by: Art Patton
SPRING 1991
This early history of deer, summarized from Benson and Dodds "Deer of Nova Scotia", offers a pattern typical of successful introductions. They reported that during the mid 1890's white-tailed deer were released in the Digby and Halifax areas. Probably around the same time deer migrated into Cumberland County from New Brunswick and may have travelled as far as Colchester County by the time of the releases.
From these small beginnings the herd spread and was reported in all mainland counties by 1904. First reports of deer on Cape Breton Island occurred around 1911. Deer densities on the mainland were sufficient in 1916 to warrant a hunting season. On Cape Breton hunting was legalized in Richmond county in 1922 and throughout the entire island in 1928.
The accompanying table shows, for each year from 1916, the area open to hunting, the number of days of legal hunting, the bag limit, licenses issued and calculated kill.
From this table of kill figures, we can obtain a rough approximation of population trends. Initially the population spread throughout the province until the mid-'30s. then it began to build until the mid-'40s, when a boom occurred. Sufficient data to specifically define the mechanism of this boom is not available, but it has generally been explained as the typical post introductory boom. It was followed by the typical post introductory boom-bust.
Being human, hunters of the time still remember that short boom period as the good old days of deer hunting. Stories are still told about "deer in every back yard", "herds of deer in the pasture", "everybody getting their deer", "more deer then than at any other time in Nova Scotia". The perception is true; it is the degree that is questionable. By the early 1950s deer were far more plentiful than they had ever been before. Hunters and deer watchers alike were treated to a new and memorable experience. There probably were deer in more people's back yards. More of our population lived in the country on small farms with small pastures, firewood lots behind the house, gardens and crop fields. The small farms provided the best deer habitat possible. Deer concentrated around those farms and 'everybody saw deer'. Hunters who did live in cities or towns went to the country to hunt but fewer roads and a lack of ATV's and other rapid off-road vehicles meant those hunters went to the small farm areas where the roads led. They hunted the concentrated deer and were successful. At the peak there were about 63,000 hunters sharing a kill of 46,000 deer. About three out of four hunters got a deer.
Even so, in about three hard winters marked by severe starvation, the deer herd crashed - Nova Scotia habitat could not sustain the population of the boom. Hunting, poaching, predation, accidents and all mechanical mortality factors were not sufficient to contain the boom nor prevent the crash.
The population returned to a better balance with its habitat which was changing by the early 60s. For the next 15 years or so, the deer herds experienced a period of relative stability at a level that sustained a calculated harvest of around 20,000 deer per year. this level did not surprise those who study deer populations. Many remembered that in 1963, Dr. Don Dodds, a big game biologist, wrote: "Annual adjustment of regulations to maintain a kill of about one deer per square mile from a population five times that number would allow consistent harvests of deer in good condition... This would mean a kill averaging about 21,000 annually...."
Just 30 years after the start of that deer herd boom, Nova Scotia entered a 10 year period of relatively mild winters. At about the same time wood burning stoves and the cutting of firewood became very fashionable. The importance of this latter fact is hard to assess, however the total effect was another boom in the deer population. by 1980, biologists were warning that the boom should be controlled. License sales were increasing and hunter success was improving. Hunters did not want to chance an overharvest which might, they thought, reduce their chances for next year. regulations were not changed, the population continued to boom for just about the exact number of years it had boomed in the 1950s. This time the harvest went considerably higher than the 1950s boom and at its peak, a calculated harvest of 66,300 deer was shared by nearly 98,000 hunters. We had harvested more deer than there were hunters in the first boom; but under the conditions prevailing at the time we still could not prevent the boom or the bust that inevitably followed. Just as the boom had been much greater, so the crash was much greater. From the peak harvest of 46,389 in 1954 the population crashed to a 17,682 deer calculated harvest in 1961. This time the crash was from 66,390 calculated deer harvested in 1985 to 16,306 deer registered in 1990. We believe that the two different methods of determining kill exaggerated the actual difference.
What may be most significant is not the magnitude of the crash but the fact that the resulting population probably will be very near those levels sustained between booms. This gives strong support to the view that under normal Nova Scotia climatic conditions our habitat can reasonably support a pre-season herd of around 100,000 deer.
Unfortunately, despite the wishes of hunter groups, those periodic booms do not represent the sustainable Nova Scotia deer herd. We are faced with the reality of a fair deer environment which will support a fair deer population over time and which will allow occasional short population booms during periods of favourable winters.
