Florida\u2019s first statewide black bear hunt in a decade is more than halfway over but state wildlife leaders have offered no information on its progress, not even a death count.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre we overkilling like in 2015?\u201d asked Joe Humphrey, a Seminole County resident who described himself as a hunter at odds with the Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission\u2019s position that a bear harvest would not harm the once threatened species. \u201cThey don\u2019t want us to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatever its motivation, the DeSantis administration\u2019s approach to managing the hunt that stretches from December 6-28 is strikingly different from what was done a decade ago.<\/p>\n
In addition to rebuffing or ignoring questions from the media and conservationists, it eliminated the check-in stations where hunters had to log their kills in 2015, which provided an opportunity to make sure hunt rules were being followed, but which also became hubs for protest.<\/p>\n
This year hunters are simply supposed to inform FWC through an agency phone app if they bag a bear.<\/p>\n
Chuck O\u2019Neal, founder of the not-for-profit conservation group Speak Up For Wildlife, said Fish & Wildlife\u2019s lack of transparency reflects the \u201ctotal arrogance\u201d of the taxpayer-funded agency, its governor-appointed board and its disdain for public opposition to the killing it calls a harvest.<\/p>\n
He called on FWC Executive Director Roger Young to halt the hunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s clear this hunt was all about providing a special opportunity for hunters,\u201d O\u2019Neal said. \u201cIt was never about accountability or weighing both sides, realizing a great majority of Floridians were and are against this hunt. It\u2019s just a big \u2018F.U.\u2019 to the non-hunting public.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Chuck Echenique, a lifelong hunter and president of The Future of Hunting in Florida, defended the agency\u2019s silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis frothing over the numbers is ridiculous,\u201d Echenique said in a text to the Orlando Sentinel. \u201cFirst of all, no state agency publishes a live harvest update on limited quota hunts. When you have a set number of tags, you know that you cannot exceed the total number of bears for which you issued permits. Wasting man hours and resources to provide daily counts and updates is a waste of time and energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 23-day bear hunt, the first in Florida since 2015 when 3,779 permitted hunters killed 304 bears in little more than two days, was limited to 172 permits across four hunting zones, including one in Central Florida where Fish & Wildlife set a harvest or kill limit of 18 bears.<\/p>\n
Echenique, who did not win a bear-hunt permit, said he was part of a hunting party with permit-holders who harvested two bears.<\/p>\n
He said he knew of another dozen other lawfully taken bears across bear management areas where hunting is allowed.<\/p>\n