Florida, 2026-27 season year

Florida Bear Season 2026-27

Q: When does bear season open in Florida in 2026-27?

Bear Hunt Season: December 5, 2026 to December 27, 2026, varying by zone across 4 rows in the agency table. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission publishes these dates and the full zone tables on this page were read from its own page on September 19, 2026.

Q: Does Florida have a spring bear season in 2027?

No. Florida's regulated bear hunt is a December season only; FWC's bear hunting page lists no spring bear season. Spring bear seasons are mostly a western pattern, and the national page lists the states that hold one in 2027.

Q: Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Florida?

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, on its page titled Living with Bears, which is linked from the agency notice on this page. That page is the agency's own guidance for Florida residents on attractants, encounters and who to call, and its sentence on fall activity is quoted verbatim beside the link, read on September 19, 2026.

Q: Where are the rest of the Florida bear hunting rules?

At Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, whose regulations page is linked on this page. Those rules are legally binding, change annually and vary by zone and land ownership; the permit and tag system, zone maps, methods and reporting requirements are all published there. This page carries the season windows themselves, with the source page and read date attached.

But as fall begins bears start preparing for winter by going through a process of increased feeding called hyperphagia.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Bear Hunt Season: December 5, 2026 to December 27, 2026. People report black bears in Florida most in June, and 30 percent of all reports fall in September, October and November. Everything below is Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s own words and dates, read on September 19, 2026, beside the record of what people reported.

This page covers the 2026-27 season year. Dates were read from the agency sources linked below, last checked September 19, 2026. Seasons change annually and agencies correct their own pages; confirm against the linked agency page before you hunt.

December 5, 2026 to December 27, 2026

Bear Hunt Season

published

No season

Archery bear season

no season

No season

Spring bear season

no season

June

Busiest reported month

1,353 reports on record

Fall activity

When black bears are most active in Florida

FWC estimates approximately 4,050 black bears statewide, occupying 49 percent of their historic range in seven bear subpopulations; the Florida black bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) is the only bear in the state.

The bars count research grade American black bear observations people uploaded to iNaturalist for Florida, by calendar month, across every year the platform holds. The busiest month in the record is June, and reports drop below 40 percent of that peak by February. The drop into winter reflects bears denning and fewer people outdoors in equal measure, which is why the agency’s sentences below, not the curve, carry the timing.

1,353 research grade American black bear observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Florida across every year the platform holds, and 30 percent of them fall in the three shaded fall months. The busiest month in the record is June, and reports drop below 40 percent of that peak by February. These are counts of what people reported, so they measure observers as well as bears; they are not a population, not a survey and not a statement about this autumn. See the records on iNaturalist.

Research grade black bear reports uploaded for Florida by year, 2016 to 2025: 24 in 2016 and 249 in 2025. Most of the climb is the platform itself growing, and every species on it shows the same shape, so this is a record of reporting rather than a population trend.

What Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says

Fall feeding

But as fall begins bears start preparing for winter by going through a process of increased feeding called hyperphagia.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Denning

In Florida, while males and females that are not pregnant may den in dense vegetation for only a few weeks or a month, pregnant females must den for the winter to have cubs.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

When conflicts and sightings rise

Any accessible food source, such as unsecured garbage, pet food or bird seed, can be enticing to a hungry bear preparing for the winter, potentially drawing them into conflict with people.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

A young black bear resting its chin on a bare dead branch in a green hardwood forest, ears forward, looking at the camera — A young black bear on a dead limb in the hardwoods. In the eastern forests the fall feeding season runs on acorns and beechnuts, which is why the agency sentences quoted on these pages talk about hard mast and mast years. Photo: Courtney Celley, USFWS. “Black Bear (20083897724)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain

Hunting dates

Florida bear seasons, 2026-27

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission dates American black bear (Florida black bear subspecies) seasons under its own names, and each is below under that name with the zone rows exactly as the agency lists them, the source page linked beside each table, and the date it was read.

Bear Hunt Season

published

Bear Hunt Season opens in 56 days, on December 5, 2026 (East Panhandle Bear Harvest Zone).

Florida bear hunt season, as published by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Zone	Opens	Closes	Notes
East Panhandle Bear Harvest Zone	December 5, 2026	December 27, 2026	Individual Wildlife Management Areas inside the zone carry shorter windows in FWC's zone table
North Bear Harvest Zone	December 5, 2026	December 27, 2026	Individual Wildlife Management Areas inside the zone carry shorter windows in FWC's zone table
Central Bear Harvest Zone	December 5, 2026	December 27, 2026	Individual Wildlife Management Areas inside the zone carry shorter windows in FWC's zone table
South Bear Harvest Zone	December 5, 2026	December 27, 2026	Individual Wildlife Management Areas inside the zone carry shorter windows in FWC's zone table

Dates read from Florida black bear, bear hunting page, FWC, accessed 2026-09-19.

