Coyote Hunting Pennsylvania (PA), Laws, Regulations, Season, & License Info

Coyote classification & license in PA

What is the classification of coyotes in Pennsylvania?

A furbearer. Pennsylvania lists coyote alongside badger, beaver, bobcat, fisher, mink and the rest.²

The label puts the coyote inside the furtaking chapter, which is where its hours, its light permissions and its optics permissions come from — so in PA being a furbearer is what grants most of the good answers rather than removing them.

Are coyotes protected in Pennsylvania?

No. The seasons table records coyote as “No Limit” with “No closed season, with certain exceptions during big-game seasons.”³

Is a hunting license required to hunt coyotes in PA?

Yes — one of two, and which one depends on the date. The Game Commission sets it out in two blocks:

Outside of Any Big Game Season — Coyotes may be taken with a hunting license or a furtaker license and without wearing orange.

During Any Big Game Season — Coyotes may be taken while lawfully hunting big game (big-game orange requirements must be followed) or with a furtaker license.⁴

Why a plain hunting license works at all is worth seeing, because it is an express carve-out rather than an oversight. Pennsylvania’s general licensing rule reads:

A current hunting license is required … to hunt, take or kill any wildlife in Pennsylvania not classified as a furbearer. A current furtaker license is required to hunt, trap, take or kill any furbearer (coyotes and porcupines are the exceptions).⁵

Coyote and porcupine are the two furbearers PA lets you hunt without a furtaker license. The big-game-season rule below is the condition attached to that exception.

Read the middle case, because it is the one people get wrong. During deer, bear, elk or turkey season, a plain hunting license is not enough on its own. You must either be genuinely and lawfully hunting that big game — which means the right license, unused harvest tags, the right arms and the right orange — or you must hold a furtaker license, which frees you from all of it.

Fees: resident adult hunting $20.97, resident adult furtaker $20.97, resident senior (65+) $13.97 for either, resident junior (12–16) $6.97.⁶

The furtaker license costs the same as the hunting license for a resident. If you hunt coyotes seriously in PA through the autumn, buying both is the simplest way to stop thinking about this rule.

The prices above are resident prices. For a non-resident the furtaker license is the cheaper of the two, which inverts the resident answer — see non-residents.

Is hunter education required?

Yes, on the standard pattern, with mentored hunting available for both residents and non-residents — resident mentored youth $6.97, non-resident mentored adult $101.97.⁶

Note that mentored and junior licenses carry species limits in Pennsylvania, and not all are valid for coyotes. Confirm before buying one for a coyote hunter.

Can a non-resident hunt coyotes in Pennsylvania?

Yes. Non-resident adult hunting is $101.97 and non-resident adult furtaker is $81.97.⁶

The furtaker license is the cheaper of the two here, which inverts the resident position and makes it the obvious buy for a non-resident coming specifically for coyotes — it costs $20 less and it removes the big-game-season complication entirely.

A non-resident 7-day small game license exists at $31.97,⁶ but coyote is a furbearer rather than small game, so do not assume it covers a coyote hunt — confirm with the PGC on 717-787-4250 before relying on it.

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 PA

What is the season for coyote hunting in Pennsylvania?

No closed season, year-round, statewide:

There is no closed season for the hunting of coyotes.⁴

Trapping is dated, unlike hunting: fox and coyote trapping runs 24 October to 21 February 2027, with a separate cable restraints season of 26 December to 21 February 2027.³

What is the bag limit for coyotes in PA?

No limit.³

What are the legal hunting hours for coyotes in Pennsylvania?

Any hour, day or night — coyote is named in the exception to the general hours rule:

Legal hunting hours for all small and big game are from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Please note the following exceptions: … Raccoons, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, striped skunks, opossums and weasels may be hunted any hour, day or night, except during restricted periods noted in Exception 1.⁷

Exception 1 is the firearms deer season restriction — and it is more generous to coyote hunters than it first looks. See below.

Can you hunt coyotes on Sunday in PA?

Yes — and PA coyote hunters have been able to for far longer than everyone else.

