Coyote Hunting Nova Scotia, Laws, Regulations, Season, & License Info

Classification and licence

What is the classification of coyotes in Nova Scotia?

Two answers, and you need both, because Nova Scotia files the coyote in one category in the statute and a different one in the rulebook a hunter reads.

The Wildlife Act defines “fur-bearing animal” to include the coyote by name, alongside beaver, mink, bobcat and fox.¹ But the summary a hunter actually buys a licence from splits the furbearers three ways, and the coyote is in none of the first two:

• Harvestable furbearers — beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, fisher, raccoon, fox, bobcat, weasel
• Completely protected furbearers — marten, lynx, cougar
• Hunted as "Other Harvestable Wildlife" — coyote, red squirrel, skunk

That third category is where the coyote lives for hunting purposes.² It is what gives the animal a year-round season while the fox it is regulated beside gets five and a half months, and it is why the licence is a $5 stamp rather than a fur harvester’s licence.

The rule to carry through this page: ask which rulebook you are under. Hunting a coyote and trapping one are different activities with different seasons, different licences and different weapons, and Nova Scotia writes them in different books.

Is a hunting licence required to hunt coyotes in Nova Scotia?

Yes — and it is the cheapest requirement found anywhere in this series. To harvest “Other Harvestable Wildlife” you need a Wildlife Habitat Stamp, the province’s base licence, at $5.15 plus HST.^{3 4}

Not a small game licence. Not a fur harvester’s licence. The base stamp, a Wildlife Resources Client Number, and the appropriate hunter training certification.

The price above assumes you live here. A non-resident pays the same for the stamp and then hits a condition that costs far more than the licence does — see what a non-resident needs.

Season, and which rulebook

What is the season for coyote hunting in Nova Scotia?

All year. Under “Other Harvestable Wildlife,” the summary prints the plainest season in the Canadian series:

The General Wildlife Regulations say the same thing in statutory form — coyote, January 1 to December 31.^{5 6}

Nova Scotia is therefore the only province east of Saskatchewan with a genuinely province-wide, year-round coyote season and no bag limit. Ontario manages it only in its southern WMUs; Québec closes at the end of March everywhere; New Brunswick covers most of the year but only by buying two licences.

But “open all year” does not mean “the same hunt all year.” Two things change with the calendar, and both are covered below: which firearm you may use, and whether you may hunt on a Sunday.

What is the trapping season, and why is it different?

Because trapping is the other rulebook. Under fur harvesting, the coyote is grouped with the fox:

FOX and COYOTE — Start Oct 15 2026, End Mar 31 2027, No limit⁷

Same animal, same province, same year: open every day of 2026 to a hunter and five and a half months to a trapper, because the Fur Harvesting Regulations define the coyote as a fur-bearing animal and the hunting tables do not.⁸

Non-residents

Can a non-resident hunt coyotes in Nova Scotia?

Yes, but not alone. The licence is trivial; the supervision requirement is not. A non-resident must:

• Obtain a Wildlife Resources Client Number and hold appropriate hunter training
• Be supervised by a Licensed Guide, or by a resident holding a Special Permit to Guide
• Provide proof of legal entitlement to hunt with a firearm, bow or crossbow in another jurisdiction
• Buy the Wildlife Habitat Stamp — the same base licence a resident buys

That second line is the one that decides the trip.⁴ Like New Brunswick next door, Nova Scotia will not let a visiting hunter into the woods unaccompanied — but its rule is softer in one specific way. New Brunswick requires a licensed guide; Nova Scotia accepts a resident holding a Special Permit to Guide, which a hunting friend can apply for. If you have someone in the province, that is the route.

One thing a non-resident cannot do here at all: trap or snare. “Fur Harvester licences are not issuable to non-residents.”⁷ The whole 15 October – 31 March trapping season is closed to you, and so is snaring. Visitors hunt; they do not trap.

The federal side — the firearm declaration at the border, the fee, and what a past conviction does — is on the Canada regulations index.

Night, lights and Sundays

Can you hunt coyotes at night in Nova Scotia?

