Coyote Hunting Maine, Laws, Regulations, Season, & License Info

Coyote classification & license in Maine

What is the classification of coyotes in Maine?

A wild animal, and nothing more specific than that. Maine’s definitions section defines the category the coyote sits in:

Wild animal. “Wild animal” means a species of mammal, wild by nature, whether or not bred or reared in captivity, as distinguished from the common domestic animals, and includes any physical part of that species of animal.¹

There is no statutory definition of “furbearer,” “furbearing animal,” “game animal” or “predator” in that section at all. MDIFW groups coyote under Furbearers & Other Species Hunting in the lawbook,² and the tagging rules call coyote one of the “furbearing animals” for pelt purposes,³ but neither is a classification that switches other rules off.

This is why Maine reads strictly compared with its neighbours. In most states the useful discovery is that a prohibition names a category the coyote sits outside. In Maine the prohibitions name wild animals, and the coyote is squarely inside. Every general restriction below reaches it.

Are coyotes protected in Maine?

No closed season for daytime hunting, and no bag limit — the season table records coyote as open in all wildlife management districts, “No Closed Season for Hunting” during daylight hunting hours, with “No Limit.”⁴

Night hunting is a separate, dated season. See night hunting.

Is a hunting license required to hunt coyotes in Maine?

Yes, and the cheap license is the right one. Maine’s small game license covers coyote:

Small game license permits hunting of all legal species except deer, bear, moose, raccoon, and bobcat.⁵

Coyote is not on that exclusion list, so a small game license is sufficient — $15.00 for a resident, against $26.00 for the big game license.⁵

To hunt at night you need the small game license plus the Coyote Night Hunting Permit at $4.00 plus agent fee.⁵ The permit is statutory:

The commissioner shall issue a permit to hunt coyotes at night to eligible persons at a fee of $4.⁶

A person convicted of night hunting under §11206 within the previous five years is ineligible for the permit.⁶

Three Maine licenses bundle the night permit, and one of them is the best value in the state for a coyote hunter. The resident Super Pack license at $212.00 includes the coyote night hunt permit and the Dog Training and Hunting permit — the two add-ons this page says you need — alongside muzzleloader, waterfowl, pheasant, turkey and bear.⁷ The senior lifetime license ($8.00 one-time) and the complimentary license for veterans with a 50% or greater disability also include the coyote night hunt permit.⁸

Note that the Super Pack’s dog permit must be obtained through MDIFW’s Augusta office rather than online.⁷

The prices above are resident prices. A non-resident pays more, and may need a different license — see what a non-resident needs.

Is hunter education required in Maine?

Yes, unless you are grandfathered. Maine’s requirement is not a birth-date threshold — it is a prior-license-or-course test:

[To obtain an] adult firearms hunting license in Maine, you must show proof of residency, and that you have either possessed an adult license to hunt with firearms in any year beginning with 1976, or successfully completed an approved hunter safety course in any U.S. state, province or country.⁹

Convicted felons may not purchase or possess a firearms hunting license in Maine unless issued a permit to carry a firearm.⁹

Can a non-resident hunt coyotes in Maine?

Yes, and again the small game license is the one to buy: $75.00 for a non-resident annual, or $50.00 for a 3-day small game license valid for three consecutive days.⁵

The non-resident big game license is $115.00 and buys nothing extra for a coyote hunter.⁵

The $4 night permit and every rule on this page apply identically to non-residents.

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 Maine

What is the season for coyote hunting in Maine?

Two seasons, and they are the thing to get straight.

The night season is statutory rather than a rule, which is why it does not move year to year:

Notwithstanding the night hunting prohibitions in section 11206, there is an open season for hunting coyotes at night in all counties of the State from December 16th to August 31st.¹⁰

MDIFW prints the current dates as 16 December 2026 to 31 August 2027.⁴

What is the bag limit for coyotes in Maine?

No limit, day or night.⁴

What are the legal hunting hours for coyotes in Maine?

By day, the standard legal hunting hours table — except that coyote is expressly listed as an exception to it, because of the night season:

Exceptions: Raccoon, Coyote, and Migratory Bird hunting (see separate legal hunting hours for these species).¹¹

By night, during the open night season, “at night” means a half hour after sunset until a half hour before sunrise.²

Note what that leaves: from 1 September to 15 December there is no lawful night coyote hunting for the general public at all. The general prohibition applies:

a person may not… Hunt wild birds or wild animals from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise of the following day.¹²

Can you hunt coyotes on Sunday in Maine?

