Coyote Hunting Newfoundland and Labrador, Laws, Regulations, Season, & License Info

Classification and licence

What is the classification of coyotes in Newfoundland and Labrador?

The coyote is its own category here — it has its own Part of the regulations. The Wild Life Regulations define game as including “big game, small game, fur bearing animals, coyote and porcupine,” listing the coyote separately from all three, and then give it Part V.1 to itself: a coyote licence, a coyote open season and a coyote prohibition.^{1 2}

That is unusual, and it matters more than it sounds. Every other province on this site answers the coyote question by asking which existing box the animal falls into. Newfoundland built it a box. The consequence runs through this whole page: rules written for “big game” do not reach it, rules written for “small game” do not automatically reach it either, and the ones written for “any game” always do.

Is a hunting licence required to hunt coyotes in Newfoundland?

Yes — the Small Game/Coyote/Wolf Shooting Licence, which is one licence covering all three:³

• Resident — $10.00
• Resident senior — $6.50
• Non-resident, Canadian citizen — $50.00
• Non-resident, non-Canadian citizen — $100.00

Two conditions come with it. You must be 12 years of age or older to hunt coyote with a firearm, and 12- to 15-year-olds must be under the direct and immediate supervision of someone who can lawfully possess firearms.⁴ And the regulations require you to carry the licence on your person while hunting — not in the truck.²

The prices above split by citizenship, not just residency, which is rare. See what a non-resident needs.

Season

What is the season for coyote hunting in Newfoundland?

12 September 2026 to 15 July 2027, province-wide, with no bag limit.⁵

Ten months open, one province, one set of dates. No zones, no management units, no split between the island and Labrador. After Québec’s eight-zone table and Ontario’s north–south divide, Newfoundland’s season is the simplest in Canada — and the second longest, behind only Nova Scotia’s full calendar year.

Note where the closure falls: 15 July to 12 September. That is late summer, not spring — so unlike PEI, which shuts through the denning months, Newfoundland stays open right through whelping and closes when the pups are half grown.

The wolf line beside it is not decoration. Read wolves and hybrids before you shoot a large canid here, because the two animals share a licence, occupy the same ground and are not always separable in the field.

Non-residents

Can a non-resident hunt coyotes in Newfoundland?

Yes, unguided — and after three Maritime provinces that all say otherwise, this one is worth reading twice:

“Non-resident big game hunters are required to be accompanied by licenced guides. Guides are supplied by licenced outfitters. Non-resident small game, coyote, wolf or waterfowl hunters do not require guides.”⁶

No guide. No resident companion. No permit for the person you bring. New Brunswick requires a licensed guide, Nova Scotia a guide or a resident holding a Special Permit to Guide, and PEI any licensed resident hunter. Newfoundland requires nobody. For an American who wants to hunt Atlantic Canada alone, this is the only door of the four that opens.

The licence is $100 for a non-Canadian citizen, or $50 if you are Canadian.³ Note that the split is on citizenship, not province of residence — an Albertan pays $50 and an American pays $100, and both are non-residents.

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

The .225 ceiling

What firearms are allowed for coyote hunting in Newfoundland?

The cap is in the regulations themselves, not just the guide:

“The holder of a coyote licence may hunt, take or kill coyote with a centre-fire rifle not greater than .225 calibre or a shotgun using shot size 2 or larger.”²

That ceiling admits most of the coyote rifles and excludes the deer rifles. A .223 Remington, a .22-250, a .220 Swift and a .204 Ruger are all inside it. A .243 is not, and neither is anything in .25, .270 or .30. It is a far more workable limit than PEI’s .22 rimfire ceiling next door, and close in spirit to Rhode Island’s .229.

But the centre-fire rifle is not available all year, and this is the part that catches visitors. Three separate provisions decide what you may carry on any given day:

⁷

So on the island through autumn — exactly when most people would go — the coyote gun is a shotgun or a rimfire, because the centre-fire rifle is shut off for the moose season.⁷ Plan for that before you book, and see the rifle comparison for what fits under .225.

Are there other ways to take a coyote here?

Two, and both are useful:⁷

• On a big game licence. A holder of a valid moose, caribou or black bear licence “may harvest coyotes during the open season for those species and in the management area for which their licence is valid,” using the firearms that licence authorizes — which is how a moose hunter lawfully shoots a coyote with a .30-06 during the very season the .225 cap would otherwise bite. The licence becomes invalid once its tags are filled.
• On a trapping licence. Trappers may shoot coyote with rifles up to .225 calibre during the open trapping seasons, again except on the island during the moose season.

Are suppressors allowed?

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

Night, lights and optics

Can you hunt coyotes at night in Newfoundland?

This needs the exact words, because the two halves of the rule are scoped differently and most summaries flatten them. Section 42 of the Wild Life Regulations is headed “Hunting at night” and reads:

“(1) A person shall not make use of or take advantage of any artificial light or device involving the use of artificial light to hunt, take or kill any game.

