Coyote Hunting Maryland (MD), Laws, Regulations, Season, & License Info

Coyote classification & license in MD

What is the classification of coyotes in Maryland?

A furbearer. Maryland lists coyote among them:

Furbearers include: beaver, bobcat, coyote, fisher, gray fox, long-tailed weasel, mink, muskrat, nutria, opossum, raccoon, red fox, river otter and striped skunk.²

DNR describes the coyote as a “Fur-Bearing Mammal” on its species page.³

The label matters here because it triggers the Furbearer Permit, which is the requirement most people miss.

Are coyotes protected in Maryland?

No. Coyotes may be hunted year-round in all counties with no bag limit and no possession limit.⁴

Is a hunting license required to hunt coyotes in MD?

Yes — and a Furbearer Permit on top of it, which is the part people get wrong.

A Furbearer Permit is required to hunt, chase or trap any furbearer.⁵

So a Maryland coyote hunter needs a hunting license and a Furbearer Permit. The permit is also required of those who may otherwise hunt without a license.⁵

The exceptions matter, and one is squarely aimed at landowners with a coyote problem. No Furbearer Permit is required for:

A landowner to hunt or trap a coyote, fox or skunk that is damaging or destroying the personal or real property of the landowner on their land.⁵

Also exempt: holders of a Wildlife Damage Control Permit, landowners with a Landowner Wildlife Damage Control Permit, and holders of an Apprentice Hunting License.⁵

A Group Furbearer Permit exists for associations that chase or hunt furbearers; members and guests then need no individual permit, and the group must report to DNR by 1 September each year.⁵

A non-resident needs a hunting license and a Furbearer Permit — see what a non-resident needs.

Is hunter education required?

Yes for the hunting license, and there is a separate requirement for trappers:

Any person who traps or attempts to trap furbearers under the authority of a Furbearer Permit must first obtain a Certificate of Trapper Education from the Department of Natural Resources.⁵

The trapper certificate is not required of anyone holding an apprentice hunting license, or of anyone who held a Furbearer Permit before 1 August 2007. A comparable certificate from another state is accepted where the privileges are reciprocal.⁵

Note that trapper education is a trapping requirement — it does not apply if you only shoot coyotes.

Can a non-resident hunt coyotes in Maryland?

Yes, with a non-resident hunting license and a Furbearer Permit. Every rule on this page applies on the same terms.

The landowner exemption above is a property-based exemption rather than a residency one, so it will not help a visiting hunter.

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 MD

What is the season for coyote hunting in Maryland?

Year-round, every county, day and night. The furbearer table is unusually blunt about it:

COYOTE — Firearms, Archery and Airgun Hunting: Coyotes may be hunted year-round in all counties, day and night. No limit. No limit.⁴

Trapping is dated and split by the Bay, and the two halves are easy to transpose:

Neither has a bag or possession limit.⁴

What is the bag limit for coyotes in MD?

No limit, daily or in possession, for hunting or trapping.⁴

What are the legal hunting hours for coyotes in Maryland?

None. Coyotes “may be hunted, day and night, year-round in all counties.”⁶

That is stated twice in the guide — once in the season table and once in the furbearer rules — which is a fair signal that DNR means it.⁴⁶

Can you hunt coyotes on Sunday in MD?

Sometimes, and it depends on your county. Maryland has not repealed its Sunday restrictions the way Pennsylvania did; it runs a county-by-county schedule instead.

Sunday hunting for certain furbearers is permitted with restrictions in some counties and locations. See the Sunday hunting chart.⁵

Every season table in the guide carries the same warning: “ALL SUNDAY HUNTING DATES ARE IN CERTAIN COUNTIES ONLY, SEE CHART.”⁴

There is no statewide Sunday answer for Maryland coyote hunting, so here is the chart, read for coyotes.

Thirteen of Maryland’s twenty-four jurisdictions permit it. The rest do not.

Everywhere else, no. Anne Arundel, Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Carroll, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George’s and Talbot are not on the furbearer chart, and a coyote may not be hunted there on a Sunday.⁷

Three traps in that table.