No. Not by day, not by night, not at all.

A person may not… Hunt wild animals or wild birds on Sunday.¹³

The lawbook puts it in a box of its own: “SUNDAY HUNTING IS ILLEGAL IN MAINE.”¹⁴ A violation is a Class E crime.¹³

And there is an evidentiary rule that catches people who were not hunting at all:

Possession of Hunting Equipment on Sunday: Possession of hunting equipment in the fields and forests or on the waters or ice of this state on Sunday is prima facie evidence of a violation of Sunday hunting law, unless the equipment is securely wrapped in a complete cover, fastened in a case, or carried in at least two separate pieces in such a way that it cannot be fired without the pieces being joined together (for the purpose of this paragraph, a firearm clip, magazine, or cylinder is not considered a “piece”).¹⁴

Archery equipment must be cased or covered if broadheads or field points are attached. There are exceptions for legitimate activities such as target practice and sighting in.¹⁴

The practical consequence for a night hunter is the one people miss. A Maine hunting night begins after sunset and runs to before sunrise, so a Saturday night sit crosses into Sunday. Case the rifle before midnight.

Dog training is the one thing Maine expressly permits on Sundays, and only for fox, squirrel, snowshoe hare and raccoon — not coyote.¹⁵

Can you hunt coyotes during deer or big game season in Maine?

By day, yes — the daytime coyote season has no closed period and runs straight through the firearm deer season.

By night, no, and the two dates line up exactly. The night coyote season closes on 31 August and does not reopen until 16 December, which brackets the whole autumn hunting calendar.

Hunter orange: Maine’s orange requirement is tied to the firearm deer season rather than to what you are hunting, so a coyote hunter afield during that season is inside it. Check the current requirement in the lawbook before opening day.

Night hunting in Maine

Can you hunt coyotes at night in Maine?

Yes, between 16 December and 31 August, with a $4 permit and a calling device in your pocket.

Three requirements, all statutory:

One — the permit. “A person may not hunt coyote at night unless that person has a valid permit.” Violation is a Class E crime with a minimum $50 fine.⁶

Two — the season. 16 December to 31 August, all counties.¹⁰

Three — the calling device, and this one is unusual enough that people get caught by it:

Calling devices required. A person may not hunt coyotes at night without possessing an electronic, hand-held or mouth-operated predator calling device. A person who hunts coyotes in violation of this subsection commits a Class E crime.¹⁰

Note the verb: possessing. You do not have to be calling. You have to have the call on you. A mouth call in a pocket satisfies it, and it is the cheapest insurance in Maine hunting.

And no dogs at night:

The use of dogs to hunt coyote at night is prohibited.²

Can you use artificial lights for coyote hunting in Maine?

Yes during the night season — and the reason is a calendar, not an exemption.

Maine’s artificial-light prohibition is dated:

Use artificial lights between 1/2 hour after sunset and 1/2 hour before sunrise the next day to illuminate, jack, locate, attempt to locate or show up wild animals or wild birds from September 1st to December 15th of each calendar year.¹⁶

Now put the two date ranges side by side:

They are exact complements. The light ban covers precisely the months when the coyote night season is shut, and the night season covers precisely the months when there is no light ban. That is why MDIFW can state flatly that “the use of artificial lights to hunt coyote at night is permitted”² without needing to write an exemption — a lawful coyote night hunter is never inside the prohibition.

The one exemption that does exist is not for you. The statute lets the commissioner put people into the closed window:

Notwithstanding section 11214, subsection 1, paragraph M, the commissioner may appoint agents to hunt for coyotes at night using artificial illumination from September 1st to December 15th. The commissioner shall develop policies to make the affected public and affected law enforcement officers aware of any night hunting operations.¹⁰

That is the statutory basis for Maine’s targeted coyote control work around deer wintering areas. It is an appointment, not a permit you can buy.

Can you use night vision in Maine?

Maine’s law does not prohibit it for a lawful coyote night hunt, but this is the one answer on this page worth a phone call before you act on it — and here is exactly why.

The words “night vision” and “thermal imaging” appear once in the entire 44-page 2026–27 lawbook, in the license revocation table:

Minimum Mandatory Five Year Revocation of Hunting Licenses — … Conviction of night hunting with night vision equipment or thermal imaging equipment.¹⁷

In the statute the words appear only in the penalty subsection of the night hunting prohibition:

A person who violates subsection 1 and is in possession of night vision equipment commits a Class D crime… the court also shall impose a fine of not less than $2,000, none of which may be suspended.

