Hunt Tennessee · The official source
Tennessee ran daylight-only on coyotes for decades. Then TWRA created a dedicated night hunting season for coyote and bobcat — two windows a year, private land only, shotgun only, but with spotlights, night vision and thermal all expressly permitted inside them.
It is one of the newest night frameworks in the country, and it is built on a completely different principle from its neighbours: rather than restricting the technology, Tennessee restricts the calendar, the land and the weapon, then lets you see however you like.
Coyote classification & license in Tennessee
What is the classification of coyotes in Tennessee?
A furbearer. Coyote sits in TWRA’s furbearer list alongside beaver, bobcat, fox, mink, muskrat, opossum, otter, raccoon, spotted and striped skunk, weasel and groundhog.
The classification does less scoping work here than in most states, because Tennessee’s coyote rules are written specifically for the coyote — the night season names it, and the daylight rule gives it a general permission most furbearers do not get:
Beaver and coyote may be taken on any hunt with the weapon legal for that hunt.
That sentence is worth holding onto. It means the coyote is not confined to a furbearer season with furbearer weapons — it rides along on whatever hunt you are already on, with whatever that hunt allows.
Are coyotes protected in Tennessee?
No. There is no closed season and no bag limit on coyotes in Tennessee. They may be hunted year-round in daylight, and at night inside the dedicated night season below.
Is a hunting license required to hunt coyotes in Tennessee?
Yes — a standard Tennessee hunting license. There is no coyote-specific license, no furbearer stamp for hunting, and no separate night permit.
The license requirement applies whether you are on private or public land, and whether you are hunting by day or inside the night season. Buy from GoOutdoorsTennessee.com.
Landowner exemption. Tennessee resident landowners and their immediate family may hunt on their own farmland without a license, on the usual pattern. Confirm the current terms with TWRA — and note that the exemption covers the license, not the night season’s separate permission requirement, which is about the land rather than the license.
A non-resident pays more, and may need a different license — see what a non-resident needs.
Is hunter education required?
Yes, on the standard pattern for hunters born after a fixed date. Tennessee requires hunter education for anyone born on or after 1 January 1969, with an apprentice license available for people who want to try the sport before completing the course. Confirm the current age and exemption rules with TWRA.
Can a non-resident hunt coyotes in Tennessee?
Yes, with a non-resident hunting license. No coyote-specific restriction applies, and the night season is open to non-residents on the same terms — the constraint there is the landowner permission, not residency.
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 Tennessee
What is the season for coyote hunting in Tennessee?
Year-round in daylight, statewide. There is no closed season for coyotes in Tennessee.
Night hunting is a separate, defined season — see the night season.
What is the bag limit for coyotes in Tennessee?
None, day or night. The night season sets a limit of one bobcat per night and explicitly no limit on coyotes.1
What are the legal hunting hours for coyotes in Tennessee?
By day, the ordinary shooting-hours convention applies. Inside the night season the hours are set precisely:
30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise1
Note the gap that creates. The half hour immediately after sunset is neither ordinary daylight hunting nor the night season, so treat sunset as the end of your day unless you are set up under the night season’s rules.
Can you hunt coyotes during deer or big game season?
Yes, and Tennessee makes this easier than most states thanks to the general permission quoted above: beaver and coyote may be taken on any hunt with the weapon legal for that hunt. If you are deer hunting with a rifle and a coyote walks past, you may take it with the rifle you are holding.
The night season is built around the deer calendar rather than against it. The winter window opens the day after deer season ends — see below.
The night season
Can you hunt coyotes at night in Tennessee?
Yes, inside a dedicated night hunting season for coyote and bobcat. This is the newest part of Tennessee’s framework and the reason the state is worth a fresh look if you last hunted it years ago.
The 2026 dates are 17 January to 8 March, and 6 June to 9 August.1
The dates are defined by rule rather than fixed, which matters because they move:
- The winter window opens the day after deer season ends and runs through the second Sunday in March.
- The summer window opens the first Saturday in June and runs through the second Sunday in August.1
That construction is deliberate and it is good design: the winter window begins the moment the deer woods empty, so night hunters and deer hunters are never in the same country after dark.
Private land only, with permission:
Private land only, requires landowner permission (written, text, or email)1
Note what counts as permission — written, text, or email. Tennessee is unusually modern here; a text message from the landowner is sufficient, and worth screenshotting before you leave the truck.
There is no night hunting on WMAs or other public land during the night season.1
Can you use artificial lights for coyote hunting in Tennessee?
