Tampa, Fla. (WFLA) – A bear harvest permit application for the 2025 hunting season is scheduled to open today.
The application will open at 10am today and can be submitted until 11:59pm on September 22nd
A bear harvest permit is required to harvest bears from December 6th to 28th to one of the four selected bear harvesting zones, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The bear harvest zones are as follows:
East Panhandle Zone North Zone, Line Central Zone South Zone, Florida Georgia
Hunters must also have a hunting license unless exempt.
According to the FWC, applicants must be at least 18 years old by October 1st to apply.
Applicants can apply on multiple requests, with a fee of $5 per application and a processing fee.
The FWC said the permits will be randomly drawn, and that only one can be issued per person.
Permit fee:
Residents are $100, non-residents are $300
Only 10% of all issued permits become non-residents, the FWC said.
Hunters can submit applications online.
According to the FWC, Florida’s black bear population was only a few hundred in the 1970s, and now it exceeds 4,000.
Florida’s 1930s hunting took place in Florida before it stopped in 1994. It resumed in the fall of 2015 and has not resumed since.
