Florida FWC Moves Forward with New Hunting Opportunities
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) today approved draft rule language that would expand hunting opportunities on private lands and on nearly 6 million acres of its public-hunting wildlife management area (WMA) system.
The seven-member Commission directed FWC staff to advertise the modified proposals in the Florida Administrative Register, for final consideration at its February Commission meeting. Such proposals include allowing the use of air guns to take rabbits and gray squirrels, and making a slight modification to the boundary line between hunting zones C and D, south of Tallahassee.
“Once again I would like to congratulate staff on changes that address how we can make wildlife management more permissible and avoid user conflicts,” said Chairman Kenneth Wright. “This is about public access for public lands.”
Two new WMAs in the Southwest Region of the state are being proposed for the 2013-14 hunting season. Both properties are owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and would offer a suite of hunting and other outdoor recreational opportunities. Lower Hillsborough WMA in Hillsborough County is 2,775 acres, and Weekiwachee WMA is a 2,850-acre tract within Hernando County.
Approved draft changes to the quota system would adjust the bag limit on deer and spring turkey quota hunts on 39 WMAs, to better accommodate guest hunters.
Other changes would allow a quota permit holder the flexibility to take a different guest each day of a quota hunt. Currently, the rule allows for only one guest permit during a quota hunt.
Another proposed change to the quota system is that hunters would receive reinstatement of their preference points only if they electronically returned their unused quota permit 10 days or more prior to the first day of their quota hunt. This would allow such returned permits to be reissued to other hunters on a weekly basis, instead of once a month. The change would ensure that more hunters are able to participate in the hunts.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came into existence on July 1, 1999 - the result of a constitutional amendment approved in the 1998 General Election as part of the package proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission.
In the implementation of the Constitutional Amendment, the Florida Legislature combined all of the staff and Commissioners of the former Marine Fisheries Commission, elements of the Divisions of Marine Resources and Law Enforcement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and all of the employees and Commissioners of the former Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Five years later, after consulting stakeholders, employees and other interested parties, the FWC adopted a new internal structure to address complex conservation issues of the new century. The new structure focuses on programs, such as habitat management, that affect numerous species. It will focus on moving the decision-making process closer to the public and did not require any additional funding or additional positions.
