Florida Fish and Wildlife Changing Hunting Dates

FWC-managed areas may get new hunting dates for 2011-12

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) directed staff on Wednesday to develop draft rules to modify hunting season dates on FWC-managed areas for next year. Commissioners will consider the draft rules at a future meeting.

The FWC, along with its partners and cooperating agency landowners, has been working with stakeholders in developing proposals to change hunting season dates for these areas, which include wildlife management areas, wildlife and environmental areas and miscellaneous areas.

Making these adjustments would better-align these areas with the newly adopted hunting zone season dates, which took effect this year.

“With the new changes to hunting season dates this year on private lands, we and our hunting stakeholders feel that season dates need to be modified on several of our areas, to correspond more with the new zonal seasons and the timing of deer breeding,” said Cory Morea, FWC biologist and deer management program coordinator.

The FWC held nine public meetings across the state and gathered input and feedback on the subject through an online poll. Proposed changes would take into consideration when deer breed on each area, other hunter preferences - such as hunting during holidays - and the desires of other area users.

“We want to make things even better for the public-land hunters,” Morea said. “Adjusting some of these dates so that seasons occur closer to peak deer activity or during holidays should increase hunter satisfaction.

“But, at the same time,” Morea added, “we don’t want to fix something that isn’t broken. Hunters have told us that on some of our areas the seasons are timed just right, so we wouldn’t recommend making any changes to those areas.”

Any future changes made to area season dates would not take effect until the 2011-12 hunting season.