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October in Arizona: young coyotes are on the move

Coyote Season in Arizona: Mating, Pups and Pet Safety

Coyotes in Arizona mate in late winter and raise pups in spring; coyote hunting is open all year with no bag limit.

October in Arizona: Dispersal

The usual coyote year

The young of the year leave home to find their own ground, crossing roads and turning up in neighborhoods new to them.

For pets: Young coyotes new to a place are still learning what to avoid: keep cats indoors and walk dogs on a short leash at dawn and dusk.

Across the country, dispersal usually runs from October to December.

Next comes mating season, from January.

  1. JanMating
  2. FebMating
  3. MarMating
  4. AprPups
  5. MayPups
  6. JunPups
  7. JulFamily
  8. AugFamily
  9. SepFamily
  10. OctDispersalNow
  11. NovDispersal
  12. DecDispersal
  • Mating season: January to March, from the national calendar
  • Pup season: April to June, from the national calendar
  • Family season: July to September, from the national calendar
  • Dispersal: October to December, from the national calendar
Pets and yards

How to keep pets safe from coyotes in Arizona

  • Supervise small pets at all times when outside.
  • Keep cats indoors or in a secure outdoor enclosure to protect them from coyotes, other wildlife (owls, hawks, etc.) and also from cars, domestic dogs and disease.
  • Feed pets inside or remove uneaten pet food between feedings.
  • Reduce a coyote’s ability to get over a fence or wall by building it at least 6 feet tall, burying the bottom a few inches underground, and installing barbed wire, electric wire, or a pipe that spins around a wire on the top.
Arizona Game and Fish, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

If a coyote comes close

Also, to scare a coyote away, you should act as large and threatening as possible. Make aggressive gestures with your arms and legs, or by waving an object at the animal. Move toward an area with other people or a building.
Arizona Game and Fish, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

If a coyote follows you

Don’t stimulate a coyote’s chase instinct by running.
Arizona Game and Fish, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

More on living with coyotes in Arizona: Arizona Game and Fish.

Four young coyote pups outside a den dug into a dirt bank, one standing at the entrance looking out
Four pups outside their den in the bank above Big Dry Creek at Metzger Farm Open Space, Colorado, in mid May. Photo: Jim Kennedy. “Four Coyote Pups by Den in Metzger Farm Open Space, Colorado (17614272575)”, nature80020, CC BY 2.0
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Whom to call

Who to call about a coyote in Arizona

For a coyote that is bold around people, pets or homes in Arizona:

Arizona Game and Fish Department (Phoenix; regional offices in Flagstaff, Pinetop, Kingman, Tucson, Mesa and Yuma)

Call (602) 942-3000Contact details
Hunting and trapping

Coyote hunting and trapping in Arizona

Hunting
All year2026 to 2027 rules
Bag limit
No limit
License
A hunting or combination license
Night hunting
With limits
Trapping
Nov 1 to Feb 282026 to 2027 rules
To hunt predatory and fur-bearing mammals in Arizona, you need a valid hunting or combination license.
Arizona Game and Fish, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source
In units listed with this note, coyotes may be taken at night with the aid of artificial light; however, the light may not be attached to or operated from a vehicle.
Arizona Game and Fish, read October 13, 2026. Read it at the source

Read the trapping rules at the source.

Read from each source on October 13, 2026. Methods, night rules and public land rules can change by unit, so read Arizona Game and Fish’s page before you go out. Every state’s coyote seasons.

Sightings

When people report coyotes in Arizona

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
4,072 research grade records from Arizona, every year from 2016 to 2025 combined, by the month they were made. Most are logged in December. A record is a person’s photograph confirmed by others, so the bars count sightings rather than coyotes.

Reading the last thirty days of reports from iNaturalist.

Arizona coyote questions

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Coyote season in other states

Small game season in ArizonaPheasant, quail, grouse, rabbit and squirrel season datesHunting license in ArizonaWhat a license costs, plus the tagDeer season in ArizonaArchery, firearms, muzzleloader and youth deer datesAttic wildlife in ArizonaWhen you may evict animals from an atticBear hibernation in ArizonaWhen bears den and wake, and when to take feeders down
A coyote standing among sagebrush and grass coated white with hoar frost, looking toward the camera
A coyote hunting meadow voles in hoar frost on Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Wyoming, at the end of December. Photo: Tom Koerner, USFWS. “Coyote in hoar frost on Seedskadee NWR (13234615673)”, USFWS Mountain-Prairie, Public domain

Every fact links to the page it was read from, each read October 13, 2026. Mating, pup and dispersal months are the agency’s own where it prints them; the national calendar fills the rest. Sighting counts are iNaturalist research grade records, which count sightings, not coyotes. Coyote season across the country.