For purposes of this subsection, “night vision equipment” means a light amplification or thermal imaging device.¹²

Read what that is keyed to. Both provisions are triggered by a conviction of night hunting — that is, by violating §11206(1). A permitted coyote hunter inside the 16 December to 31 August season is not violating §11206(1), because §12001 opens the season “notwithstanding the night hunting prohibitions in section 11206.”¹⁰

Now the search, which is what makes this a researched answer rather than an assumption. Maine puts its equipment prohibitions in one place — §11214, Unlawful use or possession of implements or aids. That section bans automatic firearms, autoloaders over five rounds, tracer bullets, explosive bullets, set bows, explosive and poisonous arrow tips, dogs for deer and moose, artificial light for deer and moose, and artificial light from 1 September to 15 December. It says nothing about optics of any kind.¹⁶ Neither does §12001, the coyote night section, which lists the one piece of equipment Maine does require — a predator call — and stops.¹⁰ Neither does the lawbook’s equipment chapter.¹⁸

So the position is that Maine has legislated an aggravating factor rather than a prohibition, and has not addressed the optic itself for hunts that are lawful to begin with.

Two reasons to confirm anyway. The penalty structure is unusually severe — a doubled mandatory fine and a five-year license revocation — which tells you how the Legislature views night optics even though it did not ban them outright. And an absence is not a permission: nobody has written this answer down, so it can move in a single session. Call MDIFW at 207-287-8000 before you buy.

Can you use thermal in Maine?

The same answer, and expressly the same category. Maine’s statute defines “night vision equipment” to include thermal — “a light amplification or thermal imaging device”¹² — so thermal and image intensification are not treated differently anywhere in Maine law.

That is worth knowing because in several states thermal is the permissive option precisely because the statute is written against casting a light and a thermal imager casts nothing. Maine closes that gap by definition. Whatever the answer is for night vision here, it is the same for thermal, and the reasoning that works in Wisconsin or Iowa does not transfer.

See the search set out under night vision above, and make the same call.

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

No night-specific firearm restriction — the general equipment rules in firearms apply unchanged after dark.

What is night-specific is the required equipment: the $4 permit and a predator calling device in your possession.⁶¹⁰ And what is prohibited at night is the dog.²

Compare raccoon, which Maine does restrict at night: a raccoon hunter must be accompanied by a dog, may use nothing more powerful than a .22 long rifle, and may only load when the animal is treed and identified by flashlight.² None of that reaches coyote hunters.

Firearms, ammunition & suppressors in Maine

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

Maine gives a closed list of lawful methods, and it applies to all wild animals:

Wild animals and wild birds may be hunted only by the use of rifles, handguns, shotguns (not larger than 10-gauge), muzzleloader, archery equipment, or falconry.¹⁸

The statute behind it is drafted the same way — hunting by “any method other than the usual method of shooting with a firearm not larger than number 10-gauge, shooting with archery equipment or by falconry” is unlawful.¹⁶

Laser sights (red dots or beam) are expressly legal for firearms, crossbows and bows.¹⁸

Are suppressors allowed for coyote hunting in Maine?

Yes — this changed, and the change is a repeal rather than a permission.

Maine’s prohibition used to sit at §11214(1)(C), which barred using or possessing for hunting any firearm fitted with a device for deadening the sound of the explosion. That paragraph was repealed by PL 2021, c. 112, §3 and the current statute shows it as removed, with nothing in its place.¹⁶

MDIFW states the current position directly:

Silencers: While a person no longer needs a permit from Warden Service to hunt with a suppressor device, anyone who wishes to possess a firearm fitted or contrived with any device for deadening the sound of the explosion must still obtain the appropriate tax stamp from The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).¹⁸

One Maine-specific catch worth knowing. Committing certain fish and wildlife offenses while carrying a suppressed firearm triggers a mandatory suspension of your hunting license for at least three years.¹⁹ The suppressor is lawful; it is an aggravating factor if something else goes wrong.

Are there any ammunition restrictions in Maine?