| Nova Scotia Deer Harvest History 1961 - 1990 | ||||||
| Year | Area Open | Days In Season | Bag Limit | Sex | Licences Issued | Total Kill |
| 1916 | Mainland | 10 | 1 | Buck | - | 154 |
| 1917 | Mainland | 10 | 1 | Buck | - | 101 |
| 1918 | Mainland | 10 | 1 | Buck | - | 69 |
| 1919 | Mainland | 15 | 1 | Buck | - | 198 |
| 1920 | Mainland | 15 | 1 | Buck | - | 125 |
| 1921 | Mainland | 15 | 1 | Buck | 9,301 | 255 |
| 1922 | Mainland & Richmond | 15 | 1 | Buck | 6,279 | 232 |
| 1923 | Mainland & Richmond | 15 | 1 | Buck | 5,781 | 147 |
| 1924 | Mainland & Richmond | 15 | 1 | Buck | 5,513 | 147 |
| 1925 | Mainland & Richmond | 15 | 1 | Buck | 5,714 | 281 |
| 1926 | Mainland & Richmond | 15 | 1 | Buck | 7,569 | 281 |
| 1927 | Mainland & Richmond | 40 | 1 | Either | 10,830 | 635 |
| 1928 | Province | 30 | 1 | Buck | 8,818 | 987 |
| 1929 | Province | 30 | 1 | Buck | 11,160 | 1,316 |
| 1930 | Province | 30 | 1 | Buck | 14,102 | 1,886 |
| 1931 | Mainland | 30 | 2 | Either | 16,823 | 4,685 |
| Cape Breton | 1 | Buck | ||||
| 1932 | Mainland | 30 | 2 | Either | 14,764 | 4,866 |
| Cape Breton | 1 | Buck | ||||
| 1933 | Province | 20 | 1 | Buck | 9,560 | 1,216 |
| 1934 | Province | 20 | 1 | Buck | 10,694 | 1,327 |
| 1935 | Province | 10 | 1 | Buck | 8,270 | 996 |
| 1936 | Province | 10 | 1 | Buck | 10,639 | 1,950 |
| 1937 | Province | 10 | 1 | Buck | 12,709 | 2,185 |
| 1938 | Province | 30 | 1 | Either | 17,191 | 6,727 |
| 1939 | Province | 30 | 1 | Either | 17,621 | 6,224 |
| 1940 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 17,941 | 8,717 |
| 1941 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 21,525 | 10,784 |
| 1942 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 25,492 | 10,233 |
| 1943 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 20,786 | 9,203 |
| 1944 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 20,582 | 12,939 |
| 1945 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 29,327 | 20,124 |
| 1946 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 33,948 | 26,750 |
| 1947 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 38,681 | 30,007 |
| 1948 | Province | 60 | 2 | Either | 43,882 | 30,934 |
| 1949 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 43,012 | 30,318 |
| 1950 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 49,656 | 37,176 |
| 1951 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 55,785 | 42,343 |
| 1952 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 58,576 | 38,481 |
| 1953 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 62,201 | 43,330 |
| 1954 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 63,025 | 46,389 |
| 1955 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 58,215 | 43,400 |
| 1956 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 56,232 | 34,332 |
| 1957 | Province | 45 | 1 | Either | 48,401 | 21,065 |
| 1958 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 54,905 | 30,957 |
| 1959 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 57,047 | 31,701 |
| 1960 | Province | 45 | 2 | Either | 62,602 | 32,329 |
| 1961 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 49,480 | 17,682 |
| East & Cape Breton | 2 | Either | ||||
| 1962 | Mainland exc. Yarmouth | 45 | 1 | Either | 47,410 | 22,036 |
| Cape Breton | 2 | Either | ||||
| 1963 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 46,780 | 20,000 |
| East & Cape Breton (Yarmouth Closed) | 3 | Either | ||||
| 1964 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 51,910 | 23,000 |
| East & Cape Breton | 45 | 2 | Either | |||
| 1965 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 57,566 | 23,450 |
| East & Cape Breton | 45 | 2 | Either | |||
| 1965 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 57,566 | 23,450 |
| East & Cape Breton | 45 | 2 | Either | |||
| 1966 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 53,378 | 24,110 |
| East & Cape Breton | 45 | 2 | Either | |||
| 1967 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 57,551 | 20,133 |
| East & Cape Breton | 45 | 2 | Either | |||
| 1968 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 52,945 | 22,079 |
| East & Cape Breton | 45 | 2 | Either | |||
| 1969 | West Mainland | 45 | 1 | Either | 57,620 | 22,790 |
| East & Cape Breton | 45 | 2 | Either | |||
| 1970 | Province | 30 | 1 | Either | 57,684 | 17,725 |
| 1971 | Province | 30 | 1 | Either | 56,333 | 15,491 |
| 1972 | Province | 30 | 1 | Either | 58,362 | 19,385 |
| 1973 | Yarmouth & Shelburne | 30 | 1 | Buck | 66,079 | 19,567 |
| Rest of Province | 1 | Either | ||||
| 1974 | Yarmouth & Shelburne | 30 | 1 | Buck | 76,352 | 25,051 |
| Rest of Province | 1 | Either | ||||
| 1975 | Yarmouth & Shelburne | 30 | 1 | Buck | 69,263 | 21,860 |
| Rest of Province | 1 | Either | ||||
| 1976 | Yarmouth & Shelburne | 30 | 1 | Buck | 66,531 | 28,794 |
| Rest of Province | 1 | Either | ||||
| 1977 | Yarmouth & Shelburne | 30 | 1 | Buck | 73,749 | 25,676 |
| Rest of Province | 1 | Either | ||||
| 1978 | Yarmouth & Shelburne | 30 | 1 | Buck | 82,376 | 28,401 |
| Rest of Province | 1 | Either | ||||
| 1979 | Yarmouth & Shelburne | 45 | 1 | Buck | 81,323 | 32,215 |
| Rest of Province | 1 | Either | ||||
| 1980 | Province | 30 | 1 | Either | 81,801 | 34,470 |
| 1981 | Province | 30 | 1 | Either | 83,229 | 39,558 |
| 1982 | Province | 30 | 1 | Either | 82,750 | 42,787 |
| 1983 | Province | 36 | 1 | Either | 90,141 | 44,513 |
| 1984 | Province | 34 | 1 | Either | 95,727 | 51,810 |
| 1985 | West Mainland | 42 | 1 | Either | 97,739 | 66,390 |
| East & Cape Breton | 2 | Either | ||||
| 1986 | West Mainland | 37 | 1 | Either | 96,499 | 57,950 |
| East & Cape Breton | 2 | Either | ||||
| 1987 | Province | 37 | 1 | Either | 96,940 | 50,224 |
| 1988 | Province | 37 | 1 | Either | 95,382 | 46,600 |
| 1989 | Province | 37 | 1 | Either | 92,402 | 27,407 |
| 1990 | Province | 37 | 1 | Either | 16,306 | |