The Michigan Natural Resources Commission’s new management season, combined with a hunting and trapping season, means coyotes can once again be killed year-round in the state. (Courtesy of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources)

(This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.)

The group that regulates hunting and fishing in Michigan just made it easier for coyotes in the state to be killed year-round after a multi-year fight over coyote regulations.

On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Commission passed an amendment that shortened the coyote hunting and trapping season but created a new “management season,” the first of its kind, to allow coyotes to be killed on public or private lands for any reason.

“That’s the outcome we were looking for,” said Eric “Skeeter” Beckman, a member of the Michigan Trappers and Predator Callers Association.

That group, along with the Michigan United Conservation Clubs, separately sued the Natural Resources Commission after it shortened the coyote season in 2024 from a year to nine months to protect coyote pups. The plaintiffs said regulators’ decision was not based on science. In June, a judge ruled the commission’s decision had been sound.

Marcie Terwilliger, a Charlotte resident who regularly attends commission meetings, said she was “thoroughly disgusted, angry and disappointed” by its decision.

“The courts decided and said it was based on science, it was totally in the right,” she said.

“We know that coyotes can cause problems,” Natural Resources Commission Chair Becky Humphries told Bridge Michigan after the vote. “We’re trying to free up the reins and provide that opportunity and yet still be respectful of the resource and the users out there.”

This is the first time the Natural Resources Commission has created a management season. Commissioner John Walters said it’s a new tool they created to regulate species in the off-season. People will still need a license to kill coyotes during the management season.

“We have the ability as a commission to create new seasons and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” he said.

The coyote management season will run from March 2 to Oct. 14 and the new hunting and trapping season will run from Oct. 15 to March 1, together encompassing a year.

Coyotes can already be killed on private property year-round if they are threatening or damaging livestock, but the new rules are looser, allowing them to also be killed “to address interspecies conflict and overabundance.” Walters said that, because coyotes are overabundant, that means they can be killed during the management season for any reason.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources does not know how many coyotes are in the state, but the department’s bear, furbearer and small game specialist, Cody Norton, said the DNR uses population trend indicators, like time spent hunting per coyote killed, to estimate if the population is going up or down.

The new amendment prohibits the use of dogs to get coyotes Nov. 15 through 30 and does not allow coyotes to be killed in state parks or recreation areas between April 1 and Sept. 14. Coyote carcasses must be buried or wrapped and disposed of in a landfill.

The amended order will go into effect on March 1.