Talbot County is the one to watch. It is on Maryland’s Sunday small game chart and it is not on the furbearer chart. Rabbits and squirrels on a Talbot Sunday, yes. Coyotes, no. The two charts sit two pages apart in the guide and look almost identical.⁷

The 10:30 am cut-off is real and it is most of the state’s open counties. Seven of the thirteen stop at half past ten, which for a coyote hunter means the morning stand and nothing else.

And on Wildlife Management Areas only trapping permit holders or their appointees may hunt furbearers at all between 15 November and 15 March — the heart of the season.⁷

† Designated public lands is a named list, not a general permission. For the counties above it means: Allegany — Billmeyer-Belle Grove WMA, Dan’s Mountain WMA, Green Ridge SF, McCoole FMA, Sideling Hill WMA, Warrior Mountain WMA. Cecil — C&D Canal Lands, Earlville WMA, Grove Farm WMA, Old Bohemia WMA. Garrett — Cunningham Swamp WMA, Garrett SF, Mt. Nebo WMA, Potomac SF, Savage River SF. St. Mary’s — Salem SF, Saint Inigoes SF. Washington — Indian Springs WMA, Prather’s Neck WMA, Sideling Hill WMA. Wicomico — Ellis Bay WMA, Chesapeake Forest Lands, Johnson WMA, Nanticoke River WMA, Wetipquin WMA. Worcester — Chesapeake Forest Lands, E. A. Vaughn WMA, Hickory Pt. Wildlands, Isle of Wight WMA, Pocomoke SF, Pocomoke River WMA.⁷

An unarmed person in an organized fox chase may chase on Sundays, and falconers have their own Sunday provision.⁸

Can you hunt coyotes during deer or big game season?

Yes — and coyote is expressly carved out of the strictest day of the year:

It is unlawful to hunt any animal other than deer on the first day of Deer Firearms Season, except coyotes.⁸

That exception appears three times in the guide, which is unusual emphasis.⁸⁶

Hunter orange is not required for furbearers:

Daylight fluorescent color clothing is not required to hunt or trap furbearers.⁵

Wear it anyway during firearms deer season. The rule is about who is legally required to.

Night hunting in MD

Can you hunt coyotes at night in Maryland?

Yes, every night of the year, in every county, with no permit beyond the Furbearer Permit and no season window:

Coyotes may be hunted, day and night, year-round in all counties.⁶

That is one of the most open night-hunting positions in the Mid-Atlantic. There is no dated night season as in Maine or New Hampshire, no deer-season blackout as in Ohio, and no landowner filing.

The one structural condition is that you must be on foot — see lights below.

Can you use artificial lights for coyote hunting in MD?

Yes on foot, and never from a vehicle. Maryland separates those two hard.

The permission:

The use of artificial light and/or dogs is permitted while hunting coyotes, foxes, opossums or raccoons on foot.⁶

And the guide repeats it in the safety section:

Note: coyotes, foxes, opossums or raccoons may be hunted on foot at nighttime during open season with the use of a dog and light.⁸

The prohibition, which is its own offence:

It is a violation of law to cast the rays of an artificial light from a vehicle on dwellings or buildings, fields, livestock, orchards, wild mammals and birds, or woods.⁸

There is a narrow, non-hunting carve-out: in Baltimore City, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties a person may cast an artificial light from a vehicle purely to observe or photograph wildlife until 9 p.m., and may not have a hunting device in their possession while doing so.⁸

So the rule is simple in practice: get out of the truck. Walking with a light is expressly lawful; scanning from the cab is not, whether or not you are hunting.

Can you use night vision in MD?

Nothing prohibits it, but Maryland names some optics and not others, so this needs saying carefully.

The guide expressly permits two:

Telescopic and laser sights may be used on all devices legal for hunting furbearers.⁶

Checked for the rest, in order:

• The furbearer rules, which permit artificial light, dogs, electronic calls, telescopic and laser sights — and name no other optic.⁶
• The season table, which sets no equipment condition on coyote at all.⁴
• The general hunting and safety rules, which cover lights from vehicles, drones, safety zones and roads — and name no optic.⁸

Maryland regulates hunting methods by prohibition, so a device the rules do not prohibit is not thereby unlawful, and night vision is not prohibited anywhere in the guide.

