A coyote hunt in Maryland can look plain at first. A bean field fades into a hedgerow. Pines hold the last dark of the morning. A call runs across the frost, and for a minute the whole hunt can seem easy. Then the law steps in and changes the shape of the day. Maryland does leave coyotes open all year, but that wide season sits on top of permit rules, Sunday limits, public-land notes, night rules, road rules, and safety zones. A stand that feels clean in your head can turn rough once the rule book opens.
That is where hunters get tripped up. They hear that Maryland coyotes are legal day and night and stop reading. They hear there is no bag limit and think the rest must be loose too. It is not. Maryland gives coyote hunters a long leash, but it still keeps a hand on the collar. You need the right paper in your pocket. You need written permission for private land. You need to know when a Sunday hunt is legal and when it is not. You need to know that one county list can open public Sunday hunting while another county gives you private land only.
This guide follows the Maryland rules in force through the 2025 to 2026 hunting year, which runs to July 31, 2026. It turns the legal wording into plain English so you can see what stays open, what closes down, and where a hunter needs one more check before leaving the truck.
Maryland treats coyotes as furbearers
The first piece to lock down is the way Maryland classifies the animal. In Maryland, a coyote is a furbearer. That one label drives the rest of the law. Coyotes do not sit in the deer section, and they are not handled like a small-game rabbit hunt either. They live under the furbearer rules, and those rules set the season, the permit, the legal tools, and the trapping split.
Once you know that, the rest of the guide makes more sense. Maryland does not make coyote hunters chase a special tag or wait for a short winter opener. But it does ask them to follow the furbearer page from top to bottom. That is where the legal lines sit.
Coyotes may be hunted year-round, day and night
This is the part most hunters want first, and it is one of the cleaner answers in Maryland law. Coyotes may be hunted year-round in all counties, day and night. The state sets no bag limit and no possession limit for coyote hunting.
That makes Maryland look easy on the season side. There is no short coyote window to memorize. There is no small harvest cap to watch. A hunter can legally go after coyotes in every county across the whole year.
Still, “year-round” is only the front door. The real trouble starts when people treat it like a free pass for every hour, every place, and every method. Maryland does allow day and night coyote hunting, but it still puts hard lines on Sunday hunting, public land, roads, lights from vehicles, and the permits a hunter has to carry.
You need a hunting license and a furbearer permit
This is one of the biggest points in the whole topic. A Maryland coyote hunter needs more than a plain hunting license. The state says a hunting license is required to hunt or trap furbearers, and it also says a Furbearer Permit is required to hunt, chase, or trap any furbearer in Maryland.
That means a coyote hunter usually needs both pieces. The hunting license is one half of the paper side. The Furbearer Permit is the other half. A person carrying only the hunting license and no furbearer permit is not set up the right way for a normal coyote hunt.
There are a few exceptions. A person with an Apprentice Hunting License does not need the Furbearer Permit. A person with a Wildlife Damage Control Permit or a Landowner Wildlife Damage Control Permit can fall under a different lane. Maryland also says a landowner does not need the Furbearer Permit to hunt or trap a coyote, fox, or skunk that is damaging or destroying the landowner’s personal or real property on that land. Outside those narrow lanes, the safe rule is simple. Carry the hunting license and the Furbearer Permit.
Written permission matters on private land
Maryland keeps this point plain. Written permission is required to hunt or trap on private land. That means a handshake, a quick text, or an old story about “they do not mind” is not the clean legal path. The state wants written permission.
This is one of those rules that looks small until it saves you. A coyote hunt often starts in low light, on the back side of a field, or near a line that is easy to guess wrong. Written permission cuts through that fog. It tells you where you stand before the first call blows.
Maryland also lets landowners mark property with bright blue paint as well as signs. So a hunter should read the ground with the same care he gives the map. Open-looking country is not the same thing as open land.
Sunday hunting is not statewide across the board
This is another spot where hunters in Maryland get jammed up. Coyotes may be open all year, but Sunday coyote hunting is not open everywhere in one flat statewide way. Maryland allows Sunday hunting for certain furbearers only in certain counties and locations.
