss, and wildlife management.

The bear hunt will go forward unless a court blocks it — a possibility Levy says could be decided in the coming weeks.