Two, and both reach coyotes because they are written against hunting generally rather than against a category of animal:

[A person may not] Use for hunting cartridges containing tracer bullets… [or] cartridges containing explosive bullets.¹⁶

Maine’s caliber restrictions run the other way and do not touch coyote: the bar on .17 and .22 rimfire is scoped to deer, moose and bear hunting.¹⁸

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

Yes. Rimfire is prohibited only for deer, moose and bear.¹⁸

A rimfire also gets you out of the magazine limit below, which is the one place in Maine where the small cartridge has a legal advantage. It is still undergunned on a Maine coyote — these are the largest coyotes in the country.

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

Yes — five rounds, and this is the answer most likely to catch a hunter arriving from another state.

[A person may not] Use for hunting or possess for hunting any autoloading firearm having a magazine capacity of more than 5 cartridges. All autoloading firearms having a magazine capacity in excess of 5 cartridges must have the magazine permanently altered to contain not more than 5 cartridges before the autoloading firearm may be used in this State for hunting.¹⁶

The lawbook adds the chamber arithmetic: five in the magazine plus one in the chamber, six total.¹⁸

Read the scope. The prohibition says “for hunting” — not “for taking game,” not “for taking game mammals.” There is no category for a coyote to sit outside of, so it applies.

The exceptions are narrow:

This paragraph does not apply to… Firearms using the .22 caliber rimfire cartridge or smaller caliber cartridge or to any autoloading pistol having a barrel less than 8 inches in length.¹⁶

A .223 is a centerfire cartridge, so a standard AR-15 is not exempt. To hunt coyotes with one in Maine the magazine must be permanently altered to hold no more than five — “permanently altered” being the operative phrase, not “you brought a five-round magazine.”

Fully automatic firearms are prohibited for hunting outright.¹⁶

Calls, decoys, bait & dogs in Maine

Are electronic calls allowed for coyote hunting in Maine?

Yes — and at night one is compulsory. The general rule is short:

Electronic calling devices are legal except for migratory game birds.¹⁸

At night the calling device stops being an option: §12001(3) makes hunting coyotes at night without possessing an electronic, hand-held or mouth-operated predator calling device a Class E crime.¹⁰

Maine is the rare state where the e-call answer is not “may I” but “must I.”

Are decoys allowed for coyote hunting in Maine?

Yes. Maine’s decoy provisions are about deer and moose decoys being legal and about waterfowl decoys in Merrymeeting Bay;¹⁸¹⁶ nothing restricts a predator decoy.

Is baiting allowed for coyote hunting in Maine?

Yes, with a labeling and clean-up regime that is stricter than most states’, and it applies to whoever places the bait.

A person placing bait for hunting purposes must:

• Obtain oral or written permission from the landowner or landowner’s agent
• Plainly label the bait with a 2-inch by 4-inch tag containing the name and address of the baiter
• Clean up the bait site immediately upon landowner request, or within a set period after the site is last hunted
• Not hunt over another person’s bait site without the baiter’s permission²⁰

Maine’s species-specific baiting prohibitions are scoped to deer and turkey, and there are further restrictions on bear baiting.²⁰ None of those name coyote.

Placing any medicinal, poisonous or stupefying substance to entice an animal is prohibited.²⁰

Can you use dogs to hunt coyotes in Maine?

Yes by day, never at night, and there is a permit and a collar rule.

The permit:

Anyone 16 years of age or older who is using a dog to hunt for bear, coyote, fox, bobcat, or raccoon… must possess a Dog Training and Hunting permit.¹⁵

It costs $12.00.⁵ A person hunting under the supervision and in the presence of a registered Maine guide who holds the permit is exempt.¹⁵

The collars — two of them:

Any dog engaged in the above activities must have a functioning tracking collar which allows the handler to track the dog’s location at all times such as a GPS or VHF tracking device. The dog must also have a collar that legibly provides the name, telephone number, and address of the dog’s owner.¹⁵

The numbers and the hours:

A person or persons may not use more than six dogs at any one time to hunt bear, bobcat, coyote, raccoon, and fox.¹⁵

A person may not use a dog to hunt during the period from 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise, except for raccoon.¹⁵

Civil trespass with a hunting dog is its own offence — turning a dog loose onto posted property, or onto property where the landowner has said no, or onto property where a warden has warned a handler within the past 365 days.¹⁵ A second violation costs a two-year license revocation.¹⁷

Private property, vehicles & public land access in Maine

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

Yes on rural land, subject to the distance rules and to Maine’s landowner-permission culture, which is stronger here than the law strictly requires.

