Yes, it is legal to shoot a coyote in Ohio. The state keeps coyote season open year-round with no daily or seasonal bag limit, so any day of the year is a legal day to hunt them.1Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:31-15-18 – Furbearing Animals Seasons and Bag Limits Whether you need a license, what equipment you can use, and when night hunting and rifles are off the table all depend on the situation, and the rules tighten sharply during deer firearm seasons.
License and Permit Requirements
Coyotes are classified as furbearers in Ohio, so recreational hunters generally need two things: a hunting license and a fur taker permit. A resident annual hunting license is $19. A non-resident annual license is $180.96, and the $40.56 three-day tourist license does not cover furbearers, meaning non-resident coyote hunters have to buy the full year.2Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Buy Hunting Licenses and Permits The resident fur taker permit is $15 including a $1 writing fee, with a discounted $8 rate for hunters 17 and under and 66 and older.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Department of Natural Resources Agency Fees 2026
Landowner Exemption
Landowners dealing with coyotes on their own property do not need a hunting license or fur taker permit to remove them, provided the animal is sick, injured, or a nuisance to livestock or property. You cannot charge a fee for nuisance coyote removal on someone else’s land unless you hold a commercial nuisance wild animal control operator license. Anyone hunting your land with your permission needs their own license and permit unless they qualify for the same exemption on their own adjacent property.
Legal Methods and Equipment
Ohio allows rifles, shotguns, handguns, and airguns for coyote hunting, along with the full range of archery equipment: longbows, compound bows, recurves, and crossbows. Night vision scopes are legal outside of deer firearm seasons.4Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Ohio Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2025-26
Calls, including electronic calls, are legal. The state’s furbearer rule specifically references hunting coyotes “with a call from a stationary position” when it lays out a lighting exception, which confirms the method.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:31-15-09 – Hunting and Trapping Regulations for Furbearing Animals
Night Hunting Rules
Night hunting is legal, which matters because coyotes are most active after dark. Anyone hunting furbearers between sunset and sunrise must carry a continuous white light visible from at least a quarter mile away. When two or more hunters are together, one light for the group is enough.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:31-15-09 – Hunting and Trapping Regulations for Furbearing Animals
There is a specific exception for stationary calling. If you are hunting coyotes with a call from a stationary position, you may use a continuous single-beam light of any color instead of the standard white light, which is what makes red and green predator lights legal for that style of hunting.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:31-15-09 – Hunting and Trapping Regulations for Furbearing Animals
Deer Firearm Season Restrictions
This is the trap that catches experienced hunters. During any deer gun or deer muzzleloader season, coyote hunters must follow deer-season rules across the board. That means legal deer hunting hours only, firearms and equipment restricted to what is legal for that particular deer season, and hunter orange clothing. Rifles and night vision scopes, both normally legal for coyotes, are prohibited during those windows.4Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Ohio Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2025-26
You also need both a hunting license and a valid deer permit to hunt coyotes during deer firearm seasons, even if you never plan to take a shot at a deer.4Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Ohio Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2025-26
Where You Can Hunt
On private land, you can hunt coyotes with the owner’s permission. On your own property, the landowner exemption covers nuisance removal without a license.
ODNR-managed public hunting areas allow coyote hunting, but individual areas may set their own rules on access, methods, and seasonal closures, so check the specific area before you go.6Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Hunting Area Maps National forests such as Wayne National Forest generally allow hunting under state law, but firearms cannot be discharged within 150 yards of a developed recreation site, residence, or other gathering place, and shooting across roads or bodies of water is prohibited.7US Forest Service. Hunting National wildlife refuges add further restrictions, including a ban on hunting over bait (except in Alaska) and a prohibition on attaching tree stands with nails, screws, or bolts.8eCFR. 50 CFR 32.2 – What Are the Requirements for Hunting on Areas of the National Wildlife Refuge System
Local ordinances are the other thing to watch. Many Ohio municipalities and some townships restrict or prohibit discharging firearms within their limits, and coyotes now show up regularly in suburban neighborhoods where those ordinances apply. State law permitting the hunt does not override a local no-discharge rule, so confirm the local status before shooting in or near any developed area.
Trapping Coyotes
Trapping is legal year-round. Permitted devices include foothold traps, body-gripping traps, cage traps, foot-encapsulating traps, and snares; traps with teeth on the gripping surface are banned. Land-set foothold traps are capped at a five and three-eighths inch inside jaw spread, with an exception up to six inches for traps meeting additional specifications, and body-gripping traps on land cannot exceed a five-inch jaw measurement. Every trap or snare needs a durable, waterproof tag with the trapper’s name and mailing address or ODNR customer ID. Traps must be checked once every calendar day, cannot be set within 150 feet of an occupied residence without notifying someone living there (unless you own the property), and cannot be placed on paths or roads used by people or domestic animals. Any flesh bait must be fully covered.5Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:31-15-09 – Hunting and Trapping Regulations for Furbearing Animals
One rule matters even if you never intend to trap: a live coyote must be euthanized or released on the spot. Relocating a trapped coyote elsewhere is illegal.9Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:31-15-03 – Nuisance Wild Animal Control
After the Harvest
There is no mandatory reporting requirement for coyotes taken in Ohio. You do not need to check in your harvest the way you would for a river otter.
Pelts can be kept and sold. You may possess furbearer pelts through June 15 of the year following the season in which they were taken, and licensed fur dealers are the legal buyers.10Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Fur Dealer Permit If you move pelts across state lines, the federal Lacey Act applies. It prohibits false labeling of any wildlife transported in interstate commerce, including pelts moved for personal reasons such as taxidermy, and violations can bring federal criminal charges even when the animal itself was legally taken.11Congress.gov. Criminal Lacey Act Offenses: An Overview of Selected Issues
Penalties for Violations
A general wildlife regulation violation is a fourth-degree misdemeanor in Ohio. More serious offenses, such as illegally buying or selling wild animals or parts worth $1,000 or more in aggregate, can be charged as a fifth-degree felony.12Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 1531.99 – Penalties A conviction can also suspend your hunting and trapping privileges on top of any fine or jail exposure.