1. A. Purpose. These regulations are to govern the trapping, purchasing, selling and captive possession of live foxes and coyotes for chasing with hounds. These regulations prohibit the importation and exportation of any species of foxes or coyotes to or from Louisiana in an effort to prevent possible disease and parasite contamination of native wild canids and humans. These regulations allow the sport of fox/coyote hunting with dogs within enclosed areas.

2. B. Definitions

   1. Acclimation Pen—an area which is built within or adjacent to fox/coyote hunting preserves which will contain game and exclude hounds and which will allow game to become acclimated to an enclosed environment.
   2. Bill of Sale—receipt showing the amount of game purchased, the date of purchase, and the person from whom the game was purchased.
   3. Box Trap—a drop-door type of trap that upon the game's entry into the device encloses and detains the game.
   4. Cable Device—wire device used for taking nongame quadrupeds.
   5. Closed Season—that period of time of the calendar year not specifically included in the open season.
   6. Department—the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
   7. Enclosure—(see fox/coyote hunting preserve).
   8. Fox/Coyote Hunting Preserve—an area which is completely enclosed by adequate fencing to contain red fox, grey fox, or coyote and hounds which is built and maintained for the purpose of training or chasing game with hounds.
   9. Fox/Coyote Hunting Preserve Operator—anyone acting as an agent of the owner in caring for or managing the maintenance and/or business of the preserve.
   10. Fox/Coyote Hunting Preserve Owner—anyone who legally has possession or has legally leased property on which the enclosure is established.
   11. LDWF-Approved Applicant—a person who has no Class 3 or greater wildlife or fish violations during the past three years, and who is at least 15 years old.
   12. Landowner—any person who owns land on which traps are set.
   13. Licensee—any lawful holder of a valid trapper’s or nongame quadruped exhibitor/breeder license duly issued under the authority of the department for the purposes of operating a fox/coyote hunting preserve.
   14. Nongame Quadruped—alligators, beavers, bobcats, coyotes, grey foxes, minks, muskrats, nutrias, opossums, otters, raccoons, red foxes, skunks and other wild quadrupeds valuable for their furs or skins.
   15. Nongame Quadruped Breeder—any person properly licensed to engage in the business of raising, exhibiting and selling nongame quadrupeds.
   16. Nongame Quadruped Exhibitor—any person properly licensed to engage in the business of raising and/or exhibiting nongame quadrupeds.
   17. Nontarget Animal—any animal other than red fox, grey fox or coyote.
   18. Person—includes any individual person, association, corporation, partnership, or other legal entity recognized by law.
   19. Possess—in its different tenses, the act of having in possession or control, keeping, detaining, restraining, holding as owner, or as agent, bailee, or custodian for another.
   20. Raising—the production of red fox, grey fox, or coyotes in controlled environmental conditions or in outside facilities.
   21. Rearing—(see raising).
   22. Take—in its different tenses, the attempt or act of hooking, pursuing, netting, capturing, snaring, trapping, shooting, hunting, wounding, or killing by any means or device.
   23. Transport—in its different tenses, the act of shipping, attempting to ship, receiving or delivering for shipment, transporting, conveying, carrying, or exporting by air, land, or water, or by any means whatsoever.
   24. Trap—any device used in the capture of birds, quadrupeds or fish.
   25. Trapper—any person properly licensed by the department engaged in the trapping of nongame quadrupeds.

3. C. Licenses and Fees.

   1. 1. A trapper’s license is required to take foxes or coyotes by means of a trap during the open season for nongame quadrupeds, however, coyotes may be taken by trap during the closed season by any properly licensed trapper.
   2. 2. A nongame quadruped exhibitor's license may be issued permitting the applicant to possess, breed and/or exhibit live foxes or coyotes outside of the open trapping season, provided he meets the rules and regulations of the department;
   3. 3. A nongame quadruped breeder license may be issued permitting the applicant to possess, breed, propagate, exhibit, and sell live foxes or coyotes outside of the open trapping season.

4. D. General Rules

   1. 1. No person shall take, possess, purchase or sell live foxes or coyotes, except as provided in these regulations.
   2. 2. No person shall hold in captivity any live foxes or coyotes outside of the open trapping season, except as provided in these regulations.
   3. 3. Fox/coyote hunting preserves shall be of a type and construction such that it will insure the normal containment of foxes, coyotes and hounds.
   4. 4. Fox/coyote hunting preserves shall contain an adequate number of escape areas which are houndproof. These may be provided by maintaining thickets, brush piles, windrows, or where natural cover is insufficient, by providing manmade escapes such as culverts or houndproof feeding stations.