An absence is not a permission, though, and Maryland has shown with “telescopic and laser sights” that it is willing to name optics when it wants to. Confirm with the Wildlife and Heritage Service on 410-260-8540 before buying for Maryland specifically.

Can you use thermal in MD?

The same answer and the same search as night vision above — Maryland addresses neither device.

Maryland is the weakest of the Mid-Atlantic states on this question, and the contrast is worth knowing before you buy. Pennsylvania names “night-vision and infrared (thermal) optics” and permits gun mounting. New York names “spotlights, night vision, and thermal and laser devices” and permits gun mounting. Maryland names telescopic and laser sights and stops.

That is not a prohibition. It is a gap — and given that Maryland’s neighbours have closed theirs, it is a reasonable thing to ask DNR to close too.

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

No night-specific weapon restriction. The firearms, archery and airgun permissions below apply day and night alike, and the season table treats them as one category.⁴

The night-specific conditions are about method rather than weapon: on foot, with a light and/or dogs, not from a vehicle.⁶⁸

Firearms, ammunition & suppressors in MD

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

Broad, and airguns are expressly included:

Firearms, archery equipment and air guns may be used to hunt coyote, fisher, gray fox, opossum, raccoon, red fox and skunk⁶

The season table carries the same heading — “COYOTE: Firearms, Archery and Airgun Hunting.”⁴

Telescopic and laser sights are permitted on all devices legal for hunting furbearers, which is broader than Pennsylvania, where laser-light beams are prohibited.⁶

Air guns get their own provision, and it is wider than most states’:

Air guns that shoot bolts, bullets, or arrows may be used to take coyote, fisher, gray fox, opossum, raccoon, red fox and skunk.⁹

Note that Maryland permits an air gun firing bolts or arrows as well as bullets — an airbow is lawful for coyotes here. It is unlawful to have a loaded air gun in, on or leaning against a vehicle, and an air gun with the projectile removed counts as unloaded.⁹

Are suppressors allowed for coyote hunting in MD?

Yes, subject to Maryland’s own possession rules — and the hunting guide is silent, which is not the same thing.

The Guide to Hunting & Trapping contains no suppressor or silencer provision, so there is no wildlife-law prohibition on using one. But the wildlife code is the wrong book for this question — suppressor possession in Maryland is governed by state firearms law and requires compliance with both that and the federal National Firearms Act.

Confirm your own position under Maryland firearms law before hunting with one, and carry your ATF paperwork. Do not treat the guide’s silence as authorization.

Are there any ammunition restrictions?

None specific to coyotes in the furbearer rules.⁶

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

Yes. Maryland places no caliber restriction on coyote hunting.⁶

A rimfire is legal and undergunned on a Maryland coyote — DNR puts average adults at 30 to 40 pounds with some approaching 60.³ Use a centerfire.

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

Not in the hunting regulations. Maryland’s general firearms law governs magazine capacity irrespective of hunting, and the Guide to Hunting & Trapping does not address it.

As with suppressors, check Maryland firearms law rather than the hunting guide — the guide’s silence is not permission.

Calls, decoys, bait & dogs in MD

Are electronic calls allowed for coyote hunting in Maryland?

Yes, expressly:

Coyotes, fishers, foxes, opossums, raccoons and skunks can be hunted with the aid of electronic calling devices.⁶

DNR’s species page notes the state established “a year round harvest season by predator calling,” so calling is the method Maryland built the season around.³

Are decoys allowed for coyote hunting in MD?

Yes, including motion decoys. Nothing in the furbearer rules restricts them.⁶

Is baiting allowed for coyote hunting in Maryland?

The furbearer rules impose no bait prohibition on coyote hunting, and Maryland’s detailed baiting restrictions are written for deer and for migratory birds.