The Game Commission states it plainly in the coyote entry:

Coyotes may be hunted on Sundays throughout the year.⁴

The wider Sunday story changed in 2025 and it is worth understanding, because it does not change the coyote answer. Pennsylvania’s centuries-old blue-law ban on Sunday hunting was fully repealed by Act 36 of 2025, signed on 9 July 2025 and effective 7 September 2025; the Game Commission now sets Sunday hunting days, and for 2025–26 it approved thirteen of them.⁸

Coyotes were never inside that ban. Along with foxes and crows, they were the standing exception to it — so while the repeal is the biggest change to Pennsylvania hunting in a generation, for a coyote hunter it changed nothing. You could hunt them on Sundays before, and you can now.

One caveat that does apply: Sunday hunting on state parks is limited to specific dates even where state forests are open on all approved Sundays.⁸

Can you hunt coyotes during deer or big game season?

Yes, and coyote is expressly carved out of the restriction that shuts everything else down:

During the Regular Firearms Deer Season, it is unlawful to take or attempt to take other wild birds or mammals, except coyotes, bears, small game, migratory waterfowl, feral swine, wild boars and game birds on regulated hunting grounds.⁷

So the firearms deer season does not close coyote hunting. What it does is change three things:

The license, as set out above — big-game tags or a furtaker license.

Hunter orange:

Fluorescent orange is required when hunting coyotes during any big-game season, if orange is required during that season, including from one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset.⁹

Note the conditional — the orange requirement tracks whatever the big-game season itself requires.

Spotlighting, which closes entirely. See lights.

Night hunting in PA

Can you hunt coyotes at night in Pennsylvania?

Yes, any night of the year, with no permit and no separate season — coyote is on the list of species that “may be hunted any hour, day or night.”⁷

There is no landowner filing as in New Hampshire, no $4 permit as in Maine, no three-month window, and no afoot-and-calling requirement as in Michigan. PA is among the most straightforward night states in the East.

The one restriction is the regular firearms deer season, and it bites on lights rather than on hunting itself — see below.

Can you use artificial lights for coyote hunting in PA?

Yes, handheld or gun-mounted, with one prohibition and one seasonal closure.

The permission:

A person hunting raccoons, skunks, opossums, bobcats, weasels, foxes and coyotes on foot may use a handheld light, including a gun-mounted light. Furbearer hunters may not use a flashlight or spotlight that projects a laser light beam.¹⁰

Two conditions in one sentence: on foot, and no laser. A gun-mounted white light is expressly fine; a laser designator is not.

Where that permission comes from is worth knowing, because the statute alone does not give it to you. The Game Commission added the coyote by regulation:

Coyotes are added to the list of animals in section 2310(b) of the act (relating to unlawful use of lights while hunting) which may be hunted with a light.¹¹

Read 34 Pa.C.S. § 2310(b) on its own and the coyote is not in it. The species reaches the light permission through 58 Pa. Code § 141.7(a), which is a Commission regulation and can therefore move without an Act of the legislature.

The same section defines the spotlighting closure the digest describes, and its definition of the deer rifle seasons runs “from 12:01 a.m. on the first day of the regular firearms deer season to 12 midnight on the last day of the antlerless season including Sundays, within each individual wildlife management unit.”¹¹ Two things follow: the closure is measured per WMU rather than statewide, and Sundays inside it are closed rather than carved out.

The seasonal closure applies to recreational spotlighting rather than to hunting:

Recreational spotlighting is lawful between sunrise and 11 p.m.… Spotlighting closes at 11 p.m. on the day before the regular firearms deer season. Spotlighting is prohibited at all times through the season, and reopens a full day after the season closes. Spotlighting includes handheld lights, accessory spotlights on vehicles and vehicle headlights when intentionally used to locate or view wildlife.¹⁰

So scouting with a light stops during the firearms deer season, and the 11 p.m. cut-off applies the rest of the year to spotlighting generally. Do not confuse that with your hunting light, which the furbearer permission covers.

Can you use night vision in PA?

Yes, expressly — and Pennsylvania’s wording is the most complete on this site. It covers the optic, where you may mount it, and thermal, in one sentence:

Persons hunting coyotes, foxes, bobcats, raccoons, striped skunks, opossums and weasels may use gun-mounted lights that do not project a laser-light beam, as well as handheld and sporting-arm mounted night-vision and infrared (thermal) optics.¹

Note what that sentence settles that others leave open: both handheld and weapon-mounted are permitted, and thermal is named rather than left to argument about whether it counts as “night vision.”