(2) A person shall not hunt, take or kill big game during the period commencing one-half hour after sunset on any day and ending one-half hour before sunrise on the day next following.”⁸

Subsection (1) says any game — and the regulations define game to include the coyote by name, so it reaches it. Subsection (2) says big game, and a coyote is not big game in Newfoundland.

The guide states the same split in its own words: the hunting-hours rule is printed under big game — “it is unlawful to hunt big game earlier than one-half hour before sunrise or later than one-half hour after sunset” — while the general prohibition is unqualified: “It is unlawful to hunt any game with night lights of any description.”^{9 10}

So the darkness prohibition is written for big game and the light prohibition is written for everything. What that leaves for a coyote hunter is a hunt with no light of any kind, which in practice is no night hunt at all — and the encasement duty that follows big game hunters outside legal hours is not written to follow you either.

Do not treat this page as clearance to hunt coyotes after dark in Newfoundland. The scoping is real and it is quoted above, but a rule that permits by omission is exactly the kind that gets tested by an officer rather than by a reader, and other provisions can bear on it. If you intend to hunt the edges of daylight, get it in writing from the Wildlife Division at 709-637-2025 first. Night hunting covers what the practice involves where it is squarely legal.

Can you use artificial lights, night vision or thermal?

A light, no — unambiguously. Section 42(1) bans making use of or taking advantage of any artificial light or device involving the use of artificial light to take any game. There is no calibre of exception for coyote, and the only carve-out in the section is for nuisance moose under written ministerial permission.⁸

Night vision and thermal are not named. A passive thermal sight emits no light, so it sits outside the literal words of 42(1) — but that is an argument, not a permission, and the province has not published one either way. Ask the Wildlife Division before you carry one.

Calls, bait and dogs

Are electronic calls allowed for coyote hunting in Newfoundland?

Yes. The only recorded-call prohibition in the province is written for migratory birds: “It is unlawful to use live birds as decoys or to use recorded bird calls when hunting migratory game birds.”¹¹

A coyote is not a migratory game bird, so the rule does not reach it and no exception is needed.

That makes ten provinces and ten mechanisms for one answer. British Columbia names the coyote as an exception to a general ban. Alberta names it and lists the permitted sounds. Saskatchewan scopes the ban to waterfowl. Manitoba scopes it to big game. Ontario scopes it to wild turkey. Québec authorizes the device outright. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI never legislated it. Newfoundland scopes it to migratory game birds. Ten rulebooks, ten routes, and not one of them obvious from the first clause you land on — see the best coyote call for what to run.

Is baiting allowed?

The province’s bait restrictions sit inside the migratory bird section and are written for migratory game birds — no bait deposited from 14 days before the season through the day after it closes, and no hunting within 400 metres of bait unless the place has been clear for seven days.¹¹ Nothing in the guide or the regulations addresses bait for a coyote.

Do not read that silence as permission. It means the question is unanswered, not answered yes.

Can you use dogs to hunt coyotes in Newfoundland?

This one is genuinely not settled by the published rules, and the honest answer is to ask before you run hounds.

Here is everything the province says. The regulations prohibit dogs for big game — “a person shall not use a dog for the purpose of hunting big game” — and separately provide that “a person who owns a dog shall not permit the dog to chase or harass wild life,” with an express exception: “notwithstanding subsection (3), dogs may be used to hunt and retrieve small game during the open seasons for that game.”¹²

The difficulty is the definition. Newfoundland lists coyote separately from small game, so the express permission in subsection (4) is not obviously written to cover it, while the general prohibition in subsection (3) plainly is. The guide adds a seasonal rule on top: it is unlawful to take a dog unleashed or let it run in any area frequented by wildlife from 1 April to 31 August, outside designated training areas — a window that overlaps the coyote season, which runs to 15 July.⁹

The rules bar dogs on big game, permit them on small game, and never mention the coyote. That is not a permission and it is not a prohibition. Ring the Wildlife Division at 709-637-2025 and get the answer in writing before you plan a hound hunt. This is the one question on this page the province has left open.

Wolves, hybrids and the $60 carcass

Is there a wolf problem for coyote hunters here?

Yes, and Newfoundland is paying people to help it find out how big. The island’s wolf was extirpated a century ago. It is back:

“The occurrence of the gray wolf (from Labrador) and wolf-coyote hybrid has been documented by Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Lands on the Island of Newfoundland.”¹³

That is the same problem Ontario has with the Eastern wolf, arriving from the other direction and much more recently. It is why the shooting licence covers both animals, why the wolf carries a bag limit of one while the coyote has none, and why a large canid on the island is not automatically a coyote.

What is the carcass collection programme?

The province and the outfitters’ association will together pay you up to $60 for the whole animal.