No. The summary states the Wildlife Act prohibitions in a single block, and the first two close the question:

“Except as authorized by the Wildlife Act or regulations, you cannot hunt wildlife at night with a weapon — except by special permit; hunt wildlife by means of or with the assistance of any light — except by special permit.”⁹

Nova Scotia does run a genuine night hunt — raccoon, with dogs, 15 October to 31 March, under a Raccoon Dog Night Training/Hunting Permit — and it does allow a light for it.¹⁰ None of that reaches the coyote. Using a raccoon permit to shoot a coyote after dark would be hunting a species at a prohibited time. Night hunting is not available here.

Firearms also have to be put away: you cannot possess a firearm in or on a vehicle at any time at night unless it is encased, including off-highway vehicles.¹¹

Can you use artificial lights?

No, and the Act’s wording is broader than the night ban it sits beside. Section 68:

“Except as provided in this Act or the regulations, every person is guilty of an offence who takes, hunts or kills or pursues with intent to take, hunt or kill wildlife by means of, or with the assistance of, a light or flambeau.”¹²

There is no time of day in that sentence. A separate provision, section 69, makes it an offence to shine a light of more than three volts on wildlife habitat you do not own at times when hunting is not permitted — and treats a vehicle’s own electrical system as prima facie evidence the light exceeds three volts.¹²

The one lawful light for a coyote is not a hunting light at all: a licensed fur harvester may use a light of up to 12 volts while checking traps or dispatching trapped animals at night, and it may not be part of a vehicle’s electrical system.¹³

Can you use night vision or thermal?

Neither the Act, its regulations nor the summary names night vision, thermal or infrared. There is no lawful night hunt for the optic to serve, and section 68 catches light-assisted hunting in daylight as well. Do not read the silence as permission — ring DNR if you need a definitive answer for daytime use.

Can you hunt coyotes on Sunday in Nova Scotia?

Only for about three months of the year, and this is the sharpest limit on an otherwise unlimited season:

“You cannot hunt or carry a weapon in wildlife habitat on Sunday — except on the Sunday immediately following October 1st until the last Sunday in December (inclusive).”⁹

Note that it prohibits carrying a weapon, not merely hunting. So for roughly nine months of a year-round season, Sunday is not a hunting day at all — and the animal being open makes no difference. New Brunswick draws its Sunday window at 14 October to 31 December; Nova Scotia’s runs from the first Sunday after 1 October to the last Sunday in December. Neighbouring provinces, similar idea, different dates.

Firearms, and the December line

What firearms are allowed for coyote hunting in Nova Scotia?

This is where the year-round season stops being simple. The base weapon list for Other Harvestable Wildlife is modest — rimfire rifle .22 calibre or less, shotgun loaded with shot, muzzleloader .40 calibre or less, bow, crossbow — with the rifle and muzzleloader entries carried by a footnote reading “From October 15 to the last day of March in the following year.”¹⁴

Two provisions open it up, and both are dated:

“In addition to the items mentioned in subsection (1), a person may, for the purpose of hunting coyotes, use a rifle or shotgun with rifled slugs or ball after the second Saturday in December until March 31 of the year next following.”¹⁵

“During Big Game Season and Small Game Season a person can hunt Other Harvestable Wildlife within season with any weapon used for big game and small game with valid big game or small game licence.”¹⁴

Put together, the practical answer for a coyote hunter is:

So the province is open every day of the year and the centrefire rifle is not. From the close of the deer season to the end of March you can carry whatever you like on a $5 stamp; through the spring and summer the same season is a shotgun-and-archery hunt. That is the single most important thing to know before booking a trip here, and it is spread across a footnote, a table and a regulation. What to carry matters more than usual in Nova Scotia.

One more from the same regulation: you may not carry or use rifle ammunition during a season in which the use of a rifle is not permitted, and you may not hunt with the rifle portion of a combination gun in those seasons either.^{15 14}

Are suppressors allowed?

No. Suppressors are prohibited devices under Canada’s Criminal Code, everywhere in the country. No provincial licence changes it, and the answer is the same on all thirteen Canadian pages.

Calls, bait and dogs

Are electronic calls allowed for coyote hunting in Nova Scotia?

Yes. As in New Brunswick, the answer rests on the absence of a prohibition rather than on a permission. The Wildlife Act, the General Wildlife Regulations, the Firearm and Bow Regulations, the Fur Harvesting Regulations and the 2026 summary between them enumerate the prohibited methods at length — night, light, poison, snares for game birds, traps for big game — and none of them mentions recorded, amplified or electronic calls.

