I have not had the pleasure of hunting the west coast, but it's definitely not the same. That said, if you have an adventurous and creative spirit, there's lots of fun to be had! Yes, it's a small province, and it does not have proportionally all that much crown land. On the plus side (sort of) - the NS wildlife act allows you to hunt any land that is not cultivated, posted, fenced, unless a landowner asks you to leave. So when you're out scouting, if you see a nice place to hunt that is not obviously private or in agricultural use, you kinda treat it like crown land until you're told otherwise. I hunt all kinds of places that are private land and I have no idea if the owner knows or cares. It's my preference to have permission for a truly relaxing hunt, but the option is also there to be perfectly within your rights to hunt without permission under those conditions. Some folks are surprised that we have quite a good little wild (naturalized) pheasant population. That hunting is nearly entirely on farmland though, so you will need permission, which is not all that easy to get. But, like most things, you get out what you put in. It's taken me quite a while, but I've got a decent milk-run of pheasant covers now. Roughed grouse and snowshoe hare are quite cyclical, as they are throughout much of their range. That may or may not have anything to do with coyote populations, depending who you ask. Coyote hunting for sure - generous seasons and and limits in that regard. Woodcock, snipe - patchy but quite fun and almost all on crown/unposted land (as are grouse), so those are good upland species to start on until you can get some pheasant spots (and even after that!). Duck and goose hunting - lots of different species in field, freshwater, sal####er. If you get in on early resident goose season you start that in early September and you'll shoot your last duck in mid January. Deer season is currently longest for bow (early Sept to mid Dec), a bit shorter for muzzleloader/crossbow (late Sept to mid Dec) and shorter for centrefire (late Oct to early Dec). NO SUNDAY HUNTING - this is a big thing here and I suspect quite unlikely to change anytime soon (although it rears its ugly head every year with much speculation and eventual disappointment). Moose are endangered on the mainland, but abundant on Cape Breton Ilsand. No moose hunt on mainland, of course, and Cape Breton hunt is a long-shot at best because it's a straight lottery every year with a few hundred tags given out. Lots of guys go many, many years and still don't get drawn (but I'm not bitter, goddammit!). Bear hunting is fall only and they recently opened that up a bit so that you don't have to register your bait site. I know that you can also snare bears - two a year I think, and I thought that I heard that because that limit was two they were going to open up the bear hunting tags to two as well, but don't quote me on that. Let's see..... crow hunting is August-March with no limit. We have an interesting (to me) system of protected areas here that include "Wilderness Areas". In short, these areas prohibit motorized vehicles, logging, mining, development etc.... but they allow fishing and hunting. If you're someone who is happy to move around by foot and canoe, these are a real treat. For other folks who like outboard motors and ATVs, it's a thorn in their side because in some cases these areas are places where they used to have free access, but no longer. I think probably the single most important difference that you should prepare youself for, other than the dearth of big game species, is the WOODS. They're often very dense. I mean VERY dense. Like lift your feet up and you don't fall down dense! lol! I'm being a little facetious of course, but it is true that in many places the spruce thickets are incredibly dense, especially where they've been allowed to grow up mixed in with birch on a clearcut without any thinning. As a result of this short visibility in many woods, stand hunting is perhaps more prevalent than in other places where you can see further, and I think it's fair to say that deer hunting over bait is also more common than in some more open parts of the country. I'm just looking back at your original post to see what else you asked. In terms of terrain - it's quite varied, and being such a small province, many parts of it are accessible for a day trip. On the Fundy shore there's a lot of farms. That's especially good pheasant country out that way. On the Atlantic coast you're looking at a lot more granite and spruce - think grouse and rabbits. Coastally it's somewhat similar - the Atlantic coast is quite rocky with small tides but potentially big waves. Over on the Fundy side it's a lot sandier and muddier with huge tides and generally smaller waves. Cape Breton is the closest you'll find to your mountains of home, with a beautiful mix of areas of deciduous and more coniferous forest. The Highlands (google the Cabot Trail for pics) are particularly scenic and varied. That's moose country up there, but I've noticed some real monster deer comign out of there the past few years. I think I touched on the supply of hunting lands - it's definitely there if you're resourceful and creative, but we're not talking endless swaths of free public hunting land either. One resource I'd suggest if you just want to do some browsing through posts is novascotiahunting.com and its sister site novascotiafishing.com. Great place to start to see what folks get up to throughout the year. Any more questions just ask.
Cheers,
-Dave
