Florida thinking of Bear Hunting again

Black bear takes nap in Florida condo’s lobby after swimming in Gulf.

This was a headline two days ago here in Florida. The condo lobby was under construction and the doors were open.

A person was heard saying that area used to be the bears home.

My feeling is the black bears in Florida are being treated like the indians were treated when (white man came to this country). Push them off their land or kill them if they don’t want to leave.

11 Likes

Black bears can generally be addressed by yelling at them loudly, I live in Oregon and we only have black bears. Overall they are the sweetest most mischievous of bears. Yes they will get into your garbage cans, or back of your pickup but rarely need more than a yell to get them to leave. Completely different than a Brown or Grizzly Bear which I hope I never see in the flesh within 300 yards.

5 Likes

Id rather deal with brown/griz than a black bear.

Dont underestimate the cute black fuzzy things.

3 Likes

Reading the news from Lake Tahoe, I thought it’s the opposite.

2 Likes

I carry a .44 when hunting in Oregon, I recently had a guy tell me it was too much because we don’t have brown or grizzlies in Oregon. I told him I don’t wan’t to be part of the news story when we do.

5 Likes

I can only speak of my experiences. I could go on for a bit of my dealings with with both bears. In 18 years in AK, i only had to shoot 1 black bear in DLP (thank god).

That old saying " if its brown, get down. If its black, fight back" has some truth to it

YMMV

4 Likes

End of the day, don’t FAFO with anything that weighs more than you is my MOTO.

6 Likes

A 44 is a good choice. If you practice with it. I switched to a 357 mag only cuz my wife (main hiking and hunting partner) had a hard time with quick follow up shots with the 44. She can handle the 686 just fine. I wanted something both of us could use. I generally carried a 45/70 but the 357 was on one of our bodies.

6 Likes

I am 100% a wheel gun only when I carry anywhere. I have a 45 1911 that has never failed me ever but I will still only carry a revolver. My edc is a 357 revolver which I love but when it comes to trusting my life with Mother Nature, it’s 44 all the way.

3 Likes

Interesting! Thanks.

2 Likes

Or bear scat

6 Likes

Sadly, Florida is a victim of its own success. Too many people heard the economy was good here, weather was nice, and things were affordable, so, to accommodate all those incoming people, the developers ran amok.

I’ve never seen a place where it’s acceptable to bulldoze hundreds of acres of old growth forest, pile it up and burn it all, then cram in 10,000 houses 10’ apart from each other. The wildlife that does survive the slash and burn has no place to go. It’s heartbreaking to see so much of it happening to beautiful old woods, and the people just keep pouring in, buying up the mess the developers make.

9 Likes

It just goes to show they don’t give a crap about the environment.
It’s all :ox::poop:. Climate change , save this, save that, don’t want to hear it anymore. Follow the money!
Furthermore…

This is also what happens when you tell people it’s the best place to live, until it’s not the best place to live!

5 Likes

I lived in Florida until 07 when job moved me to Texas, black bears as a rule will leave if you make a bunch of noise to scare them away. They will get aggressive over their babies and or food.

4 Likes

Yeah, that pretty much sums up Old Florida. I just wish buyers would demand that the developers keep old trees, and preserve some of nature. As long as people keep buying things like that picture I posted, they’ll keep building that way. When my house was built 50 years ago they kept all the old trees, and built among them. And, you’re right, the environmental bla bla is just BS. They don’t care at all. More houses crammed in = more profit. Screw the bears and panthers.

4 Likes