That makes eight provinces and eight mechanisms for the same answer, and the Maritimes are the only two that reach it by silence. British Columbia names the coyote as an exception. Alberta names it and lists the permitted sounds. Saskatchewan scopes the ban to waterfowl. Manitoba scopes it to big game. Ontario scopes it to wild turkey. Québec authorizes the device outright. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia never legislated it.

As in New Brunswick, confirm with DNR if you are betting a charge on it — an answer that rests on absence is only as good as the search behind it. The best coyote call covers what to run.

Is baiting allowed?

Nova Scotia writes its baiting rules for bear — registered bait sites, distance rules, removal deadlines — and none of that framework extends to the coyote.¹⁶

There is exactly one coyote bait rule in the book and it belongs to trappers: “When setting a snare for coyote, fox, or bobcat within 50 metres of a bait, the bait must be camouflaged or concealed in a manner sufficient to render the bait undetectable from the air.”¹³ That rule exists to protect eagles and other scavenging birds, not to regulate the coyote.

Baiting for the purpose of hunting a coyote is not addressed. Do not read that silence as permission. One place it is expressly forbidden: the Tobeatic Wilderness Area, where the management plan prohibits bait for hunting — though not bait for traps or snares legally set for furbearers.¹⁷

Can you use dogs to hunt coyotes in Nova Scotia?

Yes — by name, in the regulation, and this is the cleanest answer on the page. The Dog Hunting and Training Regulations:

“Except at night, a person may use a dog to hunt wildlife not protected by the Act and small game, coyote, fox and bobcat during the open season for that species.”¹⁸

The coyote is named, its open season is the whole calendar year, and the only limit is darkness.

That is the exact opposite of the answer 100 kilometres away. New Brunswick’s Fish and Wildlife Act prohibits hunting “a bear, moose, deer or fur bearing animal” with or accompanied by a dog, and because New Brunswick’s statute defines the coyote as a fur bearing animal, the prohibition catches it — and no coyote hound permit is offered. Nova Scotia’s own Act uses the same words about the coyote, but its prohibition names only moose, deer and bear, so the coyote falls outside it and the dog regulation then permits it expressly.^{9 1}

Two neighbouring provinces, the same animal, the same statutory label, opposite answers — decided entirely by which species the prohibition happens to list. It is the clearest demonstration on this site of why the classification question has to be asked in both directions.

Trapping and snaring

Is it legal to trap or snare coyotes in Nova Scotia?

Yes, from 15 October to 31 March, with no limit, on a Wildlife Habitat Stamp plus a Fur Harvester Stamp — or, for a nuisance animal, a Nuisance Wildlife permit.^{7 19}

“You must have either a Fur Harvester licence or a Nuisance Wildlife permit to trap or snare coyote, red squirrel, and skunk. You may use a box trap without a permit when dealing with nuisance wildlife — this is a live catch.”¹⁹

The coyote-specific rules:

• A leghold set for coyote must be modified to improve humaneness — laminated, offset or padded jaws, a cable restraint, or another similarly effective means
• Snare bait within 50 m must be concealed from the air
• Hunter orange is required while trapping and snaring, with a narrow exemption for a fur harvester off forested land carrying nothing bigger than a .22 rimfire
• Lights up to 12 volts while checking traps or dispatching trapped animals at night, not wired to a vehicle

^{13 20}

Is it legal to poison coyotes?

No. “You may not poison an animal under the Wildlife Act, except rats.”¹⁹

After the shot

Do you have to wear hunter orange?

Everyone hunting wildlife in Nova Scotia must wear a hunter orange cap or hat and a shirt, vest or coat in hunter orange or camouflage orange, plainly visible from all sides — and so must anyone accompanying them, snaring or trapping.²⁰

Then comes the coyote exemption, and it is worth reading twice. Mandatory hunter orange does not apply if you are:

“hunting coyotes, except from October 1 to the end of the general open season for hunting deer”²¹

So orange is required for the ten weeks when the woods are full of deer hunters, and optional the rest of the year. The general deer season ends on the second Saturday in December — the same date that unlocks the centrefire rifle above. From that Saturday, the rifle comes out and the orange comes off, which is a memorable pairing and a slightly unnerving one.

A second exemption reaches the same animal by a different route: no orange is needed “hunting between February 16 and September 15 for ‘Other Harvestable Wildlife’.”²⁰

Can you sell a pelt or take one out of the province?