FWC's 2026 regulated bear hunt is one December window across four Bear Harvest Zones, hunted under bear harvest permits issued through the Commission's application and claim rounds. Inside each zone FWC lists the Wildlife Management Areas open to bear hunting, many of them with shorter windows within Dec. 5-27, and those WMA rows live in the agency's zone tables. On Sep 19, 2026 the page still said the 2026 Bear Hunting Guide would be available soon.

Archery bear season

no season

Florida holds no separately dated archery bear season. FWC dates a single December bear hunt window and no separately dated archery bear season; the Commission's bear hunting page lists no archery-only dates. Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Spring bear season

no season

Florida holds no spring bear season. Florida's regulated bear hunt is a December season only; FWC's bear hunting page lists no spring bear season. Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Other Florida bear seasons the agency names

Private Lands Bear Harvest Program

published

Private Lands Bear Harvest Program is OPEN now in the Specified private property permitted under the program, through December 31, 2026.

Florida private lands bear harvest program, as published by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Zone	Opens	Closes	Notes
Specified private property permitted under the program	October 1, 2026	December 31, 2026	Program permits are issued to enrolled landowners for their own property

Dates read from Florida black bear, bear hunting page, FWC, accessed 2026-09-19.

Created by Florida Administrative Code 68A-12.012(6) beginning January 1, 2026, the program allows a permitted landowner to take bears on a specified private property from October 1 through December 31; FWC's page says applications for the 2026 season have closed.

The agency's own season sentence

2026 Statewide Bear Hunt Season Dates December 5-27

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Current Florida regulations

Permit and tag requirements, zone maps, permitted methods, tagging and reporting, and everything else a bear hunter is bound by for Florida are set by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, are legally binding and change annually. Its current regulations page is linked here.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: current regulations

A black bear track pressed into wet grey mud, five rounded toes in an arc above a broad pad, with a second fainter print beside it — A black bear track in mud in Shenandoah National Park. Tracks, scat, turned over logs and claw marks on smooth beech bark are the sign most people meet in the fall woods, weeks before they meet the bear. Photo: M. Punches, NPS. “Black Bear Track in Mud (44654784885)”, ShenandoahNPS, Public domain

Bear season in other states

Florida deer seasonArchery, firearms, muzzleloader and youth deer windows for 2026-27, under the same sourcing rules.Florida small game seasonPheasant, quail, grouse, rabbit and squirrel openers, read from the same agency.Florida foraging calendarThe acorns, beechnuts and berries the agency names as fall bear food are the same mast a forager follows.

An adult black bear standing on a broken limb high in a hardwood tree above two small cubs, all three looking down — A mother black bear and two cubs of the year in a hardwood tree. The denning sentences quoted on the state pages describe when family groups like this one go to ground, and it moves by weeks between a Gulf Coast winter and a northern one. Photo: Courtney Celley, USFWS. “Black Bear Family (20083894064)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain

Florida bear season questions

When are black bears most active in Florida in the fall?

In the observation record for Florida, research grade black bear reports peak in June and 30 percent of all 1,353 reports fall in September, October and November. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission describes the fall feeding period in its own words, quoted on this page with a link to the page it came from. Reports count people as well as bears, so the shape of the curve is the useful part and the exact numbers are not.

When does bear season open in Florida in 2026-27?

Does Florida have a spring bear season in 2027?

When do black bears go into dens in Florida?

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission describes the denning timing for Florida in the sentence quoted on this page, read on September 19, 2026 from the page linked beside it. In the observation record, reports fall below 40 percent of the June peak by February and reach their low in February. That drop reflects bears denning and fewer people outdoors in equal measure, which is why the agency's sentence, not the curve, is the denning answer.

Are black bear sightings in Florida increasing?

The number of research grade black bear reports uploaded for Florida went from 24 in 2016 to 249 in 2025. Most of that rise is the platform itself growing, since every species on iNaturalist shows the same climb, so the year bars on this page are a record of reporting rather than a population trend. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission describes when sightings and conflicts rise in Florida in the sentence quoted on this page.

Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Florida?

Where are the rest of the Florida bear hunting rules?

A brown wooden Bear Country sign with a white bear pictogram and a red band, on two posts at the edge of a lodgepole pine campground in low sun — A Bear Country sign at Indian Creek Campground, Yellowstone. The land manager writes the rules on the board, and they change by campground and by season: food storage orders, closed drainages, and whether a soft sided tent is allowed at all. “Bear Country Sign for Indian Creek (14457698423)”, Yellowstone National Park from Yellowstone NP, USA, Public domain

A snow covered track running between pines bent low under heavy snow, with a strip of blue sky above — Midwinter at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Maine. This is denning season in the north; each agency's own sentence on when its bears enter and leave their dens is quoted on the state pages, and the month bars show the reports thinning to match. “Winter at Moosehorn (11714166893)”, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region, Public domain

This page covers the 2026-27 season year with agency data read on September 19, 2026 and an iNaturalist record to September 19, 2026. Every sentence about bear behaviour is Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s own, quoted exactly with a link to its page; every season window is republished from the agency page linked beside it, and windows the agency had not yet published are labelled not yet published. The month bars count what members of the public reported and are not a population. See also the national bear season guide.