The hard limits:

• Buildings. It is unlawful to discharge a firearm or archery equipment within 100 yards (300 feet) of a building or residential dwelling without permission.²¹
• Paved ways. A person may not shoot at any wild animal from any public paved way, from within 10 feet of the edge of its pavement, or from the right-of-way of any controlled access highway.¹⁴
• Municipal ordinances. Several Maine towns restrict or prohibit discharging projectiles. Towns may regulate discharge under Title 30-A, but may not regulate or charge fees to hunt, fish or trap.¹⁸

Can you hunt coyotes from a motorized vehicle in Maine?

No:

It is unlawful to shoot while in or on a motor vehicle, motorboat, snowmobile or ATV or have a loaded firearm or archery equipment while in or on a motor vehicle, trailer, or other type of vehicle being hauled by a motor vehicle except as specifically allowed.²²

The exemptions worth knowing: paraplegics and leg amputees may shoot from a stationary vehicle; a hunter not in or on a vehicle may rest a loaded firearm on it to shoot, but only with the vehicle stopped and the engine off; and the same applies from — not inside — a stationary ATV or snowmobile with the engine off.²²

A loaded magazine may be carried in a vehicle provided it is not inserted in or attached to the firearm.²²

Drones: Maine’s airborne hunting prohibition names deer, bear and moose only, so it does not reach coyote — one of the few Maine restrictions that is scoped.²² Do not read that as an endorsement; using aircraft to locate game is the kind of gap that closes quickly.

Can you hunt coyotes on public land in Maine?

Yes, and Maine is unusually open about it. The state has a large public land base and a strong tradition of hunting on private timberland, much of which is open unless posted.

Two things to check rather than assume: posted land, which must be respected and which drives the civil-trespass-with-a-dog rules above, and state parks and Bureau of Parks and Lands property, where discharge is restricted near picnic areas and other developed sites and written permission may be required.²³

There is no separate public-land coyote season, permit or night restriction in Maine — the night season, the $4 permit and the calling device requirement apply the same way everywhere.

Is it legal to trap or snare coyotes in Maine?

Yes, in a dated season, and the trapping rules are a separate rulebook from the hunting one.

The coyote trapping season runs in two parts — an early fox and coyote season, then the general furbearer trapping season. MDIFW publishes 2026–27 dates of 18–31 October 2026 for the early season and 1 November – 31 December 2026 statewide for the general season.²⁴

The early season carries extra conditions:

In addition to the general trapping rules, the following rules apply: Killer-type traps are not permitted. Traps in the water are not permitted. Exposed bait or visible attractors are not permitted.²⁵

Canada lynx are a federally listed threatened species in Maine and are protected statewide, and lynx bycatch is the reason several of Maine’s trap restrictions exist. Shooting an animal in someone else’s trap is unlawful, and shooting a lynx violates state and federal law; MDIFW runs a Lynx Hotline at 207-592-4734.²⁶

Disturbing a trap costs a three-year revocation of all MDIFW licenses.¹⁷

What does a Maine coyote trapper have to do differently because of lynx?

MDIFW gives lynx a full page of the trapping lawbook, and the restrictions on it are written for your sets. The department says so plainly — the rules exist “to protect lynx and to help Maine trappers avoid accidentally taking lynx.”²⁷ There is no open season for trapping or hunting lynx in Maine at all.²⁷

Two statewide rules bite on a dry-land coyote set:

• Foothold traps need three swiveling points — “at the base of the trap, midway in the chain, and at the trap’s anchoring point” — and may not be set above ground or snow level. Traps fully or partially covered by water are excepted.²⁷
• Killer-type (conibear) traps must be set inside a lynx exclusion device when set on dry land.²⁷

There are further WMD-specific rules on top of those. Read the current lawbook for the district you are setting in.

If you catch one, the order of operations matters more than anything else on this page. The general rule is that any animal caught during a closed season for that species must be released alive immediately — lynx and eagle are the exception:

In the unlikely event that an eagle or a lynx is caught in a trap, a biologist or game warden must be notified immediately, before the animal is released.²⁸

Do not open the trap first and report it afterwards. That sequence is the rule.

What you may and may not keep out of a coyote set:

Trappers are permitted to keep any incidental opossum, raccoon or skunk that are caught in fox and coyote traps. Any other furbearing animal caught incidentally in fox and coyote traps must be released alive immediately, except lynx as described [above], or, if found dead, must be left in the trap and reported to a game warden.²⁹

That last clause is the one people get wrong. A dead non-target animal in your coyote set is not yours to remove, bury or dispose of — leave it where it is and call a warden.