   5. 5. Licensees holding live foxes or coyotes in captivity shall be required to make available:

      1. a. food that is palatable, uncontaminated and nutritionally adequate to ensure normal growth and maintenance;
      2. b. water which is fresh, uncontaminated and available at all times.
   6. 6. No person shall transport, possess, purchase or sell any live foxes or coyotes taken outside the state of Louisiana. Live foxes and coyotes obtained from outside the state of Louisiana prior to the enacted date of these regulations and in possession of properly licensed persons shall be exempt.
   7. 7. No person shall transport from the state or offer for sale out of state any live foxes or coyotes.
   8. 8. Acclimation pens shall be constructed adjacent to or within an enclosure to insure the containment of foxes and coyotes and the exclusion of hounds. This requirement may be waived for "training enclosures" or in enclosures where running is discontinued for a minimum of two weeks while foxes/coyotes adjust to the enclosure environment.
   9. 9. No person may engage in the business of raising or exhibiting or otherwise possessing fox or coyotes for the purpose of operating a fox/coyote hunting preserve unless he or she has acquired and possesses a valid nongame quadruped breeder or exhibitor license.
   10. 10. A licensed trapper may offer for sale such live animals to any licensed nongame quadruped breeder or exhibitor during the open trapping season. During any such transactions, a bill of sale must be provided by the trapper to the nongame breeder or exhibitor and retained for a period of one year.
   11. 11. Trappers trapping coyotes during the closed trapping season will be required to use only either a padded (4 9/16-6 1/2 inch inside jaw width at hinge posts), offset, laminated or wide (4 5/8-6 3/8 inch inside jaw width at hinge posts) or unmodified (5 inch inside jaw width at hinge posts) foot-hold trap, or a box-type trap, or a cable restraint with a relaxing lock that loosens and tightens in response to the wildlife’s action.
   12. 12. Trappers trapping coyotes during the closed trapping season and licensed as a nongame quadruped breeder may offer for sale such coyotes. During any such transaction, a bill of sale must be provided by the seller to the purchaser and retained for a period of one year by the purchaser.
   13. 13. Trappers will be required to check traps daily.
   14. 14. Trappers will be required to have in possession written permission from the landowners or lessee where traps are set.
   15. 15. Trappers shall release all nontarget species in a manner so as to keep stress or injury minimal.
   16. 16. It shall be unlawful to sell native wild foxes or coyotes outside the state of Louisiana.
   17. 17. Licensees who hold foxes or coyotes for more than one day for sale shall confine animals at a rate of no more than one fox per 9 square feet and one coyote per 17 square feet. The cage must be high enough for each animal to easily sit or stand. The cage must be escape-proof and offer protection from adverse weather.
   18. 18. Fox/coyote hunting preserves shall be exempt from the commission action which prohibits the running of coyotes during the open turkey season.
   19. 19. The department has the authority to conduct disease investigations at any time and, pending the results of the disease investigations, has the authority to quarantine fox/coyote hunting preserves if deemed necessary. The department also has the authority to prohibit the release of animals that are diseased or have been exposed to diseased animals.
   20. 20. Neurological or sick animals shall be humanely euthanized and shall not be moved or sold in an effort to prevent the spread of disease. Licensees shall be required to immediately report to the department the occurrence of any disease contracted by captive fox or coyotes. These diseases include but are not limited to rabies, canine distemper, sarcoptic mange or Echinococcus infections.
   21. 21. Animals held under any nongame quadruped breeder or nongame quadruped exhibitor license shall not be physically altered, except for medical treatment by a Louisiana licensed veterinarian, or mutilated in any way.

5. E. Report Requirements

   1. 1. Report forms provided by the department must be completed and filed with the department by all persons who have been issued a nongame quadruped breeder or exhibitor license. Failure to complete these forms properly and completely will result in nonrenewal of the nongame quadruped breeder or exhibitor license.
   2. 2. All licensed nongame quadruped exhibitors will be required to include information regarding numbers of animals by species in captivity, number of known losses (death or escape), number of animals by species purchased and the sources of wildlife purchases.
   3. 3. All licensed nongame quadruped breeders will be required to include information regarding numbers of animals by species in captivity, numbers of losses, numbers of animals by species purchased and the sources of wildlife purchases, and number of sales by species and the person who bought the game. Records must be maintained for a minimum of three years.

6. F. Penalty for Violation. Violation of these regulations will be a Class 2 violation with the following exceptions.

   1. 1. Violation of the license requirements for nongame quadruped breeders and nongame quadruped exhibitors, including the reporting requirements, shall be a Class 2-B violation.
   2. 2. Violation of the regulations pertaining to import of foxes and/or coyotes into the state or export of foxes and/or coyotes from the state shall be a Class 4 violation.

Authority Note

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 56:116.1(D), R.S. 56:140, R.S. 56:259, and R.S. 56:262.

Historical Note

HISTORICAL NOTE: Promulgated by the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, LR 17:205 (February 1991), amended LR 49:512 (March 2023), LR 49:1568 (September 2023), LR 51:1894 (November 2025).