• $25 from the Wildlife Division — submit the entire canid carcass to the nearest Forestry, Agriculture and Lands office; it is tagged with a registration number for genetic analysis
• A further $35 from the NLOA — the Newfoundland and Labrador Outfitters Association's Canid Incentive Program, claimed by submitting harvest information directly to them, with forms available where you drop the carcass

¹³

It is not a bounty — it buys data, and it applies to coyotes, wolves and hybrids alike. But it is the only programme in Canada right now that puts money in a coyote hunter’s hand, which is a striking contrast with PEI a few hundred kilometres away, whose published policy refuses bounties outright, and with Nova Scotia, which has run and ended two.

Two related duties: in Labrador, wolf skulls or lower jaws must be submitted to the Wildlife Division office in Goose Bay no later than 14 May 2027, and hunters are asked not to shoot wolves carrying radio collars or ear tags.^{5 7}

After the shot

Do you have to report a coyote?

Yes. “Small game, coyote and trapping returns must be submitted within seven days of the season closing date.”¹⁴ It is a return on the season, not on each animal — but it is mandatory, and Newfoundland is explicit elsewhere that failing to file costs you future licences.

Can you sell a coyote or its pelt?

Yes, and unusually freely. The regulations say it in one line: “The holder of a coyote licence may sell the whole or any part of a coyote taken under that licence.”²

No fur dealer’s licence, no auction house requirement, no restriction on who may buy — which is the opposite of PEI, where a private sale is an offence, and of Québec, where selling or tanning needs a licence.

Can you take one out of the province?

Only with an export permit — and it is free. “If you have a valid hunting licence and an export permit, you may export or take out of the province any game legally taken. Export permits are available free from any Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Lands office.”⁹

Coyote is not CITES-listed, so there is no federal permit on the pelt. This is provincial paperwork and it costs nothing — but you have to stop and get it.

What else applies in the field?

The general prohibitions reach the coyote hunter along with everyone else:⁹

• No discharge within 300 m of a dwelling, or within 1,000 m of a school, playground or athletic field
• No discharge from or across a railway, public road or private road
• No loaded firearm on any vehicle, snow machine, ATV, boat or aircraft, and no chasing or harassing wildlife with one
• No aircraft — drones included — to search for or locate wildlife for hunting, yours or anyone else's
• No altered ammunition, and no second firearm unless it is cased or securely wrapped and tied
• Waste is an offence — harvested game suitable for food may not be destroyed, wasted or spoiled

Coyotes on the Rock

Are there coyotes in Newfoundland, and how did they get here?

Yes — and this is the most recent arrival of any jurisdiction on this site. The province tells the story in two dates:

“Wolf-like dogs” were first spotted crossing the ice near the Port au Port Peninsula in the spring of 1985, and “the first confirmed coyote on the Island was a pup hit by a car near Deer Lake in 1987.”¹⁵

They walked across the pack ice of the Gulf of St Lawrence, almost certainly from Cape Breton — the same crossing PEI’s coyotes made in 1983, over a much wider gap. By the mid-1990s they were throughout most of insular Newfoundland, and they are now confirmed in central and southern Labrador as well.¹⁵

The province considers them native. Not naturalized, not introduced — native, “because they extended their range naturally and through their own efforts.”¹⁵ That is a deliberate word, and it settles an argument that ran hot on the island for years about whether they had been released deliberately.

On numbers, the province currently publishes none, and older figures that circulate are attributed to a department that no longer exists. What it publishes instead is more telling: an active genetic monitoring programme, paid by the carcass, to establish the occurrence and distribution of coyotes, wolves and hybrids across both the island and Labrador.¹³ A jurisdiction that is still mapping its canids is not one with a settled population estimate.

How big are they, and what do they eat?

About 25 to 40 lb, four to five feet long and two feet at the shoulder, females smaller than males, capable of more than 60 km/h. The diet is opportunistic and distinctly Newfoundland: “caribou, moose carrion, snowshoe hare and other small mammals, birds, fruits and berries, garbage, birdseed, and on occasion, house pets.”¹⁵

Moose carrion and caribou at the top of that list is the local difference. On an island with one of the densest moose populations on earth and no other large predator, a Newfoundland coyote has a food supply most coyotes do not, and gut piles left through the autumn moose season are part of it. That is worth knowing when you decide where to set up. When to hunt covers the timing side.

Are Newfoundland coyotes dangerous?

The province’s position is the standard one, stated plainly: “Although attacks on humans are extremely rare, they can occur if a coyote becomes too comfortable around people and starts associating humans with food.”¹⁵

The Island’s coyotes have been present for about forty years and the province has not recorded the pattern of habituation that produces attacks elsewhere. Do not feed them, do not leave food or birdseed out, and keep pets in — the same advice every province on this site gives, for the same reason.