Florida Fish and Wildlife leaders directed staff Wednesday to come up with a new plan to manage Florida's black bears and gave them two years to do it. 

Which means no bear hunts before 2019.

  • FWC report shows black bear population doing well
  • U.S. Fish and Wildlife will not categorize them as endangered
  • FWC won't recommend second bear hunt: documents
  • Full coverage: Black bears in Florida

As we first reported Wednesday, FWC did not recommend a second bear hunting season during their presentation Wednesday at the meeting.

Nevertheless, a report does have some interesting findings that could lead to another bear hunt in the future.

The FWC finds that Florida’s black bear population is doing well. The population went from 300 bears in the 1970s to more than 4,000 bears today.

In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday announced Florida’s black bear population has grown so much, they have ended their investigation on whether to categorize them as endangered.

The FWC findings also show that while the bear population is growing, human-bear interactions are now on the decline.

The number of bear related calls has dropped in the last three years, according to the FWC, with over 5,000 calls. FWC credits some of that drop on the 2015 bear-hunting season, the first hunt in more than 20 years.

FWC said 70 percent of those calls were about bears attracted to trash and other food sources. FWC is hoping ongoing campaigns to educate Floridians on ways to secure their garbage from bears and reduce those encounters.

Regarding the hunt, the FWC has received more than 3,818 emails and letters opposing bear hunting. That is compared to 476 letters and emails of support.

But the FWC wanted to learn more about the bear hunt. Therefore, they commissioned a survey conducted by Responsive Management in November 2016.

The results show Floridians are split on bear hunting with 48 percent supporting hunting bears and 43 percent opposing a hunt.

FWC also found Floridians were willing to take steps to reduce bear encounters, and also were supportive of rules that require residents and businesses to keep trash and other bear attractants secure. 

Last year the FWC voted to delay a second bear hunting season.