After Maine and New Hampshire — where the answer has to be reasoned out of statutory silence — this is what a clear rule looks like.

One area restriction: the digest points to the Special Regulations Areas section for restrictions that apply in south-eastern PA.¹ If you hunt Allegheny, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery or Philadelphia counties, check that section before relying on anything here.

Can you use thermal in PA?

Yes. “Infrared (thermal) optics” are named in the same sentence as night vision, and both handheld and sporting-arm mounted are permitted.¹

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that resolves the thermal question in the regulations themselves rather than leaving it to inference. Combined with no closed season, no bag limit, night hunting at any hour and Sunday hunting, PA is arguably the best thermal coyote state in the Northeast.

The constraint to watch is not the optic — it is the license during big-game season and the spotlighting closure during the firearms deer season.

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

No night-specific firearm restriction. The furbearer firearms list below applies day and night alike, and the light and optics permissions are written for night use.¹

The only night-adjacent limits are the laser-light prohibition and the on foot condition attached to the light permission.¹⁰

Firearms, ammunition & suppressors in PA

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

A broad list, and semi-automatic rifles are on it:

It is unlawful to take furbearers, including bobcats, with shotguns using shot larger than size No. 4 buckshot, or implements that are not lawful firearms, bows or crossbows. Semiautomatic and manually operated rifles, manually operated handguns of any caliber, manual or semiautomatic shotguns, and bows and crossbows can be used. Muzzleloading rifles or handguns that propel single-projectile ammunition can be used. Air- or gas-operated firearms that are at least .22 caliber and propel a single-projectile pellet or bullet can be used.¹

Two things worth pulling out. Semi-automatic rifles are lawful for furbearers — they remain prohibited for big game in PA, which is the source of most confusion. And handguns must be manually operated, so a semi-auto pistol is out even though a semi-auto rifle is in.

Are suppressors allowed for coyote hunting in PA?

Yes — another repeal rather than a permission. Pennsylvania’s prohibition sat in 34 Pa.C.S. § 2308, the unlawful devices and methods section. Act 168 of 2016, signed 21 November 2016 and effective 20 January 2017, deleted it, and nothing replaced it. The current Hunting & Trapping Digest contains no suppressor or silencer provision at all.¹

Carry a copy of your ATF Form 4 — a game warden may reasonably ask to see it.

Federal requirements are unchanged: ATF Form 4, a $200 stamp and the wait.

Are there any ammunition restrictions?

One that reaches coyotes: shot size. It is unlawful to take furbearers with shotguns using shot larger than No. 4 buckshot.¹

There is no caliber floor or ceiling for rifles, and no restriction on bullet type.

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

Yes. Manually operated and semi-automatic rifles of any caliber are lawful for furbearers,¹ so a rimfire is fine.

It is undergunned on a Pennsylvania coyote — these are eastern animals running 35 to 45 pounds. Use a centerfire.

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

Not for rifles. Pennsylvania removed its magazine restriction for small game and furbearers when it legalized semi-automatic rifles for those species, and the current furbearer firearms rule sets no capacity limit.¹

Shotguns are the exception. PA’s two-shell magazine plug requirement applies to shotguns used for small game, furbearers, turkeys, waterfowl and crows — so a shotgun must be plugged to a two-shell capacity, while your AR is unrestricted.

That is an unusual combination and worth checking your own gun against: the rifle is free, the shotgun is capped at two in the magazine.

Calls, decoys, bait & dogs in PA

Are electronic calls allowed for coyote hunting in Pennsylvania?

Yes, expressly. PA’s general prohibition on electronic devices carries a named exception for coyotes:

It is unlawful to hunt with any electronic contrivance or device except: electronic callers may be used to hunt bobcats, coyotes, foxes, raccoons and crows, and snow geese in the conservation hunt season.¹²

And the coyote entry goes further, permitting any electronic or mechanical attractant — see baiting below.

Are decoys allowed for coyote hunting in PA?