Two cautions. Baiting rules for deer attach to the land, so a bait site can compromise ground you also hunt for deer. And on state land, area-specific rules apply — check the property before placing anything.

Given that the state permits lights, dogs and electronic calls, calling is the tool Maryland’s rules are built around.

Can you use dogs to hunt coyotes in MD?

Yes, and at night as well — dogs are named in the same permission as lights:

The use of artificial light and/or dogs is permitted while hunting coyotes, foxes, opossums or raccoons on foot.⁶

A Furbearer Permit is required to chase a furbearer as well as to hunt or trap one, so dog handlers need it too.⁵

Note the contest ban’s carve-out: lawful dog training and dog performance competitions are expressly excluded from the killing-contest prohibition.¹

Private property, vehicles & public land access in MD

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

On rural private land, yes, with permission — and a landowner dealing with a coyote damaging their property needs no Furbearer Permit at all.⁵

Maryland’s safety zones are strict and they are what govern near houses:

• A person may not shoot at any wild bird or mammal while it is within the safety zone, and there are restrictions on hunting between 50 and 100 yards of any building or camp occupied by human beings.⁸
• It is unlawful to discharge a firearm within 300 yards of a school while hunting, during school hours or when the building is occupied. This does not apply to colleges, universities or home schools.⁸

Maryland also allows landowners to mark boundaries with blue paint stripes — vertical marks at least 2 inches wide and 8 inches long, centerd 3 to 6 feet above the ground, in bright blue oil-based paint. Treat blue paint as a posted sign.⁸

Can you hunt coyotes from a motorized vehicle in MD?

No, and the light rule makes it doubly so. Casting the rays of an artificial light from a vehicle onto fields, woods, livestock, buildings or wild mammals is a violation in its own right,⁸ and the coyote night permission is expressly limited to hunting on foot.⁶

It is also against the law to shoot on, from or across any public road.⁶

Drones are prohibited: it is unlawful to use a drone to hunt, trap or pursue wildlife, with a narrow exception for recovering already-taken game.⁸

Can you hunt coyotes on public land in MD?

Yes on much of it — Maryland has state forests, wildlife management areas and Chesapeake Forest lands open to hunting.

Area rules vary, and the Sunday hunting chart is location-specific as well as county-specific.⁵ Check the individual area before planning, particularly for a night hunt.

Is it legal to trap or snare coyotes in Maryland?

Yes, with a Furbearer Permit and a Certificate of Trapper Education, on the dated seasons above — 31 October to 15 February east of the Chesapeake Bay and Susquehanna River, 14 November to 28 February west of them.⁴⁵

Note that unlike hunting, trapping is not year-round. It is also unlawful to tamper with or remove the catch from any legally set trap.⁸

Is it legal to poison coyotes in MD?

No. Poison is not a lawful method of take in Maryland, 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 MD?

Yes, five kinds:

• The Sunday hunting chart, which is county and location specific.⁵
• Safety zones around occupied buildings, and the 300-yard school rule.⁸
• The vehicle light prohibition, statewide.⁸
• State land area rules.
• Municipal discharge ordinances, particularly in the Baltimore–Washington corridor.

After the shot: pelts, bounties & contests in MD

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

No tagging or sealing requirement for coyote. Maryland’s furbearer tagging regime is aimed at other species, and the guide’s coyote entry imposes no check-in.⁴

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

Selling lawfully taken pelts is permitted. Commercial fur dealing is separately regulated — confirm with the Wildlife and Heritage Service on 410-260-8540 before a first commercial sale.

Maryland coyote fur is modest. Western Maryland animals in January and February are the best of it.

Is there a coyote bounty program in Maryland?

No state bounty. Maryland manages the coyote with a year-round open season and no limit rather than with payments — and given the contest ban below, a bounty would sit awkwardly with state policy.

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

No to the first — and Maryland’s position is unusual for its geography rather than for existing at all.

Contest bans are a western phenomenon. California was first in 2014, and New Mexico (2019), Washington (2020), Oregon (2023), Arizona and Colorado followed. Maryland is the only state east of the Mississippi with a full statutory ban — North Carolina prohibits them only on public land, and every other eastern state on this site permits them.