Yes, inside the night season, with two limits:
Spotlights, night vision, and thermal imaging devices allowed. Lights cannot be from or attached to a motorized vehicle or cast from a public road1
No color restriction and no power limit — a spotlight is expressly permitted. What is prohibited is the vehicle and the public road, which is the standard anti-road-hunting shape.
Outside the night season there is no coyote night hunting to attach a light to.
Can you use night vision in Tennessee?
Yes, named expressly in the night season rules, alongside spotlights and thermal.1 No permit, no separate registration.
Can you use thermal in Tennessee?
Yes — thermal imaging is named in the rule.1
Tennessee is one of the clearer states on this. There is no definition to argue from as in South Carolina, and no purpose test to be caught by as in Kentucky — the rule lists spotlights, night vision and thermal imaging together and permits all three inside the season.
The trade Tennessee makes is explicit: you may see with anything you like, and you may only shoot a shotgun.
Are there specific weapons restrictions for hunting coyotes at night in Tennessee?
Yes, and this is the rule that defines the season:
Shotgun only, no single projectile. Buckshot and smaller shot allowed1
No rifle. No pistol. No muzzleloader. No slugs. Buckshot and smaller, every night of the season.
That puts a hard ceiling on your range and changes how you set a stand — Tennessee night hunting is a close-cover, call-them-in-tight proposition, not a 200-yard thermal game. Pattern your gun and know your effective distance before you go.
Dogs are prohibited during the night season.1
Kentucky’s public-land rule is the same shape — bow, crossbow or shotgun, no slugs — so the two states together make the Ohio Valley a shotgun region after dark. See Kentucky.
Firearms, ammunition & suppressors in Tennessee
What firearms are allowed or restricted for coyote hunting in Tennessee?
By day, whatever the hunt you are on allows — beaver and coyote may be taken on any hunt with the weapon legal for that hunt. On a general coyote outing that means the ordinary range of centerfire rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders and archery tackle.
By night, shotgun only, no single projectile.1
For daylight work, Tennessee’s mix of farm country in the west and steep timber in the east argues for a flat-shooting centerfire and a shotgun respectively. See the best coyote gun.
Are suppressors allowed for coyote hunting in Tennessee?
Yes. Tennessee places no wildlife-law restriction on hunting with a lawfully owned suppressor. The question is federal — ATF Form 4, tax stamp, approval.
Are there any ammunition restrictions?
By day, none specific to coyotes. By night, the single-projectile prohibition is absolute: buckshot and smaller only.1
That makes shot selection the most consequential gear decision in Tennessee night hunting. Most callers run #4 buck or larger buckshot for coyotes at close range.
Can you hunt using a .22 LR or other rimfire cartridge?
By day, yes where the hunt you are on permits a rimfire. At night, no — a rimfire rifle is not a shotgun.1
Is there a magazine capacity limit for hunting coyotes in Tennessee?
No. Tennessee sets no magazine capacity limit for hunting. A standard AR-15 is lawful by day; at night it is not, because it is not a shotgun.1
Calls, decoys, bait & dogs in Tennessee
Are electronic calls allowed for coyote hunting in Tennessee?
Yes, with no restriction for coyotes, day or night. Tennessee’s electronic-call prohibitions attach to turkey and to migratory birds rather than to furbearers.
Are decoys allowed for coyote hunting in Tennessee?
Yes, including motion decoys. Nothing restricts decoys for coyotes.
Is baiting allowed for coyote hunting in Tennessee?
On private land, generally yes for coyotes. The contamination trap is the thing to understand: Tennessee’s baiting prohibitions are written for deer and turkey, and ground you bait for coyotes is baited ground for those species too, with a waiting period before it is clean again. If you may want to hunt deer or turkey on that field, do not bait it for predators.
On WMA and other public land, assume baiting is prohibited unless the unit says otherwise.
Can you use dogs to hunt coyotes in Tennessee?
By day, yes — Tennessee has a deep hound tradition and running coyotes with dogs is well established.
At night, no. Hunting with dogs is prohibited during the night season.1 That is a deliberate separation: the night season is a stand-and-call season, and the state’s night-time hound hunting for raccoon operates under its own separate rules.
Private property, vehicles & public land access in Tennessee
Is it legal to shoot coyotes on private property (e.g. in your backyard) in Tennessee?
On rural private land with permission, yes — and private land is the only place the night season exists.1
Get the landowner’s permission in a form you can produce: written, text or email all count.1 A screenshot of a text message is a perfectly good answer to a question from a wildlife officer at two in the morning.