Possession is free; export is not.

“These animals are classed as ‘Other Harvestable Wildlife.’ You may legally possess their pelts throughout the year without a permit, but you need a permit to export the pelt or other parts from the province.”¹⁹

That export permit is the line an American hunter will cross without noticing. Coyote is not CITES-listed, so there is no federal permit on the pelt itself — but Nova Scotia wants its own paperwork before the pelt leaves, and a hunting licence is not it. Ask DNR before you pack one.

Coyotes in Nova Scotia

Are there coyotes in Nova Scotia?

Yes, across the whole province — and they are a recent arrival by the standards of anywhere else on this site. The province’s own account is short and worth having straight:

“The first coyotes in Maritimes travelled here from Ontario, Quebec, New England. They eventually reached Cape Breton by crossing the ice-covered Canso Strait.”²²

The population is described as “fairly stable,” with variation driven by trapping activity and food supply rather than by any managed target.²² Nova Scotia publishes no head count — the year-round season with no bag limit is the clearest statement it makes about how many it thinks there are.

How big are Nova Scotia coyotes?

Bigger than a western coyote and smaller than most people expect after reading about them:

“The average Eastern coyote in Nova Scotia is about 15 kg (34 lbs) with some males reaching 23 kg (50 lbs.)”²²

They stand about 61 cm (24 inches) at the shoulder — the province’s own comparison is a border collie. They hunt alone, in pairs or in family units, and heavy snow pushes them onto roads.²²

When is mating season, and when do pups arrive?

Breeding is in late winter, with litters averaging five to seven pups and recorded ranges of two to ten.²² Pups therefore arrive in spring, well inside a season that never closes — which is worth thinking about in April and May, when the rifle window has shut anyway.

Why does Nova Scotia regulate coyotes the way it does?

Because of an attack that has no parallel anywhere else. In October 2009, Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk musician from Toronto, was killed by coyotes while hiking in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. It remains the only recorded fatal coyote attack on an adult in North America.

The province’s response was a coyote pelt incentive: from 2010, a trapper who skinned, prepared and sold a coyote pelt on the fur market received $20 on top of the market price. It was designed as a five-year programme and it ended on schedule in 2015. It is not running now, and nothing in the 2026 summary reinstates it.

Two things are worth taking from that history rather than from the headline. The first is that the $20 was never a bounty in the usual sense — no one was paid for a carcass, and the pelt had to reach the market before the money did. The second is that a single event forty-five minutes’ drive from nowhere still shapes how this province talks about the animal, seventeen years later.

It was not Nova Scotia’s first attempt, either. Prince Edward Island’s own coyote policy records that Nova Scotia paid a $50 bounty through the 1980s, and reads the result as a failure: the population “continued to expand at the same rate in Nova Scotia as it had in New Brunswick, practically doubling every year,” with payments rising from $2,250 to $22,100 in four years before the province dropped it.²³ Two programmes, thirty years apart, and neither is running.

The practical risk to a hunter remains very low. Nova Scotia’s own advice is the standard advice: never feed them, secure garbage, keep pets in, and if one approaches, make yourself large and loud rather than turning away.

Is there a disease risk handling Nova Scotia coyotes?

Yes, and the province is actively studying it. DNR’s Habitat Conservation Fund awarded the University of Prince Edward Island $15,100 in 2025 for a project titled “Echinococcus canadensis in Nova Scotia’s coyotes, foxes, and moose — an increasing threat?”²⁴

That work rests on fur harvesters, who have been submitting animals to it: the summary thanks them “for their valuable contributions to the voluntary collection of coyotes and foxes from fall 2024 to winter 2026.”²⁵

Echinococcus canadensis is a tapeworm carried by canids and transmissible to people. Wear gloves when you skin one, keep the work area clean, and wash up afterwards. If you are handed a chance to submit a carcass to the collection, it costs you nothing and it is how the province learns anything at all about this.

When are coyotes most active here?

Dawn and dusk, as everywhere, and more visible in winter when snow and bare cover push them onto roads and trails. In Nova Scotia the calendar sharpens that: the rifle window and the end of the orange requirement both open on the second Saturday in December, and the trapping season runs to 31 March. Mid-December through March is the province’s coyote season in every practical sense, whatever the table says about January to December. When to hunt covers the rest.