Hunting in Nova Scotia - what's available?

NShunter1254 said:
There is far more to Nova Scotia then Cape Breton
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Yep and back in the mid 80's there was not a zone in the province that had more deer than CB. 100 deer we would have that plus every spring in the lower pasture in 1/2 mile where now we may have 5 or 8
Keep up the good work in zone 102 etc with the extra tags and lets see how many you will have soon. Be no different than CB soon That is a given

Here try this might help you realise where caperaway is coming from the with the 2012 numbers . They hit more with vehicles in BC than the 9000 harnested here every year by hunters. It is comparing apples and oranges
No I have never had the pleasure of hunting in BC but did spend a few weeks in fernie doing a conveyor installation some years back and there was no shortage of game animals that I could see

BritishColumbia 113,500 (wt)
160,000 (mule)
127,000 (bk)

400,500 total deer



Nova Scotia 48,000 (wt) total deer
 
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Why do you think the deer population is minimal to struggling? Coyotes? Loss of habitat? ( but we have been clearcutting the hell out of N.S. for decades) I don't know but when I walk through prime deer woods and fail to see a track or poop I get discouraged.

I'm in my 40's married and 2 little kids, I'm a small business owner and it keeps me tied to this place more than anything. All of my friends are blue collar and NOBODY is doing great. Gotta watch those pennies and any no one pays cash for any large purchases, all financed. If I could go back 20 years I'd be gone.

It's a shame though, it is a beautiful province and there are real salt of the earth people here if you look.

That report last week was damming but I agreed with it. We consistently have the poorest economy of any province or territory. I dream of plentiful game but that isn't the way it is here.

Was out all day hunting bunnies with hounds and we got 3 and that's a good day!
 
3macs1 said:
Yep and back in the mid 80's there was not a zone in the province that had more deer than CB. 100 deer we would have that plus every spring in the lower pasture in 1/2 mile where now we may have 5 or 8
Keep up the good work in zone 102 etc with the extra tags and lets see how many you will have soon. Be no different than CB soon That is a given

Here try this might help you realise where caperaway is coming from the with the 2012 numbers . They hit more with vehicles in BC than the 9000 harnested here every year by hunters. It is comparing apples and oranges
No I have never had the pleasure of hunting in BC but did spend a few weeks in fernie doing a conveyor installation some years back and there was no shortage of game animals that I could see

BritishColumbia 113,500 (wt)
160,000 (mule)
127,000 (bk)

400,500 total deer



Nova Scotia 48,000 (wt) total deer
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Speaking of apples and oranges

55,284 square kilometers

944,735 km²
 
NShunter1254 said:
Read back through this thread when your sober and tell me why people have a negative view of people from the East.
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Ya Ok. What ever you say. Not me living and hunting in a little bubble called Nova Scotia. There is a big world out there perhaps time for you to save your beer money and see some of it before you are too old
When it comes to hunting opportunites in NS the negative view is REAL and justified ,very REAL so why lie about it to someone thinking of moving here that likes to hunt
Have not had even a beer since xmas but you are right it is time to have one
Cheers
 
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3macs1 said:
Ya Ok. What ever you say. Not me living and hunting in a little bubble. There is a big world out there perhaps time for you to save your beer money and see some of it
When it comes to hunting opportunites in NS the negative view is REAL very REAL so why lie about it
Cheers
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Simply not true,All kinds of hunting opportunity on the mainland I have no idea what is in Cape Breton other than a fair moose herd,I certainly don't want to argue with you but i can only stand a certain amount of negativity before i get to thinking this is the nshunting site.
 