In town, municipal discharge ordinances govern.
Can you hunt coyotes from a motorized vehicle in Tennessee?
No. Inside the night season, lights may not be from or attached to a motorized vehicle, or cast from a public road.1 Tennessee’s general prohibitions on shooting from vehicles and roads apply on top of that.
Can you hunt coyotes on public land in Tennessee?
By day, yes, on WMAs and other public land subject to the individual area’s rules and any required WMA permit.
At night, no. The night season is private land only, and there is no night coyote hunting on WMAs or other public lands.1 If you do not have private ground, you do not have a night season in Tennessee — that is the single biggest practical limit on the state.
Is it legal to trap or snare coyotes in Tennessee?
Yes, on a trapping license — and the coyote trapping season is year-round, which is the part most write-ups get wrong.
Coyote is a furbearer in Tennessee, and it is easy to assume that means the furbearer season dates apply to it. They do not. TWRA’s own trapping table splits the furbearers in two:2
| Trapping season | Bag limit | |
|---|---|---|
| Coyote | Year-round | None |
| Beaver, groundhog, opossum, raccoon | Year-round | None |
| Fox, mink, muskrat, otter, least weasel | 20 Nov – 28 Feb | — |
So the trapping season matches the hunting season: open all year, no limit. It is the methods that are regulated here, not the calendar.
Check intervals, and note there are two:3
Lethal sets such as body grip traps and submersion sets must be inspected at least every seventy-two (72) hours. All other sets must be inspected every thirty-six (36) hours.
Thirty-six hours is tighter than the daily-check states only in the sense that it is measured in hours rather than calendar days — a trap set at 6 p.m. Monday is due by 6 a.m. Wednesday, not at any point on Wednesday.
Trap sizes are set by where you put the trap, not by what you are after:4
- Ground sets — steel foothold traps with an exterior jaw measurement of 7 inches or less, measured at the hinge.
- Water sets — footholds up to 9 inches at the hinge; rectangular body-grip traps up to 16 inches on the longest interior side; circular body-grip traps up to 12 inches at the widest interior point.
- Land sets adjacent to waterways, set no more than 50 feet from the shoreline — a body-grip trap up to 6 × 6 inches exterior, and it must be a single-spring trap with the factory spring designated for it.
Cushion-hold traps are defined by name in TWRA’s proclamation rather than by specification — the Woodstream Soft-Catch, Duke Rubber Jaw, Butera Cushion Catch, Cushion Catch #33, J. C. Conner Coyote “Jake”, and the Oneida Victor Soft-Catch, plus any legal-sized offset-jawed trap fitted with Humane Hold, Sudden Valley or J. C. Conner pads.4 If your trap is not on that list and not padded from the factory, do not assume it qualifies.
Live traps and commercially available dog-proof traps are legal4 — the latter being the practical answer to the raccoon problem on a coyote line.
Written permission is not optional on someone else’s ground. For hunting, TWRA advises it; for trapping it is required, and you must carry it on you. You must also report any domestic animals caught.2
Is it legal to poison coyotes in Tennessee?
Not as a private individual. Predator toxicants are restricted-use pesticides handled through USDA Wildlife Services and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. Livestock predation goes through that route rather than a bait station.
Are there protected areas or additional local restrictions in Tennessee?
Yes. All public land is closed to coyote night hunting.1 Great Smoky Mountains National Park prohibits hunting entirely, as do the other national park units. WMAs set their own daylight rules and several require a permit. Municipal ordinances govern discharge near towns.
After the shot: pelts, bounties & contests in Tennessee
Are there regulations for possessing or transporting dead coyotes or pelts across state lines?
No tag or check-in for coyotes. Tennessee’s furbearer tagging requirements attach to bobcat and otter for CITES purposes, not to coyote. Nothing restricts taking a coyote or its pelt out of state.
Can you sell coyote pelts, and do you need a fur handler’s license?
You can sell them, and because coyote is a furbearer the commercial fur rules reach it. Buying pelts from others, or dealing at volume, requires the relevant fur dealer license — selling your own catch to a licensed buyer is a different matter. Confirm with TWRA before your first sale.
Eastern coyote pelts have never carried western fur values.
Is there a coyote bounty program in Tennessee?
No state bounty. TWRA does not pay per animal.
Tennessee’s answer to the coyote is the year-round season, the absent bag limit and, since its creation, the night season. If you hear of a county program, verify it with the county — these are local budget decisions and the state publishes no list.
Are coyote contests legal in Tennessee, or can I hunt in Tennessee for an out-of-state contest?
