Anti-hunting organizations have launched a campaign to ruin Florida’s black bear hunt by flooding the lottery with entries in the hopes of winning a permit and sitting out the hunt. But state officials tell MeatEater that their efforts may well backfire: if this year’s harvest goals aren’t met, bear hunting opportunities may increase in future years.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission decided to hold a black bear hunt this year for the first time since 2015. There are 187 bear permits available, and would-be hunters (or non-hunters) can enter to win one of the permits by purchasing a $5 lottery ticket.
Because residents and non-residents can purchase as many tickets as they want, buying more tickets increases the odds of success. Various animal rights and anti-hunting organizations in the Sunshine State have encouraged their members to purchase as many $5 entries as they can afford. Then, if they win a permit, they plan to sit out the hunt and “save” a bear that would have otherwise been killed.
Most notably, the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club has launched a campaign to “Protect Florida’s Black Bears!”
“Under FWC’s approved bear hunt rules, 187 bear hunting permits will be issued this year through a lottery. Our goal? Keep those permits out of hunters’ hands. Let’s buy them up and protect Florida’s bears!” the group writes on its website.
Rhonda Roff, a local chairman for a Florida Sierra Club chapter, insists that the “Sierra Club is not anti-hunting” but believes the black bear hunting population is too vulnerable to survive a hunt.
Florida wildlife biologists disagree. The Commission heard testimony that the black bear population has increased by 50% between 2002 and 2015 to a total of about 4,000 today. Bears have also expanded their occupied range from 17% to 51% in Florida since 1992.
What’s more, the hunt only allows bears to be killed in four distinct hunt zones where the populations are strong (some local residents would say too strong).
It’s clear that the bear population can sustain a hunt, but no one knows exactly how the Sierra Club’s efforts will impact this year’s opportunities. Anti-hunters have tried this tactic in Florida in the past, but this year’s efforts have gained more traction.
“We’ve seen something similar with the alligator hunting lottery many years ago, but there’s much more attention around the bear hunt this year, so we’ll have to wait and see whether this effort has any impact on hunter success rates,” George Warthen, the Chief Conservation Officer for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, told MeatEater.
He said sportsmen’s groups in Florida haven’t voiced a great deal of concern, but are instead happy that anti-hunters are contributing to conservation and wildlife management.
That sentiment was echoed by Mark Lance, the Assistant Manager of Southeastern States for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation.
“It’s my opinion that hunters who are interested in putting in for a Florida black bear permit should not be concerned about the anti-hunting community’s efforts to flood the lottery,” he said.
“Honestly, having the anti-hunters paying into conservation through entering the lottery is a win-win,” he continued. “They’re actually paying into conservation, and if they are somewhat successful in their plan to obtain bear tags then the allocation will just be adjusted next year if a bunch of tags are left unfilled. That would in turn create more opportunities in future years.”
Warthen confirmed that if the FWC fails to meet their harvest goals this year, they will adjust the quotas for next year to hit those objectives.
“When the season ends, we’ll look through the data that comes back and see what our harvest success rates were, and whether we reached the harvest objectives we set in each management zone,” he said. “If we didn’t reach those harvest objectives this year, we may consider increasing the number of permits available for next year. But we can’t say exactly what we’ll do until that data comes in from this season.”
Of course, hunters might still miss out on opportunities this year thanks to the Sierra Club’s efforts. There isn’t much that can be done to mitigate the impact of their campaign, but Lance is skeptical that many Sierra Club members will be willing to jump through the hoops necessary to obtain a permit if they are selected.
Residents and non-residents can purchase a $5 lottery ticket, but they must also have a valid hunting license. Residents will also have to pay $100 and non-residents will have to pay $300 to claim their permit. If they don’t, the permit goes to the next selected applicant.
“The antis can buy as many $5 chances as they like, but will that actually result in their being successful in the draw? Not likely in my opinion, but at least they paid into conservation,” Lance said.
It’s impossible to know how many entries anti-hunting organizations have purchased so far. But a MeatEater review of the Sierra Club’s social media posts announcing the campaign doesn’t indicate the number is enormous. The post with the most engagement only generated 92 comments, and many of those are from people debating the merits of the hunt. Commenters on other posts claim to have purchased 20 or 40 entries, but it’s hard to imagine that will tip the scales in a state with an estimated 217,000 hunters.
Bear harvest permit applications for the 2025 bear hunting season opened at 10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 12 and can be submitted through Sept. 22 at 11:59 p.m. Click here to log in and purchase an application.
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