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Ask a CO: On targeting coyote during controlled deer season

A reader asks “can I hunt coyote with a 12-gauge slug, or buckshot, during the two controlled hunt weeks in southern Ontario?”

Q: Can I hunt coyote with a 12-gauge slug, or buckshot, during the two controlled hunt weeks in southern Ontario? I understand it would be very hard to prove someone was targeting coyote and not deer, but I don’t see anything in the regs that would eliminate this apparent loophole.

Eric Spangenberger, Brantford

A: While it is generally illegal to carry a shotgun with slugs or buckshot during the deer season while hunting small game, there is an exception in this case. You are permitted to hunt coyote with a shotgun loaded with a slug or buckshot.

Answers by: David Critchlow and William Johnson, Provincial Enforcement Specialists, MNR


Originally published in the Nov.-Dec. 2025 issue of Ontario Out of Doors

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