The Tampa Bay Time Editorial Board is justified in "blasting away" at the upcoming October Black Bear hunt planned for Florida, the first since the bruins were protected in this state since 1994............Many environmentalists feel that the state Wildlife Commission has no real idea as the the population of the Bears even though they publicly state that roughly 2500-3000 of them live there.............Using this projection, they have issued 1340 hunting licenses, roughly 50% of the estimated bear count............The newspaper contends that as many as 50% of the bears could be removed from the population, a biological disaster if that was to occur as it would definitely spiral down the bears chances of sustainability over the long haul..........Using another densely human populated state(New Jersey) that has over the past 5 years reinstated a black bear hunt, the 2014 Bear population estimated to be 2500 saw 11% of the bears killed(267) with 7789 bear licenses issued.............If in fact all 7789 hunters were in the woods over the week long Garden State hunt, then only 3% of the hunters bagged a bear...............A similar killing % upcoming for Florida would generate only 40 Bears losing their life ..............Remember that in December last year in Jersey, cold and wet weather limitied hunter access to Bears...............No such problems for Florida hunters with year round mild weather as the paradigm.................Let us hope that no more than 150 Bears are ultimately killed (I am estimating not 2500 bears but 1500 in the Florida population--which could sustain a 10% reduction without an adverse impact on long term sustainability to the population)

http://fw.to/2ZDX8sF

Editorial: A hunter for every bear

Friday, August 7, 2015 5:02pm

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The idiocy behind the state's decision to reopen
 bear hunting after 21 years

 is coming into full view. As of this week, the state
 sold 1,340 licenses for the

 hunt in October, a number equal to about half
 the state's total bear population. 

This is a senseless slaughter in the making 
organized by the very state officials 

in charge of conservation.

 Commission voted in June to authorize the
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation

 hunt even though its own biologists were (and
 still are) conducting a census of the bear

 population. Commissioners offered cockamamie
reasons for the decision and contempt 

for the public outcry. It was clear the move was
in response to a handful of bear attacks in

 a state that continues to allow home developers
to push ever deeper into Florida's natural

 woodlands.

The state set no limit on the number of licenses
 that could be sold for the one-week hunt

 that's scheduled to open Oct. 24. At this rate,
hunters could outnumber the bears. While

 hunters are limited to one bear per person,
and the state has limited to 320 the number

 of bears allowed to be killed, authorities would
 need thousands of wildlife officers to ensure

 that these animals are not illegally poached.

This is what happens in a state where the
governor cares little about the environment,

 where the state environmental chief wants to
 turn state parks into profit centers and 

where political appointees on the wildlife
commission feel absolutely no sense of public 

accountability. For all the commissioners'
 high-minded talk about wanting to sustain the 

bear population, one hunter seemed to sum
it up best. He said he was eager to blast away 

after seeing what bears had done to trash
containers.

This is a terrible turn of events for the bear
 and a shameful day for a wildlife commission 

that has hopelessly lost its way. It's another
 reason Florida voters should make protecting

 the environment and wildlife more of an issue
when evaluating candidates before the next 

election.