More than 160,000 people apply for Florida's first bear hunt in a decade

Florida's first bear hunt in a decade drew more than 160,000 applicants for a far more limited number of permits, including from opponents who are trying to reduce the number of bears killed.

- BY CURT ANDERSON

JOHN RAOUX Associated Press MARION County Sheriff Billy Woods speaks about bear hunting at May hearing.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will award 172 permits by random lottery for the December hunt, down slightly from the 187 permits initially proposed. The permit allows a hunter to kill one bear in areas where the bear population is deemed large enough.

Florida has an estimated 4,000 black bears, wildlife officials say.

Applications were taken from Sept. 12 through Monday. FWC spokeswoman Shannon Knowles said in an email Tuesday that the agency received 163,459 applications, adding that it does not have records of how many applications it had for the 2015 hunt, which resulted in more than 300 bears killed in two days.

"We will collect and evaluate data that will be used to shape future hunts, such as the number of unused permits and hunter success," Knowles said.