Eastern Canada does have less hunting opportunities. Not that what we have isn't enjoyable or good, the fact is we just have less. Less game species, less animals, less opportunities, less farms etc.
Fishing is an entirely separate ordeal, I can drag spoons for lakers behind a boat, fly fish Atlantic Salmon, catch browns, specs, arctic char, yellow perch of sizes guys Ontario west can only dream of, striped bass, smallmouth bass, white perch, and a trophy class Musky fishery all within 2 hours of my front door. Does a 1 pound plus brook trout compare to a 16 plus pound pike or laker, no but a natural native brookie over a pound is a respectable trophy in its own right, add to that catching it on a 4 wt fly rod and a fly you tied yourself its an accomplishment many fly fishers across the world dream of.
Don't come here expecting to get the west, but don't put down what we do have. This is the attitude seems to be connected to the perpetuation of the poaching attitudes in NB and NS. So many of the younger generation male hunters my age seem to have the attitude that if it doesn't rival the west they don't need to respect it and should blame the first nations the instant they don't like something.
 
NShunter1254 said:
I counted a hundred deer in 40 kilometers today
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And I have counted 50 in two 1/4 sections, less than 1 mile apart.

38'55 said:
You will not be able to shoot 6, no one needs 6 deer anyway.
You will probably not be able to overcompensate and buy a lifted Ford F-350 to go to Sobey's for groceries. But housing is fairly cheap and the people aren't greedy or Americanized like some Provinces. Keep an open mind and enjoy the laid backness or it all. J
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Growing up in a "modest" home with 5 kids... We did better each year when me and my brothers got old enough to harvest deer. Think about it...60lbs of meat on an average deer. Consider 2 lbs of hamburger twice a week for a family of 7. That right there is 208lbs of burger or just a bit more than 3 deer. Now add steaks, chops, and roasts. Figure a 5lb roast once a week, that's 250lbs of meat or about 5 deer. Now, let's figure on luxuries...sausage, pepperoni, jerky. We consume 80lbs+ of that each year. Why force someone to pay for that? We certainly didn't have sausages, pepperoni, or jerky growing up, I can tell you that! That stuff cost money. Still figure that a family doesn't need 6 deer if they can get them? Just my family, me, wife, two boys. Not hard to demolish 5 deer a year, and that's using the scraps ground and mixed with rice and veggies for dog food. We use dang near ALL the deer.

Cranky Pants said:
Why do you think the deer population is minimal to struggling? Coyotes? Loss of habitat? ( but we have been clearcutting the hell out of N.S. for decades) I don't know but when I walk through prime deer woods and fail to see a track or poop I get discouraged.

I'm in my 40's married and 2 little kids, I'm a small business owner and it keeps me tied to this place more than anything. All of my friends are blue collar and NOBODY is doing great. Gotta watch those pennies and any no one pays cash for any large purchases, all financed. If I could go back 20 years I'd be gone.

It's a shame though, it is a beautiful province and there are real salt of the earth people here if you look.

That report last week was damming but I agreed with it. We consistently have the poorest economy of any province or territory. I dream of plentiful game but that isn't the way it is here.

Was out all day hunting bunnies with hounds and we got 3 and that's a good day!
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NS is one of the most poorly managed game programs I have witnessed. The province takes in lots of money, but game just seems to be dwindling and not much public monies used to go back to helping the industry. Like I said, when I was a kid, I would get a half dozen rabbits (my grandmother gave me $2 a brace skinned and cleaned, for meat pies and mince meat) around the valley anytime I went out. By the time I was a late teenager, you needed a dog to get that many...now you can't even do that, apparently.

JamesM said:
Eastern Canada does have less hunting opportunities. Not that what we have isn't enjoyable or good, the fact is we just have less. Less game species, less animals, less opportunities, less farms etc.
Fishing is an entirely separate ordeal, I can drag spoons for lakers behind a boat, fly fish Atlantic Salmon, catch browns, specs, arctic char, yellow perch of sizes guys Ontario west can only dream of, striped bass, smallmouth bass, white perch, and a trophy class Musky fishery all within 2 hours of my front door. Does a 1 pound plus brook trout compare to a 16 plus pound pike or laker, no but a natural native brookie over a pound is a respectable trophy in its own right, add to that catching it on a 4 wt fly rod and a fly you tied yourself its an accomplishment many fly fishers across the world dream of.
Don't come here expecting to get the west, but don't put down what we do have. This is the attitude seems to be connected to the perpetuation of the poaching attitudes in NB and NS. So many of the younger generation male hunters my age seem to have the attitude that if it doesn't rival the west they don't need to respect it and should blame the first nations the instant they don't like something.
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The poaching attitude isn't just in the East. It is highly prevalent out there as well. And fishing and hunting is much different in NB than in NS, I have fished (including south shore and bay of fundy handlining and jigging) and hunted in both provinces. And I left the maritimes after 35 yrs, and over 20 of them hunting and fishing, so, yeah, I CAN put down what you do have. Like I said earlier, (and I will say that except for shad runs, which are great fun) fish I caught in NS and even lots of NB would be lures here and even in ON when I was going for steelheads.
 
