FWC proposing new hunting changes

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is proposing some changes to the next hunting season.

WINK News spoke with Justin Bingham, a Northwest Region Public Hunting Areas Biologist with FWC.

Bingham says FWC is trying to put Florida hunters first, and each year, they ask hunters what changes they want to see.

“We’re all about providing sustainable opportunities and a variety of opportunities,” Bingham said.

Because of hunter requests, the first nine days of the spring turkey hunting season at Big Cypress (on the non-quota units only), Bull Creek/Herky Huffman, J.W. Corbett, Jumper Creek, and Three Lakes could soon be for Floridians only.

“What they [hunters] told us, was, ‘Hey, the first couple of weekends on these hunts, we’re seeing a lot of non-resident hunters,'” Bingham said. “They told us, ‘It’s kind of reducing the quality of the hunt for us.'”

FWC could also require people to buy an annual hunting license to turkey hunt if they don’t live in Florida and limit the number of hunting permits for non-Floridians to 10%.

“We do have a few hunts that are very high demand, and these are really popular hunts,” said Bingham. “A lot of times, more than ten percent of those permits are issued to non-residents.”

Hunters might also have to stop deer hunting at Big Cypress National Preserve south of U.S. 41 because of the declining deer population.

Bingham said that was a request from the National Park Service, and if approved, the deer hunting would be stopped for the next two years.

“That’s something that we can propose to open the area back up to hunting if those populations do bounce back in the future,” Bingham said.

Hunters could still deer hunt a little farther north at a new wildlife management area in Hendry County, the Cara Cara unit of Dinner Island Ranch.

“It’ll be limited entry to be able to hunt there for deer and turkey,” Bingham said. “We just kind of wanted to make it a ‘for the people’ type hunt that was special and unique.”

FWC is also looking to add accessibility for everyone with mobility-impaired hunting opportunities at Cara Cara and Picayune Strand in Collier County.

Bingham said so far, FWC has gotten positive feedback from hunters, but the organization is continuing to ask for the public’s input on these changes here.

These changes will all be reviewed in February, and if approved, they will take effect on July 1.