Coyote hunting at night

[azsearch]

I have been reading the regulations on Minnesota coyote hunting. Is night hunting allowed rear round, except you cant use a flashlight during certain times of the year?

or does coyote hunting at night have certain times during the year?

I'm lost thanks for the help

[redhooks]

I'm not sure but I think alot nighttime predator hunting is done in the winter on full moon nights on frozen lakes or fields so you can see them comming from a distance across the snow. Small caliber rifle with a big light gathering scope. I've always wanted to try it when we lived down south but up here I think you'd get some wolves, cougars and lynx comming in.

Some more experienced predator hunters can verify this but I don't think you can use a flashlight at all because that would be considered shining which I'm pretty sure is illegal. I think the only hunting you can use lights for is coonhunting w/ dogs.

[buckhunter21]

Im pretty sure you can night hunt year round for coyotes without a light. You can use a spotlight from Jan 1st to March 15th but you can only use a shotgun if your using a light. The way its worded in the regs is you can pretty much kill them any way you can except running them over or using a light when not in season. Maybe try posting this in the varmit forum im sure someone on there will know for sure.

[picksbigwagon]

Buck21 is correct. the only other stipulation is that it is a hand held light with the shot gun. Not sure how easy it is going to be see a coyote in moonlight in the summer.

[Here-Kitty-Kitty]

Ok so I do alot of yote hunting year around. I will hunt day time and night time. I have better luck right at either sunrise or sunset. These guys are right on the terms of light use and dates. If you are really interested in yote hunting then I would suggest placing some " I will kill your yotes " ad's at your local cub foods, fleet farm, tractor supply, etc. You would be surprised at the responses that you will get. Good luck and have a blast.

[Tom7227]

I went out in FEbruary when there was no snow cover and the coyote would have had to come up and kiss me before I'd have been able to see it.

[azsearch]

I don't understand why they don't do it like Wisconsin, allowing to use a flashlight at the point of kill to make a safe identification. If your going to allow hunting coyotes at night year round then it should be allowed to be done in a safe manner (using a flashlight to identify, find your way, but not shine) Just makes more sense

[Musky Buck]

Hey azsearch, I've only hunted them with coon hounds, the old surround the section, cut the dogs loose, and try to gun them down if the dogs haven't cornered and killed them already. The light from the flashlight doesn't spook them off lets say ? Just curious what the night hunt is like, I would assume the light would be held by another or harnessed on your gun somehow? Sounds like it would be an interesting hunt.

[azsearch]

I use a red light that i wear on my head, they say it wont scare them, but some run off.

In Wisconsin you can use the light to make a safe identification of the animal when you know where one is,and shoot it ( you can't search the fields for them). It can be boring...sitting in the dark looking at nothing. I just feel Minnesota is wrong not allowing the flashlight year round, not safe.

[Musky Buck]

Agreed