Coyote Hunting Louisiana, Laws, Regulations, Season, & License Info

Coyote classification & license in Louisiana

What is the classification of coyotes in Louisiana?

An outlaw quadruped, grouped with feral hogs and armadillos:

OUTLAW QUADRUPEDS (COYOTES, ARMADILLOS & FERAL HOGS) — Holders of a hunting license may take coyotes, feral hogs and armadillos year round during legal daylight shooting hours¹

The label is what buys the night season. Louisiana’s general prohibition on night-vision and infrared equipment is written against “quadrupeds and resident game birds” — and the nighttime provision for outlaw quadrupeds is the exception carved out of it.²³ Nothing else in the Louisiana hunting regulations gets that treatment.

Compare the fox, which is in the opposite position. A fox is a protected quadruped in Louisiana and “may be taken only with traps by licensed trappers during the trapping season,” with chase-only allowed the rest of the year.¹ Two animals of similar size, on the same ground, on completely opposite sides of the law.

Are coyotes protected in Louisiana?

No. No closed season, no bag limit, no possession limit. The only structural limits are the daylight rule outside the night provision, and where you may hunt them on public land.

Is a hunting license required to hunt coyotes in Louisiana?

Yes, a Basic Hunting License:

Basic Hunting License for persons 18 and older is required of all persons hunting quadrupeds and resident game birds. Additional licenses are required for deer and turkey.⁴

More broadly, “A Basic Hunting License is required of all persons to hunt, take, possess or cause to be transported by any other person any wild bird or quadruped,” with exceptions listed in the booklet.⁵

There is no coyote stamp, no predator permit and no night endorsement. The night hunting requirements are about permission and notification, not about buying anything.

A non-resident pays more, and may need a different license — see what a non-resident needs.

Is hunter education required?

Yes, for anyone born on or after 1 September 1969:

No person born on or after Sept. 1, 1969, shall hunt unless that person has been issued a certificate of satisfactorily completion of a Hunter Education course approved by LDWF. The minimum age to be hunter education certified is 9 years of age.⁶

Two exceptions let you hunt without it: under the direct supervision of someone born before 1 September 1969 who holds a valid license, or under the direct supervision of someone 18 or older who has completed the course. Active and veteran members of the armed services and POST-certified law enforcement officers may apply for an exemption.⁶

LDWF’s current page defines the supervisor by his license rather than by his certificate, which is the more useful test in the field:

Who is a ‘qualified hunter’? A licensed Louisiana hunter born before Sept. 1, 1969, or someone 18 years old and over with a valid, unrestricted Louisiana hunting license.⁷

In practice the two definitions land in the same place, because anyone born after the cut-off needs the certificate to hold an unrestricted license in the first place. Certification earned at 9 or older is valid for life, so a card from a course taken decades ago still counts.⁷

Can a non-resident hunt coyotes in Louisiana?

Yes, on a non-resident Basic Hunting License, with no coyote-specific restriction.

The night provision is open to non-residents on identical terms — the constraint is the landowner’s written permission and the sheriff notification, not residency.³

See also is a hunting license required — the license rules there, and the exemptions and add-ons that go with them, apply to you too.

Season, hours & bag limits in Louisiana

What is the season for coyote hunting in Louisiana?

Year-round, statewide, in daylight for anyone with a hunting license, and at night on private land under the conditions below.¹³

What is the bag limit for coyotes in Louisiana?

None. No daily limit, no possession limit, no season total.

What are the legal hunting hours for coyotes in Louisiana?

By day: half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset, the standard Louisiana quadruped hours:

Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset, EXCEPT for Raccoon and Opossum which are legal for day and nighttime take.⁸

By night: any hour, on private land only, under the outlaw quadruped provision — see night hunting. Read the two together and Louisiana is effectively a 24-hour state on private ground and a daylight state everywhere else.

Can you hunt coyotes during deer or big game season?

Yes, the coyote season never closes. Louisiana imposes no firearm restriction on coyote hunting during deer season, unlike most of its neighbours.

