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

Coyote classification & permit in Missouri

What is the classification of coyotes in Missouri?

A furbearer, and unlike most states the label does real work here. Missouri’s furbearer rules reach coyotes directly — the dog restriction, the den protection and the pelt provisions all apply — and the coyote then gets its own subsection carving it out of the furbearer seasons:

Coyotes, except as otherwise provided in this section, may be taken by hunting, and pelts and carcasses may be possessed, transported, and sold in any numbers throughout the year.¹

Compare that with the other furbearers in the same rule, which run on tight dates — badger, gray fox and red fox from 15 November to 31 January, bobcat to the last day of February.² The coyote is the only one with a year-round hunting season.

Are coyotes protected in Missouri?

Not in the sense of a closed season or a bag limit — the limit is “any number,” daily and in possession.³ But Missouri restricts coyote hunting more than most states in one specific way, and it is a timing restriction rather than a quota. See the calendar.

Is a hunting license required to hunt coyotes in Missouri?

Yes. Missouri requires the prescribed permit for any hunting:

Any person while hunting or while using dogs or birds of prey in pursuit of wildlife in any manner, including training, shall have on his/her person the prescribed permit, temporary permit authorization number(s) or evidence of exemption.⁴

For coyotes, MDC lists the qualifying permits as a Small Game Hunting Permit, a Small Game Hunting and Fishing Permit, a Nonresident Furbearer Hunting and Trapping Permit, an Archer’s Hunting Permit, or an applicable lifetime permit.⁵

Resident prices for 2026: Small Game Hunting Permit $11.50, Small Game Hunting and Fishing $22.50, Archer’s Hunting Permit $22.00.⁵

Two seasons layer a second permit on top. During the firearms deer season you need an unfilled firearms deer permit as well as the small game permit if you want to use deer methods; during spring turkey season you need an unfilled Spring Turkey Hunting Permit.¹³ Both are covered under the calendar.

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 Missouri?

Yes, for anyone born on or after 1 January 1967. The Wildlife Code sets the threshold as a birth date rather than a rolling age, and the exemption language appears in the apprentice provision — a hunter must be accompanied by a licensed adult who “has in his/her possession a valid hunter education certificate card or was born before January 1, 1967.”⁶

Can a non-resident hunt coyotes in Missouri?

Yes. A Nonresident Small Game Hunting Permit is $108.50; the Nonresident Archer’s Hunting Permit is $360.00, with a non-resident landowner rate of $225.00.⁵

The Nonresident Furbearer Hunting and Trapping Permit is the other route, and it is the one that appears by name in the spring turkey provision as the non-resident equivalent of the Resident Small Game Hunting Permit.¹

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 & the Missouri calendar

What is the season for coyote hunting in Missouri?

Nominally year-round — but four different sets of rules apply across the year, and they do not line up with each other. This is the table to keep:

The season itself is set by rule as year-round,¹ and MDC prints the current year as “January 1, 2026 – December 31, 2026.”³

What is the bag limit for coyotes in Missouri?

None. Daily limit: any number. Possession limit: any number.³

What are the legal hunting hours for coyotes in Missouri?

There is no general shooting-hours restriction on coyotes — but there are two seasonal ones, and the first is unusual enough to be worth reading twice.

1. The April daylight closure. From 1 April until spring turkey season opens, coyotes may be hunted only in the dark:

Coyotes may not be chased, pursued, or taken during daylight hours from April 1 through the day prior to the beginning of the prescribed spring turkey hunting season.¹

For 2026 that means 1 April to 19 April is a night-only coyote season. The purpose is to keep coyote hunters out of the turkey woods while birds are being scouted and hens are nesting, and the effect is a three-week window when the only legal Missouri coyote hunting is after dark — with light, night vision and thermal all still permitted.

2. The spring turkey season restriction. Once the season opens, coyote hunting collapses into turkey hunting:

During the prescribed spring turkey hunting season, coyotes may not be chased, pursued, or taken except during legal shooting hours for turkey hunting using any legal spring turkey hunting season method by persons holding an unfilled Spring Turkey Hunting Permit, and— 1. A Resident Small Game Hunting Permit; or 2. A Nonresident Furbearer Hunting and Trapping Permit.¹

Turkey hours, turkey methods, two permits, one of them unfilled. In practice this means a shotgun, in the morning, while turkey hunting.

Outside those two windows, hunt whatever hour you like.

