Posted on 12/20/2025 7:59:09 PM PST by Red Badger
Now here's a story out of Florida that bears watching. Florida's black bear hunt is underway, and troubles' a-bruin. The problem is, as it so often is in wildlife policy: A question of policy based on emotion vs. policy based on science.
Ten years ago, a Florida bear hunt shocked the public when photos spread online of bloody carcasses of mother bears loaded in pick-up trucks and splayed out on concrete slabs at hunter check-in stations.
The hunt, the first in 20 years, was halted in less than 48 hours after an estimated 304 bears were killed the first weekend. The quota that year was 320.
Question: How did they know these were mother bears? Were all of them mother bears? Of that harvest, was there not one boar, not one unaccompanied sow? That's unlikely, but that's what you get from an emotional argument.
Hunters said the quick success rate was proof of a “robust” bear population. Wildlife defenders called the state-sanctioned hunt “a slaughter” and succeeded in discouraging officials from authorizing another one, until this year.
The first regulated Florida black bear hunt in a decade has been underway since Dec. 6. But unlike the 2015 version, it’s almost invisible to anyone but hunters. They report their kills over the phone, instead of taking slain bears to check-in stations open to public view.
Key concept: "Regulated" bear hunt. More on that in a moment. But note again, an emotional argument: "...almost invisible to anyone but hunters." Good; frankly, with nosy parkers like PETA and other animal rights groups constantly looking to interfere, that's probably for the best.
Look, every state has wildlife biologists whose job it is to monitor the populations of game animals. Even here in Alaska, with the vast, empty expanses, the Fish & Wildlife people cover a lot of ground, and wildlife, furbearers, big game, fish, and fowl harvests are, from time to time, adjusted accordingly. It's the same in every state. Professionals, not activists, should be making this decision. Where apex predators are concerned, it's even more critical that these decisions are made by people who know what they're doing.
That's the "regulated" part of a regulated hunt.
Apex predators, like bears and mountain lions, tend to see the creatures they share their environment with in two ways: Food or foe. When soft, squishy humans, lacking big teeth, claws, hooves, horns, or antlers, stop being a foe, they tend to become rather easily obtainable food. It's still not common, mind you. In the last 10 years, there have been three fatal mountain lion attacks. In the last 10 years, there have been 11 fatal bear attacks, mostly by black bears. That's not surprising, as black bears are by far the most common bears, and are much more likely than their larger cousins to live near people. You're probably more likely to die by having a vending machine fall over on you, but that's not really the point.
The opposition to these hunts cites few numbers, and when they do, those numbers are questionable. They offer no alternatives to managing bear populations, deer populations, or any other kind of animal or fish populations. Their opposition is not based on science, and it's not based on the environment that so many "environmentalists" never experience. The fact is that it is hunters, through their license fees, through taxes on their arms and equipment, who fund modern wildlife management, who volunteer their own time and money to preserve habitat, and it's been that way since the days of Aldo Leopold. Florida should be lauded, not criticized, for keeping it that way. And to Florida's bear hunters, good luck!
We are up to our ears in bears in Florida................
This just in from AOC: Why would anyone want to hunt wearing no clothes?
Do alligators, too.
Why would anyone want to hunt a dead Indian?...........
Alligators tend to stay put and not pillage your garbage cans...........
They’re in EVERY body of water and some of them go after children and pets.
Black bears raid our garbage dump regularly at night.
(NE Florida).
Here in NW Florida, towns have to issue ‘Bear Proof’ garbage cans to residents.............
That’s true, but with alligators you basically have to go to their place, while bears will come to yours...............
Tried nude pbotography once but it was far too cold. Had to put on some clothes
True. I think both should be hunted, though.
Not a bear hunter. Ran into a few. Big stinky monsters.
We do have gator hunts.
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/alligator/harvest/hunt-guide/licenses-and-permits/
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/alligator/harvest/hunt-guide/where-hunt/
https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/alligator/harvest/hunt-guide/regulations/
If someone paid me I’d probably take some out. Apparently they are getting to be a bit of a bother in ETX.
They are common up at our place in the Ouchita NF. I don’t hunt them.
You can scare them off by running at them and yelling. And there goes the deer hunt.
doesn't matter. Years ago in Colorado big money from out of state (California) bankrolled a ballot initiative to outlaw hunting bears over bait or with dogs. They showed constant TV ads of sad looking bear cubs, claiming hunters were killing their mommies (wasn't true). There was no organized, funded pushback and of course it passed. Now we get local news stories every year about bears invading neighborhoods. The residents get big fines for not having "bear proof" trash containers. The bears don't fear people at all any more.
Colorado is a lost cause. They’ve gone full commie...............
Yeah, I wouldn't count on that.
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