Florida is considering its first regulated bear hunting season in 10 years. (Stillgravity / Shutterstock.com)
July 30, 2025
By Game & Fish
Florida could see its first black bear hunting season in 10 years if a proposal is adopted at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s next meeting.
The posted agenda for the Aug. 13-14 meeting in Havana. Fla., includes a final hearing and potential vote on amendments approved in May. Finalized amendments will be heard in the meeting regarding "hunting rules that establish a sustainable and repeatable bear hunt structure based on bear population information,” according to the FWC .
If approved, changes could take effect during the 2025-26 hunting season, which would allow the first regulated bear-hunting season in Florida since 2015. Regulated hunting occurred from the 1930s until the season was closed in 1994, and remained closed until 2015, when it was reopened for one year. But with more than 300 bears being taken, including 38 females, the season was closed several days early, according to FWC.
Snakehead Record Falls In Maryland Bow angler Matt Foreman with his state-record snakehead. (Courtesy Maryland DNR / Matt Foreman) Bow angler Matt Foreman of Crownsville, Md., caught a 21.8-pound northern snakehead (known as "channa" locally) in early June to set a record in the state’s Invasive Division, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported.
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Foreman arrowed the record on June 7 in the Susquehanna River below the Conowingo Dam while on a charter with Working Class Outdoorsman , captained by Nick Mather. The fish was 36 inches long and broke a previous record (21.0) set in 2023. Foreman’s fish also earned him a Maryland record from the Bowfishing Association of America.
Snakehead is an invasive species that is common in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay tidal waters. There is no season or limit, and anglers are asked to remove snakeheads when they are caught. Read more
Big Brookie in New York Benjamin Ferguson with his New York State-record brook trout. (Courtesy NY DEC) New York’s new fishing record for brook trout was broken during the Independence Day weekend, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation reported. Benjamin Ferguson caught the record while trolling a Lake Clear Wabbler and a worm on a backcountry pond in the St. Regis Canoe Area. The fish measured 22 inches long and weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces, bettering the record set in 2013 by three ounces. Read more
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Record Flathead Arrowed in Michigan Codie Carlson was bowfishing Plum Creek in the early-morning hours of Sunday, June 29, when he brought in a new state-record flathead catfish weighing 64.46 pounds. (Courtesy of Michigan DNR) Bow angler Codie Carlson broke a Michigan record by arrowing a 64-pound flathead catfish on June 29 at Plum Creek in Monroe County. Officially 64.46 pounds (and measuring 45 inches), the fish smashed the previous record of 53.35 pounds (2022; Lloyd Tanner).
”I thought I was about to shoot a channel catfish for dinner," Carlson said, according to a Michigan DNR new release. “Turns out, I guess we do have flathead catfish in these waters.”
DNR fisheries biologist John Buszkiewicz, who certified the catch, said the Carlson’s flathead was the same catfish as one captured in a 2020 survey when the fish weighed 55 pounds. Read more
