Minnesota Coyote Hunting Laws: Seasons, Weapons, and Night Rules

Minnesota coyote hunting laws classify the coyote as an unprotected wild animal, which means you can hunt coyotes year-round, with no bag limit, and without a hunting license — resident or nonresident.¹ That makes coyote hunting one of the least regulated activities in Minnesota’s game and fish code. It does not make it unregulated. Rules on lights, night vision, weapons, blaze clothing, and trespass all still apply, and the penalties for getting them wrong are real.

Do You Need a License

No. The DNR’s 2025–2026 regulations booklet states that residents and nonresidents “are not required to have a license to hunt unprotected species including coyote.”² This is the main practical difference between coyotes and small game species like rabbits or pheasants, which do require a small game license under Section 97B.601.³

If you plan to hunt coyotes and small game in the same outing, you need the small game license for the other species. A resident small game license is $22 and a nonresident license is $102. Shorter 72-hour licenses are $19 for residents and $75 for nonresidents.⁴

Anyone born after December 31, 1979, who is over 12 must complete the Minnesota Firearms Safety and Hunter Education course before buying any firearms hunting license.⁵ That requirement is tied to buying a license, so it does not attach to coyote-only hunting on its face. The course still covers what you need for predator work, especially at night.

Season and Bag Limits

The season is continuous. Coyotes may be hunted every day of the year with no daily or season bag limit.⁶ The DNR describes unprotected mammals as animals that “may be taken in any manner,” but two hard prohibitions apply regardless:²

No artificial lights except during the January 1 through March 15 night-hunting window.
No motor vehicle pursuit. Minnesota law prohibits using a motor vehicle to drive, chase, run over, or kill any wild animal.⁷

Minnesota’s wanton waste law covers only protected wild animals. Because coyotes are unprotected, there is no legal duty to retrieve or use the carcass.⁸

Legal Weapons and Calls

Firearms

Shotguns, rifles, and handguns are all legal for coyotes during daylight hunting. During the January 1 through March 15 night-hunting period, the weapon must be a shotgun.⁹ Nontoxic ammunition is required on certain public lands, including federal waterfowl production areas, national wildlife refuges, state parks during special hunts, specially designated wildlife management areas, and scientific and natural areas open to firearms hunting.¹⁰ If you hunt coyotes on those lands, the same rule applies to you.

Archery

Bows are legal. Minnesota law generally prohibits crossbows and any bow drawn, held, or released by a mechanical device unless you hold a disabled hunter permit.¹¹ Standard release aids are fine so long as you draw and hold under your own strength. The 30-pound minimum draw weight in the statute applies to big game, turkey, and wolves, not to coyotes.

Electronic and Mouth Calls

Electronic and remote-controlled animal noise callers are legal for taking unprotected animals, including coyotes.¹² Mouth calls are legal as well. The general prohibition on radio equipment for taking big or small game does not reach unprotected species.

Night Hunting From January 1 Through March 15

This is the only window when you can hunt coyotes at night with an artificial handheld light. The rules are specific:⁹

You must be on foot.
You must use a shotgun. No rifles, no handguns.
You must use a calling device, handheld or electronic.
You cannot be within a public road right-of-way.
You cannot be within 200 feet of a motor vehicle.

The 200-foot vehicle distance catches people. Setting up on a field edge next to your parked truck is a violation even if everything else about the hunt is legal.

Night Vision and Thermal Imaging

Minnesota generally prohibits possessing night vision or thermal imaging equipment while hunting or carrying a firearm or bow in the field.¹³ Coyote hunting during the January 1 through March 15 night-hunting period is one of the few exceptions. You may use night vision, night vision with infrared illuminators, and thermal imaging during that window.² One hard limit: you cannot possess this equipment during the regular firearms deer season, even if you are only after coyotes.

