Furbearers, coyotes, and trapping in Michigan: the fine-print license

These are the 2026 rules. Furbearer regulations carry the most location-and-residency fine print in the book — confirm in the official furbearer summary before you hunt or set anything.

The short version

Michigan’s oldest industry — the fur trade literally built Detroit and Mackinac — lives on through the fur harvester license ($15 resident). It covers hunting some species and trapping a longer list. Coyotes get their own section, because the rules changed recently.

Coyotes: effectively year-round

• Michigan residents can hunt coyotes with just a base license — no fur harvester license needed — under the year-round framework.
• One narrow exception: during the November 10–14 quiet period before firearm deer season, coyote hunting requires a fur harvester license, and it’s limited to rimfire .22 caliber or smaller.
• Nonresidents need base plus fur harvester licenses.
• A landowner (or their designee) can take a coyote that is doing or about to do damage on private property any time, no license needed.
• Hunting coyotes with dogs is closed April 16 – July 7. Trapping on public land is closed March 2 – Oct. 14.
• Night hunting is legal for coyote, fox, raccoon, and opossum, with restrictions. One of them: centerfire rifles used at night must be .269 caliber or smaller. Your .223 is fine; your .30-06 is not.

Who can take what: the residency quirk

• Residents with a fur harvester license may hunt bobcat, coyote, fox, opossum, raccoon, skunk, and weasel. They may trap all of those, plus badger, beaver, fisher, marten, mink, muskrat, and otter.
• Nonresidents may hunt and trap the common species, but may not harvest bobcat, otter, fisher, marten, or badger at all. Those five are residents-only.
• Bobcat, fisher, marten, and otter require free kill tags requested in advance, plus mandatory registration after harvest. The DNR tracks every one.

Season shape

Raccoon and fox open in mid-October. Most trapping runs from late fall to March 1; muskrat and beaver run later into spring. Opossum, skunk, and weasel are year-round. Bobcat units, quotas, and dates are the most intricate in the regulation book — read the furbearer summary before you set anything.

Quirks

• Everyone who traps — including on their own land — needs the fur harvester license, apart from the narrow nuisance-animal allowances.
• Snares are heavily restricted on public land.
• Hunter orange isn’t required for stationary coyote, fox, or bobcat hunters. It is required when moving in daylight during firearm seasons.
• The fur harvester license runs May 1 – April 30, offset from the regular license year. A classic gotcha for March trappers — plan your purchases accordingly.

The signpost

Rules change every year. The furbearer harvest regulations summary at Michigan.gov/DNRDigests and the DNR trapping pages are the final word.

New to hunting, or returning after years away? Start with Hunting in Michigan, explained and the rules of the woods.