Chuck Mitchell gambled $250 last fall.
Not on Powerball or Mega Millions, though. The 74-year-old Tallahassee resident put the money towards 50 entries into the Florida black bear hunting permit lottery run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Truth is, he could not bear to hunt one himself.
Instead, he said he viewed applying for a permit as a way to save a life.
“This is the only way that we can effectively do anything to stop the bear hunt,” he said. “It’s the only tool that we have to keep someone else from getting a permit.”
Mitchell ultimately didn’t hunt a bear and encouraged his friends who won permits to do the same. But after he won the permit, he said people supporting and opposing the bear hunt contacted him, making sure he either used it or abstained.
“By virtue of me being a retired old guy out in the woods and getting a permit, I’m getting contacted by all kinds of people,” he said.
The debate surrounding the Florida black bear hunt intensified dramatically after 2025, when the hunt returned after a decade-long hiatus.
Last year, 172 individuals won permits from more than 163,000 entries. One hopeful spent $5,000 on 1,000 entries, whereas others paid $5 for a single chance.
This year, 215 permits are available as the state moves into the second year of a three-year hunting plan approved by the FWC through 2027. Applications open Sept. 11 and remain open through Sept. 21.
The lottery has become more than a way for hunters to kill a bear in the woods. For the anti-hunt crowd, entering the lottery serves as a way to keep permits away from hunters. Some hunt supporters view the hunt as a regulated way to keep Florida black bear populations under control.
And these bears face threats outside of hunting, too.
According to the FWC, Cars have killed over 300 Florida black bears annually over the past decade. Most of these deaths occur in parts of Central Florida like Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties.
With the bears already dying from human activity, some argue that hunting is not necessary to manage their population.
Chuck Echenique disagrees.
Echenique, who lives in Tampa, serves as the president of The Future of Hunting in Florida. A lifelong hunter of deer and turkey, he has been a certified wildlife biologist since 1996.
He became involved in last year’s bear hunt by convincing a friend to apply for a permit after introducing him to hunting. Echenique went out with a group that killed seven of the 52 bears harvested during the 2025 hunt, which ran from Dec. 6 to Dec. 28.
He said the people opposing the hunt often view conservation as simply protecting animals from human involvement.
“A lot of the people who are opposed to the bear hunt have a very Disney-esque outlook on wildlife and wildlife management,” he said. “And most people don’t understand that conservation is not preservation. Conservation means wise use of natural resources, whereas preservation means you keep it the same.”
To Echenique, hunting bears falls under “wise use”. He said it controls populations without eliminating the species itself.
“Hunting is the best, most effective, and least costly tool in our tool bag as biologists to be able to manage populations,” he said. “There are simply too many bears. But hunters don’t want to wipe these things off the face of the earth.”
Still, opponents question whether hunting is the appropriate response to Florida black bear populations.
Bruce Hall of Spring Hill spent $25 on five entries into last year’s lottery. Like Mitchell, the 66-year-old received a permit and did not use it.
Hall said the bears being hunted are not the “nuisance bears” living near and creating problems in neighborhoods.
“It makes no sense because that’s not where bears are hunted,” he said. “They’re not hunted around popular areas. People go out in the wild to get them.”
Instead, Hall said the state should shift its focus to preventing these bears from being so-called nuisances. He suggests that implementing statewide bear-proof trash containers will reduce the food sources that draw bears into populated areas.
Hall also said his opposition to the hunt comes from what he sees as an ethical issue.
“It’s the cruelty,” he said. “FWC allows bowhunting, which causes immense suffering. And it’s a really slow way to die.”
He also expressed concern over hunters killing lactating mothers. Hall said their cubs can be left without adequate care and may starve to death.
Hall said an anti-hunt advocacy group contacted him and offered $2,000 for his unused bear tag.
“I told them they could just keep the two grand,” he said.
Mitchell received a similar offer after obtaining his permit, which typically represents an opportunity to hunt. But for people opposed to the hunt, receiving a permit can represent the opposite.
Janis Ingham of Casselberry is another example.
Ingham, 55, received a permit last year and plans to apply again. She entered the lottery 350 times, spending $1,750. She said she firmly opposes the hunt.
“Yeah, I’m absolutely on the no side,” she said.
Ingham said she wants more transparent and sufficient data about the Florida black bear population before the state continues holding annual hunts.
She also said she has concerns about the FWC’s leadership. Ingham said she believes the agency needs more scientific experts and questioned whether development interest among commissioners creates a potential conflict of interest.
“It’s not subject to who’s the governor and who can appoint people into some of these roles,” she said. “There really should be some criteria.”
For Ingham, she said the disagreement is also about who makes the decision. She believes state voters should have a direct say in whether the state continues allowing Florida black bear hunts.
“Something like this needs to go to the ballot,” she said. “The voters of Florida should be able to make a decision on this. Last year I got flooded with a bunch of calls, people looking for interviews and things like that, all about the extremism of the hunt approach.”
As applications open, supporters and opponents of the hunt will once again enter the lottery.
Some will hope to use the permit.
Others will not.
And for Ingham, it all comes down to what the state chooses to do with the species native to its landscape.
“If we kill everything that is native to Florida, what do we have left?” Ingham said.