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Black Bear Hunt Over After Just Two Days

October 26th, 2015 by flanews

The state’s controversial bear hunt was over almost as soon as it got started.  As Matt Galka tells us, wildlife officials are calling it a success.

298 bears were taken down by hunters across Florida in just 48 hours.  State fish and wildlife officials called Florida’s first black bear hunt in more than 20 years off Sunday night.

Dr. Thomas Eason/FWC Habitat and Species Conservation

“Definitely were surprised by the amount of harvests that happened on the first day.  The actual success rates were within the range that we would expect using similar techniques from other states, but again, I think all of the discussion and focus on the hunt, I think a lot of hunters knew they wanted to be out on the first day,” said Dr. Thomas Eason, the FWC’s Division of Habitat and Species Conservation director.

Hunters who came up empty handed probably expected they’d have more time in the woods. The hunt was scheduled for seven days but was called after only two.

More than 3,500 hunters purchased permits and nearly hit the season long quota of 320 bears.  112 bears were killed in the Eastern Panhandle region of the state, nearly triple the kill limit for the area.

“We are confident that this hunt got us to what we were achieving. This was to start stabilizing these large growing populations of bears,” said Diane Eggeman with the agency.

But not everyone is lauding the hunt as a success.  Laura Bevan with the Humane Society of the United States says she’s not shocked so many animals were bagged in such a short amount of time.

“We knew when 3500 hunters pour into the woods that it’s going to be a bloodbath and that’s what it was,” she said.

The FWC says they have no plans of stopping the hunt in the future and plan on making it an annual season as long as black bear population numbers continue to grow.

The FWC estimated there were 3,500 black bears in the state before the hunt.  The agency took in just under $377,000 dollars which they plan on putting toward bear proof trash cans to try and limit human and bear conflicts.

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