Since 1 July 2021 Maryland has prohibited organized killing contests:

(a) In general. — A person may not sponsor, conduct, or participate in a contest organized in the State that has the objective of killing a coyote, fox, or raccoon for prizes or monetary rewards.

(b) Construction of section. — This section does not apply to: (1) A landowner or the landowner’s agent or lessee from killing coyotes, foxes, or raccoons on property of the landowner, provided that the killing is not part of an organized contest; or (2) Lawful dog training or dog performance competitions.

(c) Penalty. — A person is subject to a fine of $50 for each coyote, fox, or raccoon killed in violation of subsection (a).¹

Read the three parts carefully, because they are narrower and wider than people assume.

The prohibition covers sponsoring, conducting or participating — so an entrant is caught, not just an organizer. It reaches contests “organized in the State,” which is what determines whether Maryland law applies. And the penalty is per animal, so a good day at an unlawful contest is an expensive one.

What it does not cover: ordinary hunting for no prize, landowner control that is not part of a contest, and dog trials.

Can you hunt in Maryland for an out-of-state contest? The statute bites on contests organized in the State. A Maryland hunter entering a contest organized elsewhere is in a genuinely uncertain position, and “participate” is a broad verb. This is the one question on this page worth a call to DNR on 410-260-8540 before you act, because the downside is a per-animal fine and a wildlife conviction.

Coyotes in MD

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

Yes, statewide — and Maryland can date their arrival precisely.

Coyotes were first documented in Maryland in 1972, with initial substantiated sightings in Cecil, Frederick and Washington counties. Coyotes now occur statewide, with the highest densities in western Maryland and the lowest densities on the Eastern Shore.³

That west-to-east gradient is the single most useful planning fact about Maryland: Garrett and Allegany counties hold the most coyotes, and the Eastern Shore the fewest.

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

Are Maryland coyotes dangerous to people or pets?

To people, very rarely. To pets, DNR is direct about it — coyotes “may prey on local dogs and cats,” and the department notes a telling local sign:

A localized indicator of the presence of coyotes may be a rapid decline in the free ranging cat population.³

For farmers the concern is sheep, poultry and calves, and the Furbearer Permit exemption for landowners exists precisely for property damage.⁵

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

DNR gives a longer breeding window than most states:

Breeding season encompasses late January through March, and litters average 5–6 pups.³

Maryland’s animals are also on the large side — “average adult weights range from approximately 30 to 40 lbs., with some individuals approaching 60 lbs.”³

February is the month. Breeding is under way, the fur is prime, and because the season never closes there is nothing to schedule around except the Sunday chart.

When are coyotes most active in Maryland?

First and last light year-round, with heavy night movement. Because Maryland puts no restriction on hunting hours in any county and expressly permits lights, dogs and electronic calls, night is fully open — and in the western mountains 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 MD

Maryland is an easy state to hunt and an easy state to get one specific thing wrong. Five things to get right:

Buy the Furbearer Permit. A hunting license alone does not cover coyotes. The exception is a landowner dealing with damage on their own land.

Get out of the truck. The night permission is written for a hunter on foot, and casting a light from a vehicle is a separate offence anywhere in the state.

Contests are illegal — including participating. $50 per animal, and the verb covers entrants as well as organizers. Dog trials and ordinary landowner control are excluded.

Check the Sunday chart for your county. Maryland did not follow Pennsylvania’s 2025 repeal; it runs county-specific Sunday dates instead, and there is no statewide answer.

Trapping is dated and split by the Bay — 31 October to 15 February east, 14 November to 28 February west. Hunting is year-round; trapping is not.

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

No. Maryland prohibits the possession of certain wild animals as pets and a coyote is not an animal a private individual may keep. Permits exist for rehabilitation, exhibition and research rather than for households, and county ordinances add their own prohibitions.

If you have found an orphaned pup, contact the Wildlife and Heritage Service at 410-260-8540 or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator rather than keeping it.

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