Two weeks ago, SAF filed a friend of the court brief urging a Tallahassee court not to halt Florida’s first bear hunt in a decade. Last night, the court agreed with SAF. The bear hunt will begin on December 6, as scheduled.

The same legal tactics were tried, and similarly failed, during Florida’s 2015 bear hunt.

From the bench Judge Dempsey said, “That 2015 hunt was found constitutional under the rational basis test, and this hunt is significantly more conservative than that hunt … both in number of bears that could be harvested, as well as the timing, when it’s a little less likely for more female bears to be killed.”

“This is a great win for hunters and science-based wildlife management,” said Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation. “The court considered the science and the fact that the Florida Constitution gives the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission exclusive authority to manage the state’s wildlife. It then held that the Plaintiffs were not likely to succeed on the merits. We couldn’t ask for more.”

The bear hunt is scheduled to begin on December 6 and will end on December 28.

The Sportsmen’s Alliance is fighting against those who are working to bully and crater our heritage and traditions. Join us or donate to the Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund to help stand up against the relentless assault on our values and lifestyle by animal extremists and gun control advocates. Present and future generations are depending on your willingness to fight to protect the future of hunting, fishing, and trapping.

The Sportsmen’s Alliance guarantees hunting, fishing and trapping for the American sportsman now and forever. We’re there when sportsmen need us most. We are the only organization specifically created to protect the individual hunter, angler and trapper – no matter the threat. We will never compromise when it comes to defending our way of life in the courts, in the legislatures, in the public square and at the ballot box. We make this promise to the American sportsman: we will never give up and never give in while proudly securing our future against those seeking to destroy our values, beliefs, and traditions. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.