Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.

First Shot

Florida just put a price on black bear lives — five bucks. The same price as a cheap-o locking lid for your trash can, a device that would prevent “nuisance” encounters more effectively than the killing of 187 Florida black bears.

On Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the state’s first black bear hunt in a decade, setting a Dec. 6–28 season in four “bear management units” across 31 counties.

The 187 permits will be issued by lottery — 68 in the East Panhandle, 46 in North Florida, 18 in Central Florida, and 55 in the South — one bear each. Hunters can use archery, bait, firearms, and hounding, the latter described by critics as “a chase to exhaustion” ending with a clo

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