The restriction that does arrive is about dogs, and it is worth reading precisely:

The running of coyotes with dogs is prohibited in all turkey hunting areas during the open turkey season. Coyote hunting is restricted to chase only when using dogs during still hunting segments of the firearm and archery only seasons for deer.¹

“Chase only” means the dogs may run a coyote but you may not kill it — during the still-hunting segments of the firearm and archery-only deer seasons. Calling and shooting without dogs is unaffected.

Night hunting in Louisiana

Can you hunt coyotes at night in Louisiana?

Yes, year-round, on private property. This is the whole provision, and every clause in it does work:

On private property, the landowner, or his lessee or agent with written permission and the landowner’s contact information in his possession, may take outlaw quadrupeds, nutria or beaver during nighttime hours year round. However, no person shall be allowed to participate or be present during nighttime hunting activities if convicted of a class three or greater wildlife violation within the previous five years or if he has any other prohibition which would prevent the legal use of a firearm or participation in a hunting activity. Such taking may be with or without the aid of artificial light, infrared or laser sighting devices, or night vision devices. Any person attempting to take outlaw quadrupeds, nutria or beaver under the provisions of this paragraph, shall notify the sheriff of the parish in which the property is located of his intention to attempt to take outlaw quadrupeds, nutria or beaver within 24 hours prior to the attempted taking or immediately upon taking the animal.³

Five conditions, and the last two are the ones people fall foul of:

• Private property only. No public land, no WMA, no wildlife refuge.
• Landowner, lessee or agent — and if you are not the landowner, you need written permission carrying the landowner’s contact information, on you.
• Any light or optic you like. Artificial light, infrared, laser sighting devices, night vision. Thermal is covered — see below.
• Nobody present may have a class three or greater wildlife conviction in the last five years, or any other bar on using a firearm. Note the wording: participate or be present. A disqualified friend riding along is a problem.
• Call the parish sheriff — within 24 hours before you go, or immediately after you take an animal. Every parish, every time.

The sheriff call is the single most-missed requirement in Louisiana coyote hunting. Program the number for the parish you hunt into your phone.

“Nighttime hours” is not defined in the passage above, and LDWF defines it elsewhere. The department’s outlaw quadruped page gives the window as one-half hour after official sunset to one-half hour before official sunrise, and adds one thing the regulations passage leaves out:

Sound suppressors on the firearm(s) are permitted, but anyone using such a weapon must have a valid permit issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives in their possession.⁹

Carry the stamp, not just the can. That is a state requirement about a federal document, and it applies at the moment you are stopped rather than at the moment you bought the suppressor.

Can you use artificial lights for coyote hunting in Louisiana?

Yes at night on private land, without restriction on color, power or mounting.³ Louisiana names artificial light first in the list.

Two hard limits sit outside that provision. Spotlighting or shining from public roads is prohibited outright,¹⁰ and by day the general ban on light-projecting sighting devices applies:

Take of quadrupeds and resident game birds with a firearm fitted with an infrared sight, laser sight or EXCEPT as provided in R.S. 56:116 (A) (8) any sighting device which projects a beam of light to the target or otherwise electronically illuminates the target, or device specifically designed to enhance vision at night²

That is the rule the night provision suspends. Outside it — daylight, or public land, or without the permission and the sheriff call — it applies in full.

Can you use night vision in Louisiana?

Yes, named expressly in the nighttime provision: “with or without the aid of artificial light, infrared or laser sighting devices, or night vision devices.”³

Note that Louisiana permits laser sighting devices here, which almost no other state does — they are prohibited outright for hunting in Iowa and Wisconsin, for instance. Inside the Louisiana night provision, a laser is lawful.

Can you use thermal in Louisiana?

Yes on private land at night. Thermal is not named by that word, but it is squarely inside the category the general prohibition describes — “device specifically designed to enhance vision at night” — and the nighttime provision suspends that prohibition for outlaw quadrupeds.²³

Louisiana is therefore one of the most permissive thermal states in the South, on private ground, provided you keep the permission and the sheriff call in order.

