FWC seeks comments about proposal for black bear hunting

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will hold a series of virtual public meetings in April to collect feedback directly from Florida residents on proposals for highly regulated black bear hunting in Florida.

The proposals will be presented to FWC commissioners in May.

The FWC met with stakeholder groups and the public in March to collect comments on potential options for highly regulated bear hunting seasons, and those comments were used to inform the hunting proposals.

The content covered in all meetings is identica. It is not necessary to attend more than one virtual public meeting.

The meeting dates and times are

• April 2, noon-3 p.m.: Virtual meeting via Zoom.
• April 3, 5-8 p.m.: Virtual meeting via Zoom.
• April 5, 9 a.m.-noon: Virtual meeting via Zoom.

At a commission meeting in December, the FWC’s Bear Management Program gave commissioners a five-year update on implementing the 2019 Florida Black Bear Management Plan, highlighting recent bear management and research efforts.

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After the presentation, the commissioners directed staff to return to a future commission meeting to propose options for implementing a potential bear hunt.

For more information, go to MyFWC.com/Hunting and click on “Florida black bear.”