Yes to both. Tennessee has not banned predator hunting contests. Winter tournaments run across the state and across the Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi lines.
Two scheduling points for organizers. A night round is only possible inside the 17 January to 8 March or 6 June to 9 August windows, on private land, with permission for every property in play.1 And a night round is a shotgun round — no slugs, buckshot and smaller — which changes the scoring realities completely.
Coyotes in Tennessee
Are there coyotes in Tennessee? How many, and where?
Yes, in all 95 counties. Coyotes arrived in Tennessee in the second half of the twentieth century, moving in from the west and south, and were established statewide by the 1990s.
They occupy everything the state has: the row-crop country and river bottoms of West Tennessee, the pasture and cedar glades of the Middle, and the steep forested ground of the East. Suburban populations around Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga are well established.
Tennessee publishes no population estimate.
Are Tennessee coyotes dangerous to people or pets?
To people, very rarely. To sheep, goats, calves and poultry they are the state’s principal predator problem, and the reason the night season exists at all.
The summer window — 6 June to 9 August — sits squarely in the calving and lambing aftermath and in the period when adults are working hardest to feed pups, which is exactly when livestock complaints peak.
Unattended small pets on the suburban fringe are at risk.
When is coyote mating season in Tennessee, and when do pups arrive?
Breeding runs through February, with pups on the ground from April. Litters average five to seven.
The winter night window lands on the breeding season, opening the day after deer season and running to the second Sunday in March. That is the best calling of the year anywhere — territorial pairs, aggressive response to vocals, prime pelts — and Tennessee has deliberately handed the night hunter exactly that period.
When are coyotes most active in Tennessee?
First and last light year-round, with heavy night movement. 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 Tennessee
Tennessee made a clear trade when it created the night season: see with anything, shoot only a shotgun, and only on private ground inside two windows. Whether that is generous or restrictive depends entirely on whether you have permission on a farm.
Four things to get right:
The dates move. The winter window opens the day after deer season ends and runs to the second Sunday in March; the summer window is the first Saturday in June to the second Sunday in August. Check the current year rather than carrying 17 January forward.
Get the permission in a form you can show. Written, text or email all count, and a wildlife officer at 2 a.m. is a reasonable person to have anticipated.
Pattern your shotgun. Buckshot and smaller, no slugs. Your effective range is much shorter than your thermal’s, and that changes stand selection more than anything else on this page.
No public land at night. None. If you do not have private ground, Tennessee is a daylight state.
Is it legal to own a coyote as a pet in Tennessee?
No. Tennessee’s wildlife possession rules classify native carnivores in a way that does not permit private pet ownership, and permits exist for exhibition, rehabilitation and research rather than for keeping one at home. Contact TWRA before assuming any exception applies.
Know something we missed? Contact me and I’ll get it fixed.
Footnotes
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TWRA — Tennessee’s New Night Hunting Season for Coyote and Bobcat: season dates and how they are set, land type, permission, hours, weapons, optical devices, bag limits and the dog prohibition Web edition — 2026-2027 guide, accessed 9 August 2026 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22
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TWRA — Small Game Hunting and Trapping: the trapping season table giving coyote as year-round with no bag limit against the 20 November to 28 February season for fox, mink, muskrat, otter and least weasel; and the requirement to carry written landowner permission when trapping on another’s property and to report domestic animals caught Web edition — accessed 10 August 2026 ↩ ↩2
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TWRA — General Hunting & Trapping Regulations: lethal sets such as body grip traps and submersion sets inspected at least every 72 hours, all other sets every 36 hours Web edition — accessed 10 August 2026 ↩
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Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission proclamation — legal trapping devices: the 7-inch exterior jaw limit for foothold ground sets, the 9-inch foothold, 16-inch rectangular and 12-inch circular body-grip limits for water sets, the 6 × 6 inch single-spring body-grip limit for land sets within 50 feet of a shoreline, the named cushion-hold traps and pad kits, and the legality of live traps and commercially available dog-proof traps adopted regulation ↩ ↩2 ↩3
From the field
Questions and answers from hunters over the years. Comments are closed; contact me if you spot something out of date.
Eric C. · 2020-01-05
What kind of firearms can be used to kill coyotes in TN?
Rocky S. · 2022-10-11
im from va is it legal for me to hunt coyote in tenn on private land
This information is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. This website has no affiliation with any department of the above-mentioned state. Coyote hunting laws can change frequently and vary by locality — always verify the most current regulations directly with your state's wildlife agency or local authorities before hunting. Last updated: August 2026.