Summary: The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and Safari Club International filed a joint amicus brief in Ingham County Circuit Court defending Michigan’s year-round coyote management season against a legal challenge by Humane World for Animals.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, in partnership with Safari Club International, filed a friend of the court brief in a case challenging Michigan’s newly expanded coyote management season.
Coyote Season Changes Over the Last Decade
In 2016, the July 15 to April 15 coyote season was changed to a year-round season. Despite what some critics argued at the time, the number of coyotes harvested during the year-round season did not sharply increase or have any significant impact on the coyote population.
But due to “concern about social perception and future loss of management tools if the open season continues to allow coyotes to be taken when there are dependent young present,” the July 15 to April 15 season was reinstated in 2024. That reduction was upheld in a lawsuit brought by the Michigan United Conservation Clubs in the Ingham County Circuit Court in 2025.
Understanding Michigan’s Amendment 10 and Year-Round Seasons
That change was short-lived. The Michigan Natural Resources Commission approved Wildlife Conservation Order Amendment No. 10 of 2025 in January 2026.
Amendment 10 authorized a “Coyote Hunting and Trapping Season” from “October 15 to March 1 annually.” It also created a “Coyote Management Season” spanning “from March 2 through October 14 annually.” Both the hunting and management seasons have some restrictions and nuances, but harvesting coyotes is authorized during both seasons, i.e., year-round.
The Legal Challenge by Humane World for Animals
Humane World for Animals, formerly known as the Humane Society of the United States, challenged the new coyote seasons in an appeal filed in the Ingham County Circuit Court. It claims that these new seasons will not reduce the coyote population and are therefore arbitrary and capricious.
“Their lawsuit is completely misplaced,” said Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel at Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation. “Reducing the total population was not the commission’s goal in establishing the new seasons. The goal for the management season was to give individuals the opportunity to address problem coyotes when the need arises and before the problems get out of hand.”
Coyote Depredation and Economic Impact Data
The amicus brief argues that the state needs to be able to exercise management authority over coyotes. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports confirm that coyotes were responsible for 40.5% of predator-caused cattle deaths and 53.1% of predator-caused calf deaths in 2015.
That number is higher in Michigan, where coyotes accounted for more than 75% of cattle losses attributable to predators. Another USDA report found that coyotes were responsible for 54.3% and 63.7% of predator-caused sheep and lamb losses in 2015. That management authority is under attack in the lawsuit.
“It was critical that we fight for the state’s role in managing wildlife here,” Jean continued. “If a court rules that the state does not have management authority to address the cause of 75% of cattle depredations, then it’s hard to see any harvest that the state could actually authorize.”
Support the Mission
Issues like these are at the heart of the Sportsmen’s Alliance mission, and we will continue to monitor this important matter. Don’t stand on the sidelines, join us as a member or as a donor of the Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund in protecting tomorrow’s hunting, fishing, and trapping heritage today.
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