FWC approves new rule changes for hunting and managed areas

At its February meeting, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) approved rule changes related to the 2025-26 hunting season, including many dealing with FWC-managed areas. Rule change proposals are based on requests from staff, cooperators and stakeholders, and summaries of all proposed rule amendments were provided to the public online for commenting beginning Oct. 2, 2024, resulting in over 14,000 responses.

These rule changes include establishing three new wildlife management areas: Deep Creek in St. Johns County, Dinner Island Ranch – Caracara Unit in Hendry County and Rice Creek in Putnam County.

Other notable changes include:

• New hunting opportunities. Establish new hunts, expand current seasons or remove quotas on 25 WMAs across the state.
• Nonresident turkey hunting rules. Prohibit nonresidents from hunting wild turkey during the first nine days of the zonal spring turkey season at Big Cypress, Herky Huffman/Bull Creek, Jumper Creek, Three Lakes and J.W. Corbett. Require that nonresident turkey hunters purchase a nonresident annual hunting license instead of a 10-day nonresident hunting license. Set a limit of 10% on the number of spring turkey quota permits issued to nonresidents.
• Improvements to the quota hunt program. Allow individuals to apply for a preference point during Phase I of the quota application process. Establish that when individuals return a quota permit, they will only receive the number of preference points they had prior to applying. Prohibit individuals who return a permit they obtained in Phase I from applying for a permit for that same hunt during Phase IV reissues. Establish that individuals will forfeit preference points after five years of inactivity instead of two.

For more information about the rulemaking process, visit MyFWC.com/About and click on “Rules & Regulations.”