Kentucky Coyote Hunting Laws and Night Hunting Regulations

Kentucky coyote hunting laws let you take coyotes every day of the year with no daily or seasonal bag limit, on a standard hunting license, using a wide range of weapons in daylight. The rules get more restrictive at night, on public land, and during any overlapping deer, elk, or bear firearm season, and those are the places hunters most often run into trouble.¹

Season and Bag Limits

Under 301 KAR 2:251, coyote hunting is open year-round with no closed period and no bag limit. You can harvest as many coyotes as you encounter, whenever you encounter them.¹

Trapping is separate. Coyotes may only be trapped during the furbearer trapping season, which opens at sunrise on the third day of modern gun deer season and closes at the end of February. Outside that window, hunting is your only legal take method.¹

License and Hunter Education

Anyone hunting coyotes in Kentucky needs a valid hunting license. The annual resident license costs roughly $27; nonresidents pay around $160. Fees shift slightly year to year, so confirm current pricing with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources before you buy.²

KRS 150.170 exempts resident farmland owners, their spouses, dependent children, and tenants living on the property from needing a license to hunt during open seasons on that specific farmland. It’s narrower than many hunters assume: it applies to bona fide farmland ownership, not any residential property, and it does not cover trapping.³

Hunter education certification is required for anyone 12 or older born on or after January 1, 1975. Carry proof while hunting. Youth under 12 without certification may hunt only under direct supervision of an adult 18 or older who meets the education requirement.

Legal Weapons During Daylight

Kentucky is permissive during daylight. The regulation lists centerfire firearms, rimfire firearms, shotguns of 10 gauge or smaller, muzzleloaders, bows, crossbows, and air guns firing pellets of at least .22 caliber. Breech-loading shotguns must be plugged to hold no more than three shells total. Slugs are legal in daylight.¹

Electronic calls, mouth calls, mechanical calls, and decoys are all explicitly permitted. Suppressors are legal for hunting if you hold the required federal tax stamp. There is no caliber restriction and no furbearer-specific magazine limit for daytime coyote hunting on private land.

Night Hunting

Coyotes can be taken after dark year-round, but what you can carry and how you can see them depends on the calendar and the land.

When You Can Use Lights, Night Vision, or Thermal

Artificial lights, night-vision devices, and thermal imagers may only be used during two windows each year: December 1 through March 31, and May 16 through June 30. Outside those dates you can still hunt at night, but no device designed to make wildlife visible in the dark is legal. For most hunters, that limits effective night hunting to those two periods.¹

Even in the light-use windows, no light or night-vision device may be connected to or cast from a motorized vehicle. Hunters with a valid Mobility-Impaired Access Permit or Hunting Methods Exemption Vehicle Permit may use a stationary vehicle as a platform, but still cannot attach lights to it.

Weapon Restrictions After Dark

Night weapon rules split by land type and, on private land, by whether you’re inside a light-use window.

Public land, any time of year: bow, crossbow, or shotgun only. Shotgun slugs are prohibited. No rifles, no muzzleloaders.
Private land outside the light-use windows: same as public land. Bow, crossbow, or shotgun only, no slugs.
Private land during the light-use windows (Dec 1–Mar 31 and May 16–Jun 30): bows, crossbows, and shotguns are legal, plus muzzleloaders of .54 caliber or less, shotgun slugs, and any modern firearm including rifles and pistols.

The expanded private-land options during the light-use windows are why serious coyote hunters concentrate their nighttime activity in those months.¹

Firearm Season Blackout

Night hunting for coyotes is prohibited in any county or area where a deer or elk firearm or muzzleloader season is currently open. Because modern gun deer season falls inside the December 1–March 31 window, you lose some prime nights to this rule. Check current season dates and county boundaries before heading out.¹

Hunter Orange During Overlapping Seasons

Coyote hunting is open year-round, but during modern gun, muzzleloader, and youth firearm deer seasons, and during any firearm elk or bear season, every hunter and anyone accompanying them must wear solid, unbroken hunter orange visible from all sides on the head, back, and chest. This applies even if you’re only targeting coyotes. Ground blinds must display at least 144 square inches of hunter orange visible from any direction during those seasons.⁴

One carve-out matters here: hunter orange is not required when hunting furbearers at night during a legal furbearer season. In daylight hours during an overlapping firearm season, it absolutely is.

Public Land Rules

Many Wildlife Management Areas allow coyote hunting, but individual WMAs often add restrictions on top of the statewide rules. Some prohibit night coyote hunting entirely, and some limit hunting to daylight hours. Beaver Creek WMA and Cane Creek WMA restrict coyote hunting to daylight; University of the Cumberlands WMA prohibits night coyote hunting altogether.⁵ Review the area-specific brochure before you go.⁶

National forest land in Kentucky follows state hunting seasons and licensing, with additional U.S. Forest Service rules. Firearms and bows must be cased and unloaded in recreation areas. Discharging a firearm within 150 yards of a developed recreation site, residence, or place where people are likely to gather is prohibited, as is shooting across a Forest Service road or body of water. Only portable stands and blinds are allowed.⁷

Trespass and Permission

KRS 150.092 requires oral or written permission from the landowner, tenant, or authorized person before entering private land to hunt.⁸ Penalties under KRS 150.990 for a hunting trespass violation run $100 to $1,000, imprisonment from 30 days to one year, or both, plus possible license forfeiture and liability for the replacement cost of any wildlife taken.⁹

Other Penalties

General fish and wildlife violations without a specific penalty carry a fine of $50 to $500. That covers most equipment and licensing infractions. Spotlighting from a vehicle is treated more seriously: conservation officers can seize equipment used in the violation, and repeat offenders face escalating fines and longer license suspensions. Equipment forfeiture and license revocation frequently cost more than the fine itself.⁹

A Note on Trapping

Trapping coyotes is regulated separately from hunting them. It requires a trapping license, is limited to the furbearer trapping season, and carries its own equipment rules including trap size limits, 24-hour check requirements, tagging, and spacing restrictions on private land.¹ If you’re planning to trap rather than hunt, none of the year-round hunting allowances apply.

1
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 301 KAR 2:251 – Hunting and Trapping Seasons and Limits for Furbearers
2
Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. License and Permit Fees
3
Justia Law. Kentucky Code 150.170 – Requirement of Hunting, Fishing, Trapping, or Guides License
4
Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. Hunting Regulations
5
Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife. Public Lands Hunting
6
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 301 KAR 2:049 – Small Game and Furbearer Hunting and Trapping on Public Areas
7
U.S. Forest Service. Hunting
8
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 150.092 – Consent Requirement for Entry Upon Lands of Another Person
9
Justia Law. Kentucky Code 150.990 – Penalties