Bear Hunting and Snaring Observations from Nova Scotia

An extract from the Wildlife Resources System (WRS) contains data on bear hunting and snaring observations. The dataset includes columns for harvest year, method, status, region, county, and detailed age-class counts of observed bears. It is available in multiple formats including CSV, JSON, and XML.

Use Cases

• Analyzing harvest trends over time using Harvest Year and Harvest Method.
• Assessing regional bear abundance using Region, County, and Abundance Code columns.
• Studying population demographics by age class using Cubs, Yearlings, and Adults columns.
• Tracking individual hunting outcomes using Hunt Status and Observation ID.

Strengths

• Provides detailed age-class breakdowns for observed bears, including Cubs, Yearlings, and Adults.
• Available under the OGL-CA-2.0 open license, facilitating reuse.
• Cross-platform presence on Socrata and Open Canada indicates established importance.

Limitations

• Key metadata is missing or conflicting: row count and dataset size are unknown across all sources.
• The 'last updated' dates conflict between sources, with one showing 2025-01-29 and another 2026-04-17.
• Documentation gaps exist, as the Open Canada source lists no columns or tags.

Provenance

Source

Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, Wildlife Division (via Wildlife Resources System - WRS).

Collection Method

Extracted from departmental Wildlife Resources System (WRS) observation data.

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: 2026-04-17 (Socrata, Open Canada) and 2025-01-29 (another Socrata entry).

Geography

Nova Scotia, Canada (specific regions and counties).