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

Yes, but this is where Missouri’s method rules bite hardest. During the November portion and the antlerless portions of the firearms deer season, in counties open to deer hunting:

other wildlife may be hunted and feral hogs may be taken only with a pistol, revolver, or rifle firing a rimfire cartridge .22 caliber or smaller or a shotgun and shot not larger than No. 4, except that waterfowl hunters, trappers, landowners on their land may use other methods⁷

A .22 rimfire or a shotgun with No. 4 shot or smaller. Your .223 is out.

There is a way around it, and MDC states it plainly: a hunter carrying both an unfilled firearms deer permit and a small game hunting permit may hunt furbearers during daylight hours using any legal deer hunting method.³ If you are deer hunting anyway, you may shoot a coyote with the deer rifle in your hands.

Hunter orange is mandatory during the antlerless, youth and November portions of the firearms deer season, for all hunters, not just deer hunters:

all hunters shall wear a cap or hat and a shirt, vest, or coat having the outermost color commonly known as hunter orange, which shall be plainly visible from all sides while being worn. Camouflage orange garments do not meet this requirement.⁸

And note that the light and optics permission has already expired by then — it ends 30 September.⁹

Night hunting in Missouri

Can you hunt coyotes at night in Missouri?

Yes. There is no rule closing coyote hunting at night — and for three weeks each April, night is the only legal time.¹

What Missouri regulates is the equipment, on a shared calendar. Both the artificial light rule and the night vision rule run 1 January through 30 September, excluding the prescribed spring turkey hunting season — for 2026, that is 1 January to 19 April and 11 May to 30 September.³

Outside that window — 1 October to 31 December — you may hunt coyotes at night, but with unaided eyes only.

Can you use artificial lights for coyote hunting in Missouri?

Yes, inside the window, with three conditions. The exception sits inside the general prohibition on spotlighting:

An artificial light may be used to spot, locate, attempt to take, and hunt coyotes while in possession or control of a firearm, bow, or other implement whereby any game animal could be killed or taken from January 1 through September 30 (excluding the prescribed spring turkey hunting season), but only in conjunction with other legal hunting methods, and not from or with any motor-driven air, land, or water conveyance or from or across a public roadway¹⁰

The three conditions, in order of how often they are broken:

• Not from or across a public roadway. Not from the truck window, not across the blacktop.
• Not from or with any motor-driven conveyance. Get out and get away from the vehicle.
• Only in conjunction with other legal hunting methods. The light supports a hunt; it is not itself the hunt. Cruising and shining is what this phrase exists to prohibit.

A parallel exception in the road-hunting rule permits the same use, and confirms the scope: light may be used to locate coyotes “from January 1 through September 30 (excluding the prescribed spring turkey hunting season), but only as specifically authorized by 3 CSR 10-7.410(1)(B)2.”¹¹

Landowners get a separate and broader light permission on their own property — but it is a spotting permission, not a hunting one, and the general rule that a landowner shining a light may not be armed is the trade-off.¹¹

Can you use night vision in Missouri?

Yes, since 1 January 2026, on the same calendar as thermal. The permission is written into the night vision rule as an exception to what is otherwise a possession offence:

Hunters properly licensed to take furbearers may possess or control and use night vision, infrared, and thermal imagery equipment to take coyotes from January 1 through September 30 (excluding the prescribed spring turkey hunting season), but only in conjunction with other legal hunting methods. The use of night vision, infrared, or thermal imagery equipment to pursue or take coyotes from or with a motor-driven air, land, or water conveyance, or from or across a public roadway is specifically prohibited.⁹

Read the opening words. The permission belongs to “hunters properly licensed to take furbearers.” It is not a general public permission — carry the permit.

And read what the rule does outside that exception, because it is stricter than most states:

Wildlife may not be pursued or taken with the aid of night vision, infrared or thermal imagery equipment and no person may possess or control night vision, infrared, or thermal imagery equipment while acting singly or as one (1) of a group of persons while in possession of any firearm, bow, or other implement whereby wildlife could be killed or taken⁹

That is a possession prohibition. From 1 October to 31 December, having a thermal in the truck with a rifle is the offence, whether or not you switch it on.

Can you use thermal in Missouri?

Yes — this is the headline change. Thermal imagery is named in the same clause as night vision and infrared, lawful for coyotes from 1 January through 30 September excluding spring turkey season.⁹

MDC’s own summary of the change:

Regulations changes approved by the Conservation Commission in fall 2025 allow the use of artificial light, night vision, and thermal imagery equipment from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30¹²

Before 2026, Missouri was one of the harder states in the Midwest for a night hunter. It is now one of the more workable ones for nine months of the year — with a hard stop on 1 October that no other state in the region imposes.