For the 2025 to 2026 season, coyotes may be hunted on all Sundays during the open season in these county groups. In Allegany, Cecil, Garrett, St. Mary’s, and Washington counties, Sunday furbearer hunting is allowed on private and designated public lands, and the shooting hours are the same as Monday through Saturday. In Calvert, Caroline, Charles, Dorchester, and Queen Anne’s counties, Sunday furbearer hunting is allowed on private lands only, and the hours run from one-half hour before sunrise until 10:30 a.m. In Somerset County, Sunday furbearer hunting is allowed on private lands and public land leased to a hunt club only, with the same 10:30 a.m. Sunday stop. In Wicomico and Worcester counties, Sunday furbearer hunting is allowed on private and designated public lands, again only until 10:30 a.m., and there is an extra WMA rule layered on top.
That extra rule matters a lot. On Wildlife Management Areas in Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties, only trapping permit holders or their appointees can hunt or trap furbearers between November 15 and March 15. A lot of hunters miss that line and think a normal coyote setup on a WMA is fine just because the county allows Sunday hunting or the coyote season is open. Maryland does not let it work that way.
Night hunting is legal, but the light rules still have teeth
Maryland does allow coyote hunting at night. That is one of the cleaner parts of the season table. But night hunting does not wipe out the rules on artificial light.
Maryland says coyotes, foxes, opossums, and raccoons may be hunted on foot at nighttime during open season with the use of a dog and light. The state also says the use of artificial light and dogs is permitted while hunting coyotes on foot. That gives Maryland coyote hunters room at night, but it does not open the truck window to a free-for-all.
Maryland also says it is a violation to cast the rays of an artificial light from a vehicle on buildings, fields, livestock, orchards, wild mammals and birds, or woods. A person may not have a hunting device in hand while casting those rays from a vehicle. So the clean reading is simple. Night coyote hunting on foot can include a light. Shining from a vehicle is where the trouble starts.
That split matters because many night coyote hunts begin from roads, farm lanes, or field edges where the truck is close. Maryland leaves the night open, but it still wants the hunt carried out the right way.
Maryland allows a broad set of legal hunting tools for coyotes
The coyote page is fairly open on methods of take. Maryland allows firearms, archery equipment, and air guns for coyote hunting. It also allows electronic calling devices. That is good news for predator hunters, because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of your calling setup.
For firearms, Maryland allows rifles, handguns, shotguns, and muzzleloaders for the furbearers that may be hunted, which includes coyote. The state says a shotgun may not hold more than three shells in the magazine and chamber together. Rifles and handguns are legal, but full metal-jacketed, incendiary, and tracer bullets are not. Muzzleloading rifles, shotguns, and handguns are legal too.
For archery, Maryland allows vertical bows and crossbows. Poisoned or explosive-tipped arrows or bolts are not allowed. For air guns, Maryland allows air guns that shoot bolts, bullets, or arrows. The state is fairly open here, but a hunter still needs to match the tool to the place and stay away from the vehicle rules.
Maryland also says telescopic and laser sights may be used on all devices legal for hunting furbearers. That is another part of the law that is more open than some hunters expect.
You cannot shoot on, from, or across a public road
This is one of the simplest rules in the book, and it still catches people. Maryland says it is against the law to shoot on, from, or across any public road. A coyote standing in the wrong place can turn a legal hunt into an illegal shot in one second.
That matters because coyote country and road edges go together. Hunters glass a field from a shoulder. A coyote steps out near a ditch. The bad choice comes quick. Maryland does not leave much room for “almost off the road” or “just across the lane.” A clean coyote hunt starts by getting well clear of the road and setting up the right way.
Safety zones still apply
Maryland also keeps a safety-zone rule around occupied buildings and camps. In most cases, it is illegal to hunt, shoot, or trap wildlife within 150 yards of a building or camp occupied by people without permission of the owner or occupant. The law also says you may not shoot at a wild bird or mammal while it is inside that safety zone.