Yes, including motion decoys, and the permission is unusually wide — “any electronic or mechanical device may be used to attract coyotes for hunting or trapping.”⁴

Is baiting allowed for coyote hunting in Pennsylvania?

Yes — and coyote is carved out of PA’s general baiting prohibition, which is otherwise one of the strictest in the country.

Pennsylvania normally forbids hunting in or around any area where bait has been used within the past 30 days, and puts the burden on the hunter to check. Coyote is the exception:

Natural or manmade nonliving bait and any electronic or mechanical device may be used to attract coyotes for hunting or trapping.⁴

And the visible-from-the-air rule splits hunters from trappers:

It is unlawful to bait a trap with meat, animal products or their facsimiles if the bait is visible from the air. Those hunting coyotes, however, may hunt over bait visible from the air.⁴

Two limits to note. The bait must be nonliving. And it is unlawful to take a road-killed deer to use to bait coyotes.¹²

Can you use dogs to hunt coyotes in PA?

Yes. Pennsylvania places no prohibition on using dogs to hunt coyotes, and the general furbearer rules do not restrict them for this species.

Landowner permission and the usual trespass rules apply, and a dog handler is responsible for where the dog goes.

Private property, vehicles & public land access in PA

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

On rural private land, yes, with the landowner’s permission. Pennsylvania is explicit that a hunting license does not create a right to enter private ground, and hunters recovering wounded game may not enter private property without permission.¹²

Resident landowner hunting licenses are available at $4.97.⁶

Municipal ordinances and the safety-zone rules govern near buildings.

Can you hunt coyotes from a motorized vehicle in PA?

No, and PA’s rule has a distance component most states lack:

• It is unlawful to hunt from a vehicle.
• It is unlawful to shoot at wildlife on a public road or right-of-way open to public travel.
• It is unlawful to shoot across a road unless the line of fire is high enough to preclude danger.
• After getting out of a vehicle you may not shoot until you are at least 25 yards from the traveled portion of the roadway.

Loaded firearms may never be placed in, on or against a motor vehicle.¹²

Note that the light permission is written for a hunter on foot,¹⁰ and vehicle headlights count as spotlighting when used to locate wildlife.¹⁰

Can you hunt coyotes on public land in PA?

Yes, and Pennsylvania’s public land base is one of the best in the East — 1.5 million acres of State Game Lands plus state forests.

Two things to check. Sunday hunting in state parks is limited to specific dates even where state forests are open on all approved Sundays.⁸ And the Special Regulations Areas in the south-east carry their own restrictions, which the furbearer firearms section expressly flags.¹

Is it legal to trap or snare coyotes in PA?

Yes, with a furtaker license and on dated seasons — unlike hunting, trapping is not year-round:

• Fox and coyote trapping: 24 October – 21 February 2027, no limit.³
• Cable restraints: 26 December – 21 February 2027, and cable restraints are permitted only for foxes and coyotes.¹³

Cable restraint users must pass a certification course before using them.¹³

And the certification buys you something beyond the restraint itself. Trappers eligible to use cable restraints for foxes and coyotes may keep non-target furbearers caught incidentally in one — provided there is an open trapping season in which that furbearer is legal, and they hold the license or permit for it.¹⁴ An uncertified trapper has no such allowance.

Two limits ride on it. Bobcats may not be taken in cable restraints during the bobcat hunting season. And any other wildlife mistakenly killed in a cable restraint must be reported to the Centralized Dispatch Center so a game warden can respond — 1-833-PGC-HUNT.¹⁴ That is a reporting duty rather than a discretion, and it applies to the animal you did not mean to catch.

A furtaker license is needed to trap all furbearers, including coyotes.¹ To dispatch trapped animals during deer season, trappers are limited to .22 rimfire or smaller rifles and handguns, or .177–.22 air guns.¹

Is it legal to poison coyotes in PA?

No. Poison is not a lawful method of take in Pennsylvania, and predator toxicants are restricted-use products handled through USDA Wildlife Services rather than by private individuals.

Are there protected areas or additional local restrictions in PA?

Yes, four kinds:

• Special Regulations Areas in south-eastern PA, flagged in the furbearer firearms section.¹
• State parks, where Sunday hunting is limited to specific dates.⁸
• The spotlighting closure through the regular firearms deer season.¹⁰
• Safety zones and municipal ordinances near buildings and roads.

