Bear hunt permits move forward

A Florida black bear peers down from a branch in a live oak tree in an Ocala backyard on March 21, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]

People seeking to obtain one of the limited number of permits for the state’s first bear hunt in a decade can start to pay $5 entry fees on Sept. 12.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will take applications online at gooutdoorsflorida.com for a lottery-style drawing. Applications can be submitted through Sept. 22.

The state will make available 187 permits, with each person only able to receive one permit, regardless of how many applications they submit. Applicants must be 18 or older as of Oct. 1. A state hunting license is required to participate in the hunt.

People whose names are drawn must pay $100 for the permits if they are Florida residents or $300 if they are non-residents. The commission has placed a 10 percent cap on the number of permits for non-residents.

The hunt is scheduled from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28 in four parts of the state. They are the Apalachicola region west of Tallahassee, areas west of Jacksonville, an area north of Orlando and the Big Cypress region southwest of Lake Okeechobee.

Officials have estimated the state has about 4,050 bears. Bear hunting has long been controversial. In 2015, 304 bears were killed in two days after permits were distributed to anyone who paid for what was intended to be a week-long hunt

People packed the auditorium during a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting on the proposed Florida Black Bear Hunt at the Klein Conference Center at the College of Central Florida in Ocala on May 21, 2025. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]