By day the position is different, and it is a genuine trap: the general prohibition reaches infrared sights, laser sights, light-projecting sighting devices and night-vision devices whenever you are not inside the nighttime provision.² A thermal scope left on the rifle for a mid-afternoon hog and coyote hunt is not obviously covered by an exception written about “nighttime hours.”

Are there specific weapons restrictions for hunting coyotes at night in Louisiana?

No. Louisiana sets no night-specific weapon rule for outlaw quadrupeds — no shotgun requirement, no caliber ceiling, no rimfire limit. The ordinary legal gear below applies at 2 a.m. exactly as at noon.

Firearms, ammunition & suppressors in Louisiana

What firearms are allowed or restricted for coyote hunting in Louisiana?

Broad, with one shotgun rule. The legal gear provision reads:

Legal archery gear or a shotgun not larger than a 10 gauge fired from the shoulder is legal for taking all resident game birds and quadrupeds. Handgun, rifle and falconry (special permit required) is legal for taking all game species EXCEPT turkey. Air rifles are legal for taking squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, opossum and outlaw quadrupeds.¹¹

Note the last sentence — air rifles are expressly legal for outlaw quadrupeds, which is unusual and useful near buildings.

Prohibited: shotguns larger than 10 gauge, shotguns “capable of holding more than three shells,” and possession of shotguns “in which the plug may be removed without disassembly.”²

Are suppressors allowed for coyote hunting in Louisiana?

Yes, and Louisiana wrote a specific rule about who may not use one:

Any person who has been convicted of a class four or greater hunting violation for a period of five years after the date of such conviction shall not use a firearm fitted with a sound suppressor pursuant to R.S. 56:116.6.²

Read that as the exception proving the rule — the statute assumes suppressor use is otherwise lawful and disqualifies a class of people from it. Note the threshold differs from the night-hunting bar: class four for suppressors, class three for night hunting.

Federal requirements still apply: ATF Form 4, a $200 stamp and the wait.

Are there any ammunition restrictions?

None specific to coyotes. Louisiana’s ammunition rules are written for squirrel, rabbit, deer and waterfowl. The only gear limits that reach an outlaw quadruped are the shotgun gauge and capacity rules above.²

Can you hunt using a .22 LR or other rimfire cartridge?

Yes. There is no minimum caliber for outlaw quadrupeds, and rifles are legal for all game species except turkey.¹¹ The caliber restrictions Louisiana does impose — no rifle or handgun larger than .22 caliber, no centerfire, no muzzleloader over .36 — are written for squirrel and rabbit and do not reach coyotes.²

Is there a magazine capacity limit for hunting coyotes in Louisiana?

Not for rifles. The three-shell limit is a shotgun rule, and it applies to all quadrupeds and resident game birds — including coyotes.² Plug your shotgun; there is no coyote exception.

Rifles carry no capacity limit, so a standard AR-15 is lawful.

Calls, decoys, bait & dogs in Louisiana

Are electronic calls allowed for coyote hunting in Louisiana?

Yes. Louisiana’s electronic-call restrictions attach to turkey and to migratory birds, not to outlaw quadrupeds. Run whatever caller you like, day or night.

Are decoys allowed for coyote hunting in Louisiana?

Yes, including motion decoys. Nothing in the quadruped rules restricts them.

Is baiting allowed for coyote hunting in Louisiana?

Yes for coyotes on private land, with one specific and easily-broken prohibition:

Intentionally feeding, depositing, placing, distributing, exposing, scattering, or causing to be fed, deposited, placed, distributed, exposed, or scattered, raw sweet potatoes to wild game quadrupeds.²

That is a real Louisiana rule, aimed at deer disease and crop theft, and it applies to wild game quadrupeds generally.

The usual contamination warning applies: bait a field for coyotes and you have baited it for deer, with everything that follows for anyone hunting deer there.

Can you use dogs to hunt coyotes in Louisiana?

