STARKE – Many of the 2009-10 hunting seasons on the Camp Blanding Wildlife Management Area have been rescheduled or canceled because of military training.
- The archery hunts scheduled for Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 and Oct. 6-8 have been cancelled, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Camp Blanding Joint Training Center.
- The muzzleloading gun hunts scheduled for Oct. 13-15 and Oct. 20-22 also have been cancelled.
- The supervised youth hunt scheduled for Oct. 10-11 and Oct. 24-25 have been rescheduled to Dec. 12-13 and Jan. 9-10, 2010.
- The general gun dog-hunt season scheduled for Nov. 21-29 this year has been rescheduled to Nov. 23-29.
- The general gun still-hunt season scheduled for Nov. 21, 2009, to Jan. 17, 2010, has been rescheduled to Nov. 23, 2009, to Jan. 17, 2010.
- The general gun still-hunt nine-day quota period, Nov. 21-29, has been shortened to a general gun still-hunt, seven-day quota period, Nov. 23-29. This seven-day quota period is divided into a four-day hunt, Nov. 23-26, and a three-day hunt, Nov. 27-29.
“The 53rd Infantry Brigade, the largest National Guard unit in Florida, and a number of other National Guard units are scheduled to deploy in the next year. They normally conduct training during the summer months, but their mobilization has shifted it to the fall, impacting hunting season,” said Col. Mickey Duren, commander of Camp Blanding. “These restrictions are temporary and only as a result of the mobilization of these deploying units.”
“We understand there will be people who are disappointed these hunts have been cancelled or rescheduled,” said Roland Garcia, regional director of the FWC’s North Central Region.
The staffs from the Camp Blanding Joint Training Center and the FWC have worked diligently to minimize the impact to the hunting seasons while keeping training the priority, Garcia said.
“While military operations must come first, we understand the historical relationship local hunters and fishermen have to these public lands. We plan to return to offering normal hunting and fishing access as soon as we can,” Duren said.
The new regulation brochure will be available at MyFWC.com/Hunting in May. Read more about the history of Camp Blanding at Globalsecurity.org.