How do I tell a coyote track from a lynx or a dog in Maine?

MDIFW prints a track chart covering exactly the four animals a Maine coyote trapper meets:³⁰

The stride ranges overlap, so stride alone will not separate a coyote from a lynx here — unlike the wolf comparison other states publish. The print does. A coyote’s is an oval roughly 3 inches long and under 2½ wide, with four toes and side nails that often do not register; a lynx print is nearly as wide as it is long, heavily furred, and shows no nails.³⁰ If the track is as wide as your palm and shows no claws, do not set there.

Read the trapping lawbook, not this page, before setting anything. Maine’s trap specifications are detailed and lynx-driven, and the current PDF edition lags the published season dates.

Is it legal to poison coyotes in Maine?

No.

It is unlawful to hunt with the use of (or sell or offer for sale for the purpose of hunting) a set gun, or any medicinal, poisonous or stupefying substance (except rodenticide for orchard mouse control and gas cartridges for woodchuck control).¹⁸

Neither exception covers a coyote.

Are there protected areas or additional local restrictions in Maine?

Yes, four kinds:

• Municipal discharge ordinances, which towns may adopt under Title 30-A.¹⁸
• Distance rules — 100 yards from a building, and the paved-way and controlled-access restrictions.²¹¹⁴
• State parks and public reserved land, with discharge restrictions near developed areas.²³
• Posted private land, including the hunting-dog trespass provisions.¹⁵

Can you use two-way radios while coyote hunting in Maine?

Yes, with a catch for junior hunters. MDIFW does not restrict radios for coyote hunting. But a hunter aged 10 to 15 must be “in the presence of” a junior hunter supervisor, and Maine defines that as “in visual and voice contact without the use of visual or audio enhancement devices, including but not limited to binoculars and citizen band radios.”³¹

That matters here more than in most states, because a junior license includes the coyote night hunt permit. A radio from the truck is not supervision.

After the shot: pelts, bounties & contests in Maine

Are there regulations for possessing or transporting dead coyotes or pelts out of Maine?

Yes, and the trigger is the transaction rather than the kill:

Coyotes taken by hunting must be tagged and registered prior to being bought, sold, traded, or transported out of state. However, unregistered coyotes can be gifted.²

For trapped animals the deadline is calendar-based: the skins of beaver, bobcat, coyote, fisher, fox, marten, mink and otter must be tagged within 30 days after the end of the season on each species, and tags must be attached before you may sell, gift, send or transport a pelt.³

Gifting has its own tag, and it is a genuinely useful provision:

The Department allows the gifting of unregistered coyotes. A tag must be attached to each gifted coyote with the name and hunting or trapping license number of the person who harvested the coyote, the harvest method (hunt or trap), harvest date, and harvest town.²

MDIFW’s furbearer biologist maintains contact with people interested in gifted coyotes — 207-287-8776.²

And Maine’s waste law expressly does not reach coyotes:

A person may not waste a wild bird or wild animal that has been wounded or killed while hunting… This law does not apply to coyotes.³²

That is an unusual carve-out and it is deliberate. Most states either apply a waste rule to everything or to nothing; Maine names the coyote as the exception.

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

Selling your own tagged pelts is permitted. Dealing is a different matter:

You Need a Hide Dealer’s License To: Commercially buy, sell, barter, or trade any raw, untanned animal hides (including fur-bearing animals) or parts of wild animals or birds not prohibited above.³³

A seasonal hide dealer’s license is also available.³³ Contact MDIFW at 207-287-8000 for the dealer list.

Maine is one of the few states where coyote fur is genuinely worth handling. These are large, heavy-furred northern animals, and a January or February pelt from northern Maine is about as good as an eastern coyote gets. That is also the middle of the night season.

Is there a coyote bounty program in Maine?

No bounty available to the general public. What Maine has instead is the statutory agent program:

the commissioner may appoint agents to hunt for coyotes at night using artificial illumination from September 1st to December 15th.¹⁰

MDIFW has long run targeted coyote control in and around deer wintering areas, principally in the northern half of the state, using appointed Animal Damage Control agents. It is an appointment made by the Department, not a payment scheme you can enrol in by turning in pelts. Contact MDIFW at 207-287-8000 for the current program and whether agents are being taken on.

