Florida FWC Expands Hunting Opportunity, Improves Quota System
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) today expanded hunting opportunities on private lands and on nearly 6 million acres of its public-hunting wildlife management area (WMA) system.
New rules also include allowing the use of air guns to take rabbits and gray squirrels, and make a slight modification to the boundary line between hunting zones C and D, south of Tallahassee.
Two new WMAs in the FWC’s Southwest Region of the state were also established and go into effect July 1. Both properties are owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and will 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.
“The specific changes to the quota system were made in response to requests from hunters and to increase opportunity and hunter satisfaction for WMA quota hunt participants,” FWC Division of Hunting and Game Management Director Diane Eggeman said. “Changes to the quota system adjust the bag limit on deer and spring turkey quota hunts on 39 WMAs to better accommodate guest hunters.”
Other changes allow a quota permit holder the flexibility to take a different guest each day of a quota hunt. The old rule allowed for only one person to make use of the guest permit for each quota hunt.
Another change to the quota system for next hunting season allows the reinstatement of hunters’ preference points only if they electronically return their unused quota permits 10 days or more prior to the first day of the quota hunt. This change will allow such returned permits to be reissued to other hunters on a weekly basis, instead of once a month, ensuring 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.