Outside the night-hunting window, simply carrying thermal or night vision gear while carrying a firearm is a violation, even with the gear switched off. If you are transporting the equipment, the firearm must be unloaded and fully enclosed in a case inside a closed trunk, or the rearmost area of a vehicle without a trunk.¹³

Blaze Clothing and Deer Season Overlap

Coyote hunters are exempt from Minnesota’s blaze clothing requirements for most of the year. The DNR lists hunting raccoons and predators — coyote, fox, and bobcat — as exceptions to the general small game blaze rule.¹⁴

That exemption disappears during the firearms or muzzleloader deer season. While either is open, every hunter and trapper in the field, regardless of species pursued, must wear blaze orange or blaze pink on the visible portion of their cap and outer clothing above the waist, excluding sleeves and gloves.¹⁴ Camouflage patterns qualify if at least 50 percent of each square foot is blaze orange or pink. If you plan to hunt coyotes in November or December, expect to wear blaze.

Trespass on Private Land

Minnesota’s trespass rules for hunters are stricter than many people assume. You may not enter agricultural land or posted land for hunting without first getting permission from the owner, occupant, or lessee.¹⁵ “Agricultural land” is defined broadly. It covers plowed or tilled ground, land with standing crops or crop residue, fenced livestock areas, and planted grassland or hay land. Most rural land outside of forest tracts qualifies.

If a landowner personally tells you not to enter for outdoor recreation, that prohibition runs a full year. Posted signs are not required. A verbal notice is enough.¹⁶

A basic trespass violation is a misdemeanor. It escalates to a gross misdemeanor if you knowingly ignore posted signs, trespass after personal notice from the landowner, or are convicted of trespass more than once in a three-year period.¹⁷ A misdemeanor carries fines up to $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail. A gross misdemeanor can mean fines up to $3,000.¹⁶ A trespass conviction while hunting voids licenses in hand, and a gross misdemeanor conviction bars you from any game license for two years.

Trapping Coyotes

Trapping is legal and carries more paperwork than hunting with a firearm. Taking small game with traps requires both a trapping license and a small game license. Coyotes are unprotected rather than small game, so the licensing picture for trapping coyotes specifically is less clear. Check with the DNR before setting traps. Nonresidents may only trap on land they own and must hold both a trapping license and a small game license.³

Every trapper must follow Minnesota’s mandatory check intervals. Standard traps capable of capturing a protected wild animal must be tended at least once every calendar day. Body-gripping (conibear) traps must be checked at least once every third calendar day, as must drowning sets.¹⁸ These intervals also help limit incidental capture of non-target species, including Canada lynx.¹⁹

Penalties Worth Keeping in Mind

Beyond trespass, a few violations carry consequences that catch coyote hunters. Using a motor vehicle to chase or kill a wild animal violates Section 97B.091 and is a misdemeanor.⁷ Possessing night vision or thermal equipment while carrying a firearm outside the legal coyote night-hunting window is a violation of Section 97B.086.¹³ Using artificial lights to hunt coyotes outside January 1 through March 15, or breaking the on-foot, shotgun-only, or 200-foot vehicle rules during that window, violates Section 97B.081.⁹

Game and fish violations in Minnesota generally result in misdemeanor charges, with fines and potential license revocations. Conservation officers have broad enforcement authority, and encounters are more common during the night-hunting season when officers know hunters are active after dark.

1
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Chapter 97A Full – Section 97A.015 Subdivision 53
2
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Hunting and Trapping Regulations Booklet 2025-2026
3
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97B.601 – Small-Game Licenses
4
Minnesota DNR. Hunting Licenses
5
Minnesota DNR. Hunter Education and Firearms Safety
6
Minnesota DNR. Small Game Hunting – Limits
7
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97B.091 – Using Motor Vehicles to Chase Wild Animals Prohibited
8
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97A.031 – Wanton Waste
9
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97B.081 – Restrictions on Use of Artificial Lights
10
Minnesota DNR. Nontoxic Ammunition
11
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97B.035 – Restrictions on Archery Equipment
12
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97B.085 – Using Radios to Take Animals
13
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97B.086 – Possessing Night Vision or Thermal Imaging Equipment
14
Minnesota DNR. Blaze Clothing Requirements
15
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97B.001 – Trespass
16
North Dakota Legislative Branch. Neighboring States Land Access Statutes – Minnesota
17
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 97A.315 – Trespass
18
Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Rules Part 6234.2200 – Trap Tending Intervals
19
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Trapping and Furbearers