If you are choosing between technologies for a state shaped like this, see hunting coyotes at night.

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

No night-specific weapon rule. Missouri regulates the optics and the vehicle, not the gun, after dark.

The weapon restrictions that do exist are seasonal rather than nocturnal: turkey methods during spring turkey season, and rimfire or shotgun during the November and antlerless deer portions unless you hold a deer permit.¹⁷

Firearms, ammunition & suppressors in Missouri

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

Broadly permissive, with two exceptions. Firearms may be used to take wildlife during the open seasons, and for a coyote that means essentially any centerfire rifle, shotgun or handgun.⁷

Fully automatic firearms are prohibited.⁷

Air-powered guns, bows, crossbows, atlatls and slingshots are all permitted for coyotes as well.³

The road rule is the one to internalize:

No person shall take or attempt to take any wildlife from or across a public roadway with a firearm, bow, or crossbow.⁴

Across, not just from. A shot that crosses a county road is an offence even from a legal stand.

Are suppressors allowed for coyote hunting in Missouri?

Yes, for any game. Nothing in the Wildlife Code restricts hunting with a lawfully owned suppressor.

Ownership turns on federal law. Missouri’s weapons offense covers a firearm silencer only when it is possessed “in violation of federal law,”¹³ so a registered can is legal and an unregistered one is a crime. The requirement is the approved ATF Form 4 or Form 1. Since January 1, 2026 the federal tax on a suppressor is $0, but the approval and the wait are unchanged.¹⁴

Are there any ammunition restrictions in Missouri?

Two, both seasonal. During the November and antlerless deer portions, shot may be no larger than No. 4 if you are using a shotgun without a deer permit.⁷ During spring turkey season, turkey ammunition rules apply.¹

Arrows, bolts and darts containing any drug, poison, chemical or explosive are prohibited outright.⁷

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

Yes, and during the November and antlerless deer portions a rimfire .22 or smaller is one of only two things you may use without a deer permit.⁷

That makes a .22 WMR or .17 HMR a more useful Missouri gun than it is in most states — it is the cartridge class that keeps you legal in November.

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

Not for rifles. The three-shell plug requirement is a shotgun rule, and it applies to hunting generally:

Except for hunting black bears, deer, and elk, any shotgun having a capacity of more than three (3) shells must have the magazine cut off or plugged with a device incapable of removal through the loading end, so as to reduce the capacity to not more than three (3) shells in magazine and chamber combined.⁷

Read the scope. The exception is for bear, deer and elk — a coyote is not on that list, so a shotgun used for coyotes must be plugged to three. That catches people who assume the plug is a waterfowl rule.

There is no magazine limit on rifles. A standard AR-15 is lawful for coyotes outside the deer-portion restriction.

Calls, decoys, bait & dogs in Missouri

Are electronic calls allowed for coyote hunting in Missouri?

Yes — and the 2026 change fixed the rule that used to make them useless at night. Electronic calls are permitted for furbearers, and the coyote now has an express carve-out from the optics prohibition attached to them:

Electronic calls may be used to pursue and take crows and furbearers, but without the aid of an artificial light or night vision, infrared, or thermal imagery equipment, except when pursuing or taking coyotes in accordance with paragraphs (1)(B)2. and (1)(C)2. of this section.¹⁵

The exception points at the same two paragraphs that carry the 2026 light and thermal permissions, so an e-call may be run alongside either — for coyotes, inside the 1 January – 30 September window.

Note the flip side: outside that window, or for any other furbearer, an e-call may not be run alongside a light or thermal.¹⁵

Are decoys allowed for coyote hunting in Missouri?

Yes, including motion decoys. Missouri’s decoy restrictions attach to deer and to waterfowl, not to furbearers.

Is baiting allowed for coyote hunting in Missouri?

Yes for coyotes, with one prohibition to respect. Missouri’s baiting rules are written for deer, turkey and migratory birds, and the general provision is a warning rather than a ban:

No person shall place or scatter grain or other food items in a manner that subjects any hunter to violation of baiting rules⁷

That sentence is about contaminating a hunt rather than about feeding coyotes. The practical consequence is the familiar one — bait a field for predators and you have baited it for deer and turkey, with all that follows. If you may want to hunt those species on that ground, do not bait it.

