Estimated Bear Harvest
REMINDER: It is MANDATORY to report on your hunting licence, regardless of success. The Department of Natural Resources relies on harvest reporting data for important management decisions, and so efforts to improve this reporting compliance level will be made over the coming hunting seasons.
Year |
General Bear Harvesting Licences Sold |
Senior Bear Harvesting Licences Sold |
New Corrected Estimates (General) |
New Corrected Estimates (Senior) |
2016 |
3,726 |
5,665 |
410 |
147 |
2017 |
3,946 |
6,279 |
434 |
163 |
2018 |
3982 |
6685 |
438 |
174 |
2019 |
3869 |
5805 |
426 |
151 |
2020 |
3766 |
4822 |
414 |
125 |
How is bear harvest estimated?
In 2015, NR&R staff aimed to correct historical black bear harvest numbers based on licence sales. These correction factors are based on follow up calls to hunters that did not submit their mandatory bear harvest report. The following correcting methods were used to estimate harvest based on the number of licences sold:
General licences:
To determine a “kill” estimate:
(General licences sold) x (0.11) = Estimated number of licence holders that hunted and killed a bear.
To determine a "no kill" estimate:
(General licences sold) x (0.47) = Estimated number of licence holders that hunted and did not kill.
To determine a "did not hunt" estimate:
(General licences sold) x (0.31) = Estimated licenses not used.
Senior licences:
To determine a “kill” estimate:
(Senior licences distributed) x (0.026) = Estimated number of licence holders that hunted and killed a bear.
To determine a "no kill" estimate:
(Senior licences distributed) x (0.31) = Estimated number of licence holders that hunted and did not kill.
To determine a "did not hunt" estimate:
(Senior licences distributed) x (0.61) = Estimated licenses not used.
Note: there are a proportion of reports that come back “incomplete”; therefore the totals do not equal 100%.
Reported Black Bear Harvest by County*
County |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
Annapolis |
29 |
42 |
25 |
20 |
33 |
31 |
Antigonish |
23 |
4 |
19 |
16 |
20 |
11 |
Cape Breton |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Colchester |
41 |
28 |
58 |
25 |
56 |
24 |
Cumberland |
51 |
41 |
66 |
53 |
98 |
48 |
Digby |
11 |
14 |
13 |
6 |
18 |
20 |
Guysborough |
18 |
21 |
20 |
12 |
36 |
16 |
Halifax |
35 |
36 |
39 |
28 |
22 |
28 |
Hants |
20 |
7 |
23 |
16 |
23 |
24 |
Inverness |
4 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
16 |
5 |
Kings |
30 |
34 |
26 |
21 |
21 |
26 |
Lunenburg |
15 |
21 |
13 |
11 |
8 |
21 |
Pictou |
42 |
25 |
49 |
26 |
47 |
19 |
Queens |
22 |
14 |
15 |
13 |
16 |
19 |
Richmond |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Shelburne |
5 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
14 |
Victoria |
4 |
2 |
8 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
Yarmouth |
6 |
13 |
11 |
12 |
8 |
18 |
Total |
357 |
312 |
397 |
280 |
434 |
331 |
*These harvest numbers are only those that were reported. This table does not account for the estimation determined in the Harvest Table.
Part of Nova Scotia’s black bear management plan includes monitoring the age structure of the yearly bear harvest. Changes in age structure could indicate a change in the bear population that would need to be monitored and addressed.

Bear pre-molar teeth are submitted as part of a mandatory collection from hunters and trappers when successful in harvesting a bear. The ages were determined by cementum tooth analysis performed by Matson’s Laboratory.
Black Bear Snaring Information: 2016-2020
|
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
Harvest Information |
|
|
|
|
|
Licences sold/distributed |
299 |
354 |
319 |
328 |
352 |
Did not hunt |
70 |
72 |
85 |
91 |
114 |
Returned blank |
38 |
73 |
16 |
35 |
130 |
Returned no kill |
46 |
50 |
41 |
47 |
50 |
Returned with kill |
63 |
94 |
65 |
86 |
49 |
Sex Ratio |
|
|
|
|
|
Male |
15 |
28 |
26 |
38 |
26 |
Female |
43 |
58 |
29 |
15 |
11 |
Unknown |
0 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
Effort Information |
|
|
|
|
|
Number of snares |
214 |
313 |
229 |
267 |
170 |
Number of snare days |
3309 |
6434 |
3094 |
3086 |
1969 |
Number of snare nights |
1319 |
2895 |
1239 |
1442 |
1128 |
Please note all data for snaring combines senior and general license data.
REMINDER: It is MANDATORY to report on your hunting licence, regardless of success. The Department of Natural Resources relies on harvest reporting data for important management decisions, and so efforts to improve this reporting compliance level will be made over the coming hunting seasons.