Yes, with two seasonal restrictions, quoted in full above under deer season: no running coyotes with dogs in any turkey hunting area during the open turkey season, and chase only during the still-hunting segments of the firearm and archery-only deer seasons.¹

Louisiana has a strong hound culture and the rules are written to keep hounds out of still-hunters’ woods rather than to discourage the practice.

Private property, vehicles & public land access in Louisiana

Is it legal to shoot coyotes on private property (e.g. in your backyard) in Louisiana?

On rural private land, yes — and private land is the only place the night season exists.³

Get the landowner’s written permission with their contact details on it before dark, and make the sheriff call. In town, municipal discharge ordinances govern.

Can you hunt coyotes from a motorized vehicle in Louisiana?

No. Taking game quadrupeds or birds from aircraft is prohibited outright,² and the public-road rules are strict:

Hunting, standing, loitering or shooting game quadrupeds or game birds while on a public road or public road right-of-way. Hunting or discharging a firearm on or across an open LMV road or LMV road right-of-way. Spot-lighting or shining from public roads.¹⁰

The third line is the one that matters at night. The night provision permits you to use a spotlight; it does not permit you to use it from the road.

Can you hunt coyotes on public land in Louisiana?

Only incidentally, and never at night. The WMA rule is narrow and it surprises people:

Outlaw quadrupeds and birds may be taken during any legal hunting season on WMAs by properly licensed and/or permitted hunters bearing a license and gear legal for specified seasons in progress.¹²

There is no standalone coyote season on a Louisiana WMA. You may take a coyote while you are legally hunting something else, with that season’s legal gear — so a coyote that walks past your deer stand is fair game with the deer rifle, but a dedicated coyote outing on public ground is not provided for.

And the nighttime provision is private property only, so there is no public-land night hunting in Louisiana.³ If you do not have private permission, Louisiana is a daylight, incidental-take state.

Is it legal to trap or snare coyotes in Louisiana?

Yes, and the license question turns on what you do with the animal afterwards. A Trapping License is required to sell skins and carcasses during the trapping season, and selling them without one is prohibited.¹³

Persons using snares to capture feral hogs must have a trapping license,¹ which is a useful indicator of how LDWF views snares generally. Confirm your specific set with LDWF before the season.

Is it legal to poison coyotes in Louisiana?

No. Predator toxicants are restricted-use pesticides administered through USDA Wildlife Services and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, not by private individuals. Livestock and aquaculture predation goes through that route.

Are there protected areas or additional local restrictions in Louisiana?

Yes, four kinds:

• WMAs and Kisatchie National Forest, where coyotes may be taken only incidental to another open season with that season’s legal gear.¹²
• State and federal refuges, which set their own rules.
• Public roads and rights-of-way, where hunting, shooting and shining are all prohibited.¹⁰
• Municipal ordinances near towns.

After the shot: pelts, bounties & contests in Louisiana

Are there regulations for possessing or transporting dead coyotes or pelts across state lines?

No tag, seal or check-in for coyotes. Louisiana’s registration requirements attach to deer and turkey, and its CITES tagging to bobcat and otter — not to an outlaw quadruped.

Check the receiving state’s import rules before hauling carcasses across a line.

Can you sell coyote pelts, and do you need a fur handler’s license?

You need a Trapping License to sell skins and carcasses, and selling without one is expressly prohibited:

A Trapping License is required to sell skins and carcasses during [the season] … Selling of skins and carcasses without a valid Trapping License [is prohibited].¹³

Note that this is about the sale, not about the take. You may shoot coyotes all year on a Basic Hunting License; the moment you want to sell the hide, the trapping license is the document that matters.

Louisiana coyote fur is thin, short and worth very little — the Gulf coast is the wrong latitude for a pelt market. Most Louisiana coyote hunting is predator control and deer management, not fur.

Is there a coyote bounty program in Louisiana?

No state bounty. LDWF does not pay per animal.

Parish-level and landowner-association programs surface from time to time as local decisions. Verify any you hear about with the parish, because the state publishes no list.

Are coyote contests legal in Louisiana, or can I hunt in Louisiana for an out-of-state contest?

Yes to both. Louisiana has not restricted predator hunting contests, and there is no permit requirement in the hunting regulations.