Can you use dogs to hunt coyotes in Missouri?

Yes, and Missouri has a strong hound tradition — but the deer-season restriction is broad and it is statewide:

No furbearers may be chased, pursued, or taken during daylight hours with the aid of dogs from November 1 through the prescribed November portion of the firearms deer hunting season, during the antlerless portions of the firearms deer hunting season in counties open to deer hunting, or with firearms from a boat at night.¹

Note that it begins on 1 November, before the deer season itself, and runs through the November portion. A separate rule adds a daylight dog restriction covering furbearers, squirrels and rabbits during the November portion in Butler, Carter, Dent, Iron, Madison, Oregon, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon and Wayne counties.⁷

Every dog used to hunt, chase or pursue wildlife must wear a collar carrying the owner’s full name and address, Conservation Number, or complete telephone number.⁷

Private property, vehicles & public land access in Missouri

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

On rural private land with permission, yes, subject to the same calendar as everywhere else. Missouri landowners get several specific reliefs — from the deer-portion method restriction, and a broader artificial light permission on their own property.⁷¹¹

In town, municipal discharge ordinances govern, and the hunter orange exemption for archery hunters “within municipal boundaries where discharge of firearms is prohibited” is a reminder that those ordinances exist.⁸

Can you hunt coyotes from a motorized vehicle in Missouri?

No, and the rule is absolute:

No person shall pursue, take, attempt to take, drive, or molest wildlife from or with a motor-driven air, land, or water conveyance at any time⁷

The only exception is a motorboat whose motor “has been completely shut off and its progress therefrom has ceased.”⁷

Both the artificial light rule and the night vision rule repeat the vehicle prohibition specifically for coyotes, so it is prohibited three separate times over.¹⁰⁹

Drones may be used only to recover wounded black bear, deer, elk and turkey, under conditions — never to hunt coyotes, and no person may possess a firearm while a drone is in flight.⁷

Computer-assisted remote hunting is prohibited: wildlife “may be taken only in the immediate physical presence of the taker.”⁷

Can you hunt coyotes on public land in Missouri?

Yes. Missouri has an unusually good public land system — conservation areas, state forests and the two national forests — and coyote hunting is permitted on most of it under the statewide rules plus each area’s own regulations.

Conservation area regulations vary considerably on hours, vehicle access and night use, so check the area page before planning a night hunt on public ground.

Is it legal to trap or snare coyotes in Missouri?

Yes, inside a defined season. Unlike hunting, coyote trapping runs on furbearer dates: 15 November 2026 to 28 February 2027, with an extended season on private land from 1 March to 14 April using foot-hold, foot-enclosing or cage traps only.³

Trapping requires the appropriate permit, and trappers are among those exempted from the November deer-portion method restriction.⁷

Dens are protected: “The dens or nests of furbearers shall not be molested or destroyed.”¹

Is it legal to poison coyotes in Missouri?

No. The prohibition is flat and it appears twice:

Wildlife may not be hunted, pursued, or taken with the use of poisons or tranquilizing drugs.⁷

Arrows, bolts and darts containing any drug, poison, chemical or explosive are separately prohibited.⁷ Livestock predation goes through USDA Wildlife Services rather than through a bait station.

Are there protected areas or additional local restrictions in Missouri?

Yes, four kinds:

• Conservation area regulations, which vary by area and may restrict hours, access and methods.
• National park units — Ozark National Scenic Riverways and the rest — with their own rules.
• Municipal ordinances governing discharge near towns.⁸
• The ten-county dog restriction in Butler, Carter, Dent, Iron, Madison, Oregon, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon and Wayne counties during the November deer portion.⁷

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

Yes. Neither MDC’s 2026 regulations nor the hunting methods chapter of the Wildlife Code of Missouri, 3 CSR 10-7, restricts two-way radios or cell phones.

After the shot: pelts, bounties & contests in Missouri

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

No tag, seal or check-in for coyotes. The rule says so directly: coyote “pelts and carcasses may be possessed, transported, and sold in any numbers throughout the year.”¹

Compare bobcat, which must be delivered to a department agent for registration or tagging before being sold, transferred, tanned or mounted, and no later than 10 April.² The coyote carries none of that.

