The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is organizing a series of virtual public meetings to gather input from residents on proposals for highly regulated black bear hunting in the state. These proposals will be presented to Commissioners at the upcoming May meeting. The FWC has already engaged with stakeholder groups and the public in March to gather their comments, which have been used to shape the hunting proposals.
The meetings are scheduled as follows:
– April 2 from 12-3 p.m. EDT
– April 3 from 5-8 p.m. EDT
– April 5 from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. EDT
All meetings will be conducted virtually via Zoom, and they will cover identical content, so attending more than one session is unnecessary.
At the December 2024 Commission Meeting, FWC’s Bear Management Program provided a five-year update on the implementation of the 2019 Florida Black Bear Management Plan, emphasizing recent management and research efforts related to bears. Following this presentation, Commissioners instructed staff to return with options for a potential bear hunt.
For further details, visit MyFWC.com/Hunting and click on “Florida black bear.”
