Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has released the results of the state regulated black bear hunt, which took place during the 2025 hunting season.<\/p>\n
According to FWC, there were 52 bears harvested during the bear hunt. <\/p>\n
FWC says all harvested bears were physically checked by its staff and bear response contractors. Analysis of the data collected is underway, and a full harvest report will be released in the coming months.<\/p>\n
The approved rules established Bear Hunting Zones (BHZ) within four of the seven existing Bear Management Units. <\/p>\n
Through a random drawing, a total of 172 permits were issued across the East Panhandle, North, Central and South BMUs. Each permit allowed the harvest of one bear within the assigned BHZ.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 2025 black bear hunt, rooted in sound scientific data, was a success. We\u2019re proud to have joined the more than 30 states that manage black bears with regulated hunting,\u201d said FWC Executive Director Roger Young. \u201cThe limited number of permits issued in areas with the largest bear populations and other components of the hunt prioritized a conservative approach that ensures the long-term health of bear populations in Florida, while providing opportunity for hunters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHunting is an effective tool for managing wildlife populations around the world and is a key part of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation,\u201d said FWC Chief Conservation Officer George Warthen. \u201cIt\u2019s about helping bears succeed over the long term in our state and is a way for us to guide an iconic Florida species into the future, for their benefit and ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
One hunter received a warning for a minor Wildlife Management Area violation. No citations were issued. <\/p>\n
The Division of Law Enforcement investigated all reported wildlife violations, but no wildlife violations were found.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur officers maintained a strong, engaged presence throughout the hunt to help ensure it was conducted safely and legally,\u201d said Colonel Alberto Maza, Director of the FWC Division of Law Enforcement. \u201cWhile our officers were there to uphold the rules, the primary focus was education. I\u2019m proud of our officers for protecting this important resource and supporting the goals of the agency\u2019s Bear Management Plan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has released the results of the state regulated black bear hunt,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-378904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}