Hunters prepare for first black bear hunt in 21 years

FORT MYERS, Fla. – At first light Saturday morning thousands of hunters will head to the woods for Florida’s first black bear hunt in more than 20 years.

“It’s a pretty rare opportunity,” Cole from South Fort Myers, who plans to take part in the hunt, told WINK News Friday.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved the limited hunt in June. It says the goal is to control the bear population. FWC estimates right now there are roughly 3,000 black bears in Florida. The state wants to cut the number by 320.

“That’s not a very accurate representation considering this is a species that not very long ago came off the threatened list and now some people think it’s a really good idea to just hunt them mercilessly,” John Scott with the Sierra Club environmentalist group told WINK News.

Scott has been against the hunt since it was first proposed.

“Even though we’ve had some human-bear conflict, mostly that’s due to us encroaching on their habitat,” said Scott.

“Hunting’s a big part of conservation, and it’s important to keep numbers in check,” said Cole.

The hunt will last a minimum of two days and maximum of seven. Once 320 bears have been killed, the hunt will be closed.

There are certain rules hunters must follow:

-Hunters are only allowed to kill one bear each
-No one is allowed to kill cubs or bears seen with cubs
-No parts can be soldarvested bears must be checked and tagged by the state within 12 hours.
-Harvested bears must be checked and tagged by the state within 12 hours

For more information on this year’s bear hunt, you can visit these links:

http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/bear/plan-faqs/hunting-faqs/

http://myfwc.com/media/3004350/bear-hunting-draft-rule-summary.pdf

http://myfwc.com/hunting/by-species/bear/rules/