Retrieval is required: “Any person while hunting who kills or injures any wildlife shall make a reasonable search to retrieve the wildlife and take it into his/her possession; however, this does not authorize trespass.”⁷

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

You can sell them, and the coyote rule says so in the same sentence that opens the season — pelts and carcasses may be sold in any numbers throughout the year.¹

For other furbearers, pelts may be possessed, transported, consigned for processing and sold “only by the taker with a valid permit.”² Skinned carcasses of legally taken furbearers may be sold by the taker throughout the year.² Buying raw fur commercially is a fur dealer activity and licensed as such.

Missouri coyotes are middling-fur animals — heavier and better in the northern counties than in the Bootheel, and never a plains-quality pelt.

Is there a coyote bounty program in Missouri?

No state bounty. MDC does not pay per animal, and there is no bounty authority in the Wildlife Code.

Missouri’s answer to the coyote is the year-round season, the absent bag limit and, since January 2026, the thermal permission. If you hear of a county program, verify it with the county — the state publishes no list.

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

Yes to both. Missouri has not restricted predator hunting contests. There is no permit requirement and no prohibition in the Wildlife Code.

Two scheduling points, and in Missouri they are unusually consequential. A night round with light or thermal is only lawful 1 January to 19 April or 11 May to 30 September in 2026 — a February tournament is fine, a November one is not.³ And a round scheduled between 1 April and the turkey opener may run only after dark, because daylight coyote hunting is closed in that window.¹

Coyotes in Missouri

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

Yes, in all 114 counties and the city of St. Louis. Coyotes are established across every Missouri habitat — the glaciated plains of the north, the Osage Plains, the Ozark forest, the Bootheel farmland and the suburban fringe of both Kansas City and St. Louis.

Northern Missouri’s mix of row crop, pasture, CRP and creek timber holds the densest populations and offers the best calling. The Ozarks hold plenty of coyotes but the timber makes them harder to work.

MDC publishes no statewide population estimate.

Are Missouri coyotes dangerous to people or pets?

To people, very rarely. To livestock they are Missouri’s principal predator concern — sheep, goats, poultry and newborn calves — and the state’s substantial cow-calf industry is why the April night-only window still leaves coyote hunting open at all rather than closing it entirely.

Unattended small pets on the suburban edge of St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield and Columbia are at genuine risk.

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

Breeding runs January into February, with pups born in April in litters of five to seven.

Missouri’s calendar rewards this better than most. The 1 January to 31 March window — full daylight and night hunting, with light, night vision and thermal all permitted — sits exactly on the breeding season, when coyotes are most territorial, most vocal and carrying their best fur. Then on 1 April, as pups arrive, daylight hunting closes.

When are coyotes most active in Missouri?

First and last light year-round, with heavy night movement. February is the month: pairs are bonded and responsive, fur is prime, the timber is open and every piece of night equipment Missouri allows is legal.

For the full breakdown of season, weather and moon phase, see when to hunt coyotes.

Are there black coyotes in Missouri?

Yes, occasionally. Melanistic coyotes are reported across Missouri, most often in the southern and eastern counties, consistent with the pattern across the Southeast where the trait traces to historical hybridization with domestic dogs.

They are uncommon enough to be worth a photograph and common enough that seeing one is not remarkable. There is no separate rule for them — a black coyote is a coyote.

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 Missouri

Missouri in 2026 is a much better coyote state than Missouri in 2025, and the improvement is entirely about equipment. Thermal went from a possession offence to a permitted method. But the state kept every one of its date rules, and they are the most complicated in the Midwest.

Five things to get right:

1 October is a wall. Light, night vision, infrared and thermal all become unlawful — to possess while armed, not merely to use. Clear the truck out on 30 September.

April is night-only. From 1 April to the spring turkey opener, daylight coyote hunting is closed statewide. Most people who break this rule have no idea it exists.

Plug the shotgun. The three-shell rule excepts bear, deer and elk. It does not except coyotes.

November means rimfire, shotgun, or a deer permit. During the November and antlerless portions, your centerfire is illegal for coyotes unless you are carrying an unfilled firearms deer permit — and hunter orange is mandatory for everyone.

Never across a road. From or across a public roadway, with a firearm, bow or crossbow. The light and thermal rules repeat it because it is the violation that happens most.

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

No. Missouri treats native wildlife as state property held under permit, and coyotes are not animals a private individual may keep as pets. The permits that exist under the Wildlife Code are for wildlife hobby, exhibition, rehabilitation and breeding purposes with specific conditions, and local ordinances add their own prohibitions.

If you have found an orphaned pup, contact MDC at 573-751-4115 or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator rather than keeping it.

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