Image: fl_black_bear_hunt

Florida awarded 172 permits for the 2025 Florida bear season, which runs from December 6-28. (Photo by Jean Blom)

Florida hunters headed to the woods last week in pursuit of black bears for the first time in over a decade.

According to apnews.com, the highly contested 2025 Florida bear season runs from December 6 through December 28. Out of 160,000 applications, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission awarded a total of 172 permits through a random lottery. Of those, anti hunters claim to have secured 43 in the lottery system in an effort to stop hunters from tagging some of the bears. According to clickorlando.com, Bear Warriors United is even offering permit holders $2,000 if they agree in writing not to hunt bears.

The state’s bear population has grown from just several hundred animals in the 1970s to more than 4,000 today.

Don’t Miss: Grizzly Attack Injures 11 During School Trip in B.C.

The hunters will be allowed to kill one bear each during the 2025 season. The permits are designated to one of the state’s four bear hunting zones. Each zone has a hunting quota set by state officials that is reflective of the bear population in each region.

To participate, hunters must hold a valid hunting license and a bear harvest permit, which costs $100 for residents and $300 for nonresidents, plus fees. Applications for the permits cost $5 each.

Mark Barton of the Florida chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers said the regulated hunt will help encourage maintaining healthy bear populations and help fund the work that is needed to support and promote bear conservation.

The state agency recognizes hunting as an effective tool for managing wildlife populations and for providing funds for conservation efforts through permit and application fees.

“While we have enough suitable bear habitat to support our current bear population levels, if the four largest subpopulations continue to grow at current rates, we will not have enough habitat at some point in the future,” reads a bear hunting guide published by the state wildlife commission.