There are smaller archery safety-zone distances in some counties, but for a coyote hunter using a firearm or trap, the 150-yard rule is the main number to keep in mind. Maryland also bars the discharge of a firearm within 300 yards of a public or nonpublic school while hunting when the school is occupied or during school hours.
A lot of Maryland coyote ground lies close to homes, camps, barns, and back roads. The state knows that. The safety-zone rule is part of the fence that keeps a fast shot from turning ugly.
Public land needs extra care
One of the easiest ways to make a mess of a legal Maryland coyote hunt is to assume public land follows the same simple line as private land. It does not. Maryland layers public-land rules on top of the statewide coyote season.
First, Sunday hunting on public land is only open on designated public lands in certain counties. Second, some eastern-shore WMAs in Caroline, Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties limit furbearer hunting between November 15 and March 15 to trapping permit holders or their appointees. Third, state-owned lands carry their own general rules. Maryland says it is illegal to place bait for hunting on state lands. Permanent blinds and tree stands are also not allowed on state-owned or controlled land unless the Department provides them. And trapping on state lands needs written permission from the controlling agency.
Those extra layers mean a public-land coyote hunter should never stop at the statewide season page. The land under your boots still matters. A field on state ground may look just like a field on private ground, but the rules can be miles apart.
Fluorescent orange or pink is not required for furbearer hunting
Maryland’s general hunter-orange rule is broad, but it includes an exemption that helps coyote hunters. The state says people who hunt or help hunt furbearing mammals are exempt from the daylight fluorescent clothing requirement. The furbearer page says the same thing in plain words: daylight fluorescent color clothing is not required to hunt or trap furbearers.
That said, many hunters still choose to wear some bright color when moving to or from a stand, especially on public land or near deer seasons. The law does not force it for coyotes under the furbearer rules, but common sense still has a place in the truck.
Trapping coyotes is a different legal lane
Some people say “coyote hunting” when they really mean any legal way to take a coyote. Maryland law does not blur it like that. Hunting and trapping sit in different lanes.
For coyote hunting, the season is year-round, day and night, in all counties. For coyote trapping, the season changes with the region. In the part of Maryland east of the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna River, coyote trapping runs from November 15 through February 28. In the part of Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay and the Susquehanna River, coyote trapping runs from November 1 through February 15. Both regions have no bag and no possession limit for trapped coyotes.
Trapping also brings its own rules on device tags, check times, trap placement, and trapper education. Any person who traps or tries to trap furbearers under a Furbearer Permit has to meet the trapper-education rule unless an exception fits. Traps also have to be checked at least once each calendar day, except for some water and tidal-marsh sets that get a longer check window.
So if your plan includes steel or cable, stop reading the hunting line and move to the trapping rules before you set anything.
Do not destroy dens
Maryland says destroying or disturbing furbearer dens is prohibited. It is a short line, but it closes the door on a whole class of bad ideas. Maryland wants coyotes taken by legal hunting or trapping methods, not pushed out by wrecking a den.
The plain answer
Maryland is a friendly coyote state on the season side. Coyotes may be hunted year-round in all counties, day and night, with no bag limit and no possession limit. Firearms, archery gear, air guns, electronic callers, dogs, and lights on foot are all legal in the right setup.
But the hunt is not a free-for-all. A normal coyote hunter needs a hunting license and a Furbearer Permit. Written permission is required on private land. Sunday hunting is only open in certain counties and sometimes only on private land or only until 10:30 a.m. Public lands add extra limits, and some eastern-shore WMAs reserve much of the late fall and winter furbearer take to trapping permit holders or their appointees. You cannot cast light from a vehicle while armed, you cannot shoot on, from, or across a public road, and safety zones still apply.
The best way to think about Maryland coyote hunting law is this: the season itself is wide, but the gates inside it are smaller than they look. From far off the field seems open. Up close, the law runs through it like fence wire under cold grass. Read the permit rule, the Sunday chart, the public-land note, and the night-light rule before you hunt. That is how you keep the trip clean from the first stand to the drive home.