Two scheduling notes for organizers, and they are Louisiana-specific. Every night round must run on private land, and every participant needs written permission carrying the landowner’s contact details.³ And each parish sheriff must be notified — a multi-parish contest means multiple calls, within 24 hours before hunting or immediately upon a kill.³ Build that into the rules sheet rather than leaving it to the teams.

Coyotes in Louisiana

Are there coyotes in Louisiana? How many, and where?

Yes, in all 64 parishes. Coyotes arrived in Louisiana from the west in the twentieth century and are now established in every habitat the state has — the piney woods of the north, the Mississippi Delta farmland, the Atchafalaya Basin, the coastal marsh and the suburbs of Baton Rouge, Shreveport and New Orleans.

LDWF publishes no population estimate. The agricultural north and the pine plantations hold the most huntable ground; the marsh holds coyotes that are genuinely difficult to hunt.

Are Louisiana coyotes dangerous to people or pets?

To people, very rarely. To livestock, poultry and pets they are the state’s main mammalian predator concern, and to deer fawns they are the reason a great deal of Louisiana coyote hunting happens at all — fawn predation is the driver behind the year-round season and the open night rules.

Unattended small pets on the suburban fringe are at genuine risk.

When is coyote mating season in Louisiana, and when do pups arrive?

Breeding runs January into February, with pups born in April in litters of five to seven. The Gulf climate means pups are moving early and juveniles disperse from late summer.

Louisiana’s night provision is year-round, which makes the calendar a hunting decision rather than a legal one. February gives you breeding-season response and the year’s best fur; June and July give you adults working hard to feed pups and coming to distress sounds with real commitment — and, in the fawning aftermath, the time when the landowner most wants you there.

When are coyotes most active in Louisiana?

First and last light year-round, with heavy night movement — and in a state this hot, night is when the animals actually want to move for much of the year. That is the practical case for Louisiana’s night rules.

For the full breakdown of season, weather and moon phase, see when to hunt coyotes.

Are there black coyotes in Louisiana?

Yes, and Louisiana is one of the better states for them. Melanistic coyotes are noticeably more common across the Southeast than elsewhere in the country, and the trait traces to historical hybridization with domestic dogs.

Louisiana sits at the heart of another piece of canid history: the red wolf persisted in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas into the 1970s, and the last wild animals were removed from that population for captive breeding. Some Gulf coast coyotes carry red wolf ancestry as a result, which is part of why coyotes in this region can look larger, redder and heavier-headed than the western animal people picture.

There is no separate rule for a black or an unusually large coyote — it is still an outlaw quadruped.

These answers get re-checked before they go stale. The verification date at the top of the page is the record of when that last happened, not decoration.

Anything else worth noting about coyote hunting in Louisiana

Louisiana gives the coyote hunter more freedom than almost any state in the country, and then attaches three administrative conditions that have nothing to do with the animal. Get those right and the rest of the page is short.

Five things to get right:

Call the sheriff. Every parish you hunt at night, within 24 hours before you go or immediately after a kill. This is the requirement most often missed and it applies to every night hunt, every time.

Carry the written permission — with the landowner’s contact details on it. The regulation names the contact information specifically, so a bare “you can hunt my place” text is not what the rule asks for.

Check who is in the truck. Nobody with a class three or greater wildlife conviction in the last five years may participate or be present. The suppressor bar is a different threshold — class four.

Public land is daylight and incidental only. No standalone coyote season on WMAs, no night hunting there at all. Louisiana is a private-land state for predator hunting.

Plug the shotgun. Three shells, all quadrupeds, no coyote exception.

Is it legal to own a coyote as a pet in Louisiana?

No. Louisiana regulates the possession of native and potentially dangerous wildlife, and a coyote is not an animal a private individual may keep as a pet. Permits exist for rehabilitation, exhibition and research purposes rather than for pets, and parish and municipal ordinances add their own prohibitions.

If you have found an orphaned pup, contact LDWF at (225) 765-2800 or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator rather than keeping it.

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