After the shot: pelts, bounties & contests in PA

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

No tagging or reporting requirement for coyote. Pennsylvania requires permits and tagging for bobcat, fisher and otter, but not for coyote.¹

Pennsylvania’s wanton-waste rule does reach coyotes, and it is worth knowing: it is unlawful for a hunter to refuse or neglect to make a reasonable effort to retrieve any killed or injured game or wildlife.¹²

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

Selling lawfully taken pelts is permitted, and a furtaker license is the license that covers taking furbearers for fur. Buying and dealing at volume is a separate licensed activity — confirm with the PGC before a first commercial sale.

Pennsylvania coyote fur is decent — northern-tier animals in January and February are the best of it.

Is there a coyote bounty program in PA?

No. Pennsylvania ran coyote bounties historically and does not now. County sportsmen’s associations and private tournaments sometimes offer prize money, but that is not a state bounty.

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

Yes to both, and Pennsylvania has one of the largest predator tournament cultures in the country — the Mosquito Creek Sportsmen’s Association hunt in Clearfield County has run for decades and regularly draws thousands of entrants.

Pennsylvania has not restricted predator hunting contests. Two scheduling notes: a round during any big-game season needs every participant either lawfully big-game hunting or holding a furtaker license, and spotlighting is closed through the regular firearms deer season, so a February round is the clean option — season open, Sundays open, prime fur.

Coyotes in PA

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

Yes, in all 67 counties. Pennsylvania’s coyotes arrived through the twentieth century from the north and east and are now established statewide, from the northern-tier big woods to the farm valleys and the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh suburbs.

The Game Commission estimates a substantial statewide population and manages it with no closed season and no limit.

These are eastern coyotes, carrying wolf ancestry from the species’ expansion around the Great Lakes and through Canada, and they run larger than western animals — commonly 35 to 45 pounds, with big males heavier.

There are no wolves in Pennsylvania, so the animal to be sure about is a domestic dog.

Are PA coyotes dangerous to people or pets?

To people, very rarely. To pets and small livestock, routinely — and given the size of the eastern coyote, an unattended small dog is at genuine risk on the suburban fringe.

For farmers the concern is sheep, poultry and calves; for deer hunters it is fawn predation, which is what drives most of the interest in hunting them here.

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

Breeding runs January into February, with pups born in April.

February is the month to hunt Pennsylvania. Big-game seasons are over so the license complication disappears, spotlighting has reopened, pairs are territorial and vocal, the fur is prime, and Sundays are open.

When are coyotes most active in PA?

First and last light year-round, with heavy night movement. Because PA puts no restriction on hunting hours for coyote and expressly permits gun-mounted lights and thermal, night is fully open here — and on snow in the northern tier it is the most productive way to hunt the state.

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

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 PA

Pennsylvania is a genuinely good coyote state and the rulebook mostly gets out of the way. Almost everything that catches people is about the big-game calendar rather than about coyotes.

Five things to get right:

The license switches during big-game season. Outside it, a hunting license is fine. Inside it, you need unused big-game tags and to be lawfully hunting that game — or a furtaker license. For a resident the furtaker costs the same as the hunting license; for a non-resident it is $20 cheaper.

Thermal and night vision are expressly permitted, handheld or sporting-arm mounted, and gun-mounted lights are fine. No lasers.

Spotlighting closes for the firearms deer season. That is scouting, not your hunting light — but it closes at 11 p.m. the day before and does not reopen until a full day after the season.

Coyote is the exception to PA’s baiting ban, and coyote hunters may hunt over bait visible from the air where trappers may not. Do not use a road-killed deer.

Sundays were always open for coyotes. Act 36 of 2025 repealed the general Sunday ban, which was a landmark for deer hunters and changed nothing for you.

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

No. Pennsylvania regulates the possession of wildlife and a coyote is not an animal a private individual may keep as a pet. Permits exist for rehabilitation, propagation and exhibition rather than for pets, and menagerie and exotic wildlife permits are not issued for household pets.

If you have found an orphaned pup, contact the Game Commission at 717-787-4250 or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator rather than keeping it.

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