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Yup welcome to hell... No crown land shooting, hunters that don't stay off private property, and small deer.

Plenty of Bears tho! can't go 10 feet in the bush without seeing tracks.

Cant wait to get posted out of here....
 
^And the strange fioble of NS game laws allow the foot snaring of up to two bears. Bear hunting only from a tree stand that has been "registered"! So no ground stalk.......ick.

Spruce grouse illegal to hunt as far back as I can remember. Ok they may not taste wonderful, but weird freaking laws indeed!

And there is the ever present ancient gaelic myth, that the .303 Lee Enfield rifle requires to be blocked to 5 rounds versus 10 while hunting only.
Challenge this last one with some long in the tooth local hunters and prepare to be lynched forthwith.
Guess they also believe that the Lord of the Rings was based on a true story and that once upon a time, happened in Cape Breton.
 
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In a rare example of forward thinking we did away with the registered bear stands a couple years ago although some fudds here claim it was a stupid move. You can ground stalk bears but good luck with that when 50 yards is the furthest you can see in bear woods.

We also allow guns to be not encased while in a vehicle during daylight hours now (unloaded of course) but everyone is so whipped by the old regulations in place since the dawn of time and the DNR officers who seem to each have a different view of the law that we all keep them encased in vehicles.

Hard to change old habits.
 
Good to hear some things have changed Cranky. What never ceases to amaze me, is the recent lossening of game laws regarding buckshot. Erstwhile a "popular following" in some circles to ban lead shot, very soon afterwards.

Even the freaking province adverts this anti-lead brainwashing in thier hunting regulations. That kind of cr@p should never ever be inside a government brochure until it is actually a legit law!
 
terryn said:
Damn.... have to go out west for a hunting trip, guess Cause i lived here all my life i never knew any better.
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Yep. Lived in the Maritimes for for 39 of my 50 years, hunted for 27 of those and never knew any better... Best hunting in my life is the past 11 years!! Here, where the sky is big...Game you will never see in NS...Antelope, Bison, Elk, Grizzly, Mule Deer, Sheep. Game you will never HUNT in NS, same plus moose (for the most part). In 27yrs, I never got a moose tag, nor did anyone in my family. We went to the Rock for moose. And if you didn't bait, you didn't get a deer. Simple as that. Stalk and shoot, almost impossible. My guaranteed method involved a WHOLE LOT OF WORK! Work I choose not to do anymore. It is called "busting". Better be in shape, but a guarantee, nonetheless.

Game I see EVERY year: Antelope, White tail, Mule Deer, Elk, Moose, Black Bear, Coyote, Wolf, Geese, Ducks, grouse (maybe).
Game I can shoot EVERY YEAR: Antelope, White tail, Mule Deer, Elk, Black Bear, Bison, Sheep. Rifle season for black bear, Bison, white tail, and mule deer start 01 Sep, ends 30 Nov. Season for Elk 17 Sep-30 Nov and then late season in Jan-Feb. Moose rifle season is 01-30 Nov.
So, basically, I can be hunting from 01 August-28 Feb. Throw in the spring Bear from March to May.

Match that, Brother! Nothing in NS can do that!! Here bag limits are higher, game is more plentiful and diverse, land is bigger, fewer hunters per sq Km once you leave the road. Not knocking the natural beauty of the province, but it just CAN'T compete with hunting here. Sorry.
 
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