Applications for alligator harvest permits now open
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission offers two alligator harvest opportunities: the Statewide Alligator Harvest Program and the new Alligator Super Hunt.
Applications for both opportunities opened last week and may be submitted at any county tax collector’s office, license agent or online at GoOutdoorsFlorida.com.
Random drawings are held to distribute all available alligator harvest permits. Those awarded a permit will be automatically charged for an alligator trapping license and two hide validation tags, but those possessing an alligator trapping license valid through Dec. 31 will not be automatically charged for a license.
A hunting license is not required to participate in either the Alligator Super Hunt or the Statewide Alligator Harvest Program.
New this year, the Super Hunt offers a flexible alternative to the traditional statewide hunt. Each permit allows the harvest of two alligators from most alligator management units and private property (with owner permission) from Aug. 15 – Dec. 31. Hunters pay a nonrefundable $5 fee for each application and may apply as many times as they want between now through 11:59 p.m. June 3.
Applying multiple times will increase the chance of being drawn. This year, 100 permits will be awarded.
For more information about the Alligator Super Hunt, visit MyFWC.com/Alligator, and click on “NEW Alligator Super Hunt.”
Since 1988, Florida’s Statewide Alligator Harvest Program has been nationally and internationally recognized as a model program for the sustainable use of a natural resource. This year, the statewide alligator hunting season runs Aug. 15 – Nov. 8.
Each permit allows the harvest of two alligators from a specific alligator management unit or county. This year, 7,356 permits will be awarded. There is no cost to apply, but credit card information must be submitted, and applicants may only submit one application.
The 2024 application periods are as follows:
- Phase I: May 3 – May 13
- Phase II: May 17 – May 27
- Phase III: May 31 – June 10
- Phase IV: June 13 – until filled
For more information about the Statewide Alligator Harvest Program, visit MyFWC.com/Alligator, and click on “Statewide Alligator Harvest Program.”
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.