Florida Bear Hunt....Thoughts?

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

At the risk of opening up a can of worms, what are your thoughts on the Florida black bear hunt?

[Pat B]

It needed to be done!   

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Agreed. Really wish it hadn't been such a debacle though. Haven't decided if it was due to mismanagement or due to far more bears out there than anyone realized.

[JoJoDapyro]

it is because people see them as humanized bears, not bears. Bears are wild animals, they really do need some way of controlling them. They do benefit from a controlled population just like all wild animals.

[YosemiteBen]

My personal 2 cents - we as humans have interfered with every natural process and have worked ourselves into an unnatural corner where predators and prey are out of balance because there are two many of us 2 leggeds that are afraid of the predator and eating the prey, so how do we fix that..... only time will truly tell.....

[JoJoDapyro]

My personal 2 cents - we as humans have interfered with every natural process and have worked ourselves into an unnatural corner where predators and prey are out of balance because there are two many of us 2 leggeds that are afraid of the predator and eating the prey, so how do we fix that..... only time will truly tell.....

Agreed 100%

[willie]

Jojo

I have always enjoyed hunting, live in bear hunting country, and have hunted bears in the past. Not so much anymore.

but I find this statement a little perplexing....

They do benefit from a controlled population just like all wild animals.

would you care to address how the bears  "benefit" a little more?

willie

[mullet]

It needed to be done, way too many bears down here. I quit hunting in Ocala National Forest because I was constantly running into bears and it wasn't legal then. We had them destroy our coolers with deer in them on our lease and the last time I had one follow me to my tree stand and had it's nose a foot from my feet till it smelled people and took off. It was a half click away from a 50 cal roundball for breakfast.

When you have a bear wander into down town Miami for the first time in over 150 years it was time to open the season again. I thought it was kinda ironic with all of the protest going on that some tourist was attacked by one in the parking lot of a hotel the morning of the first hunt.

[JoJoDapyro]

Jojo

I have always enjoyed hunting, live in bear hunting country, and have hunted bears in the past. Not so much anymore.

but I find this statement a little perplexing....

They do benefit from a controlled population just like all wild animals.

would you care to address how the bears  "benefit" a little more?

willie

What happens when we have no population control over game? Simple, lets take rabbits. They reproduce like mad, until there are so many that the area can't support them, and then they starve. Deer, Same thing, they become a pest, they become dangerous to drivers. Bears, Well, they have a bad habit of eating whatever they can. Plants, Fruits, other animals, Trash, your garden. In lean times they will also suffer the same fate as anything else that needs food, except they can also kill you. Lets also remember that who else is paying to keep these areas wild? Hunting is the number on fund raiser of Environmental stewardship. Like it or not.

[bowandarrow473]

When prey populations skyrocket so do predator populations. Predator hunting is a necessity to keep in check the population and make sure balance is kept (it does itself naturally but we mess up the equation) I see no issue with the bear hunt as long as they aren't over hunted. Other opinions may vary, and that's okay

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

As Mullet and JoJo said, the population has exploded in recent years and the competition in the forests where they usually stay out of the way has gotten to the point where they are venturing into neighborhoods. It's not a human encroachment issue either since the bear encounters haven't been in new developments but some in neighborhoods that have been well established since the 60s or longer. I will say this though, it seems the hunt was bungled somewhere along the way. They issued about 3000 licenses with the intent to take around 250-300 (split up over several regions) bears over a week, they ended up reaching the limit in two days. The problem comes in that in some regions they exceeded their limit by as much as triple, several hunters came in with cubs and juveniles, and a number hunters came in with bears half a day after the hunt was called off. Now I know if a hunt is called off early folks aren't exactly out there checking their smartphones while stalking bear, but it still looks bad. I'm not sure if the mismanagement was on the part of officials, or if a bunch of inexperienced folks rushed out to get themselves a "bar", but with the media attention leading up to the hunt it kinda looked from the outside like it fulfilled the protesters expectations of a bunch of hillbillies runnin around shootin anything that moved....

[DC]

Sounds to me like they should have extended the hunt. If the bears were that easy to get there is way too many or they are too habituated.

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

I tend to agree. There is no solid estimate of population right now. The last numbers were estimated to be about 3000 bears way back in 2002. Even those numbers were suspect because they didn't include private land. There's a survey underway right now and I'll be glad when it's done so we have a better idea of the true numbers right now.

[willie]

I can appreciate the usefulness to us humans that a control hunt will serve, but the question was asked about the benefits to the bears.

I live in a state with many bears and that state also has constitutional mandates to development (of) its resources by making them available for maximum use consistent with the public interest.and Fish, forests, wildlife, grasslands, and all other replenishable resources belonging to the State shall be utilized, developed, and maintained on the sustained yield principle, subject to preferences among beneficial uses. I appreciate these priorities ,as I have enjoyed the lifestyle and a successful livelihood in pursuit of  some of these resources. However, the state mandate is in conflict with quite a bit of Federal management. Federal management in some areas defers to state management, while in others, is decidedly "preservationist".
A lot of tension between interests sometimes. Actually, there has been quite a discussion in state management, as to which critter should be giving top billing, When predator/prey species are considered. wolves and bears vs moose and caribou is all about whose ox is being gored.

but back to the black bears in Florida, how are they being benefited?

willie

[JoJoDapyro]

I would imagine that interactions with humans would be stressful. The less interaction they have with humans, the less chance of people killing them because "They were being attacked", or "they killed my livestock". Also, by keeping populations at a manageable level, the bears aren't going to have an elevated risk of having a bad year and losing a large portion of the population either starving to death, or moving into populated areas looking for food and getting shot and killed. Hit by cars, harassed by dogs.