Maine’s coyote-and-deer question is politically live and has been for forty years, so treat any figure you read about program funding as needing a date attached.

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

Maine has not prohibited predator hunting contests — the general prohibitions in §11214, the night hunting provisions in §11206 and §12001 and the coyote permit section §11160 contain no reference to contests, competitions or tournaments.^1612106

Three scheduling constraints make Maine an awkward contest state, though, and they are all on this page. No Sunday, which removes half of most weekends. No night hunting between 1 September and 15 December. And a $4 permit plus a calling device for every participant hunting after dark.

A February round is the one that works: night season open, no Sunday problem if you finish Saturday before midnight, and prime fur.

Coyotes in Maine

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

Yes, statewide, in every wildlife management district — the season table lists coyote as open in “All” districts.⁴

Coyotes colonized Maine during the twentieth century, moving east through Canada after wolves were removed, and they now occupy the entire state from the southern suburbs to the north woods.

Maine’s coyotes are the largest in the country, and that is not folklore. The eastern coyote carries wolf ancestry acquired during that eastward expansion, and adult Maine animals routinely exceed the weight of a western coyote by a third or more.

MDIFW actively collects reports of the biggest ones:

Although relatively uncommon in Maine, the Department occasionally receives reports of large coyotes (50+ pounds). If you encounter a coyote that is over five feet in total length (tip of the nose to the tip of the tail) and/or weighs over 50 pounds, please contact the Department at (207) 287-5229.³⁴

There are no wolves to confuse them with. Wolves were extirpated from Maine by the late 1800s, though MDIFW still investigates reports of possible wolf and cougar sightings and asks for photographs.³⁵

Are Maine coyotes dangerous to people or pets?

To people, very rarely — Maine is a large, thinly populated state and encounters are mostly rural.

To pets and small livestock they are a routine problem, and the size of the animal matters here: a 45-pound Maine coyote is a different proposition for a loose dog than a 28-pound desert coyote.

The concern that drives most of Maine’s coyote politics is deer, specifically predation in the deer wintering areas of the northern half of the state, where deep snow and yarded deer make winter predation efficient. That is the reason the agent program exists.

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

Breeding runs late January into February, with pups born in April after a nine-week gestation.

For a hunter that is close to ideal, because it lands squarely inside the night season and inside the best fur of the year. February is Maine’s month — territorial, vocal, responsive animals and prime pelts, with the night season open and lights lawful.

When are coyotes most active in Maine?

First and last light year-round, with heavy night movement — and in Maine’s winter, “night” is most of the day. Sunset before 16:00 in December means the lawful night season opens onto very long nights.

Snow also makes Maine one of the best states in the country for reading sign before you set up, which matters more than gear does.

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 Maine

Maine is a good coyote state with a rulebook that assumes you read it. The permissions are real but they are all conditional, and the conditions are cheap to satisfy and expensive to miss.

Six things to get right:

There is no classification to hide behind. A coyote is a wild animal, the same category as a deer, so every general restriction reaches it — the magazine cap, the tracer ban, the method list, the Sunday ban.

The night season and the light ban are two halves of one calendar. Night season 16 December to 31 August; artificial lights banned 1 September to 15 December. You will never legally need an exemption from the second, because the first is closed whenever it applies.

Carry the call. Not using it — possessing it. A mouth call in your pocket keeps a Class E crime off your record.

Case the rifle before midnight on Saturday. Sunday hunting is illegal, and merely having uncased hunting equipment in the woods on a Sunday is prima facie evidence of the offence.

Plug the AR. Five rounds, permanently altered, unless you are shooting rimfire.

Night optics are the open question. Night vision and thermal are one category in Maine law and appear only as a penalty enhancement on unlawful night hunting. Call MDIFW at 207-287-8000 before you spend the money.

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

No. Maine prohibits possessing wildlife without a permit, and the exemption for taking animals from the wild covers only reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates:

Except as otherwise provided in this Part, a person may not import wildlife into or possess wildlife in the State or receive or possess wildlife imported into the State. Each day a person violates this subsection that person commits a Class E crime for which a minimum fine of $50 and an amount equal to twice the applicable permit fee must be imposed.³⁶

Note that the offence accrues per day, which makes keeping a coyote an expensive mistake rather than a single one.

If you have found an orphaned pup, contact MDIFW at 207-287-8000 or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator rather than keeping it.

Know something we missed? Contact me and I’ll get it fixed.