Washington County, UT Animal Ordinances: Coyote Management (2026)

Article E of Chapter 3, adopted by Ordinance 2022-1199-O and amended by Ordinance 2024-1274-O, regulates night hunting with a spotlight in Washington County. Section 5-3E-2 limits the species that may be taken while spotlighting to coyote, red fox, striped skunk, feral pig, raccoon and jackrabbit, the predator and nuisance species most often blamed for livestock and crop losses. Section 5-3E-4(A) requires a hunter to buy a $20 spotlighting permit from the Washington County Sheriff's Office before going out, valid for 365 days, and to carry a Utah Hunter Education 'Blue Card,' be born on or before December 31, 1965, or hold a current small game license to qualify; hunters under 16 can get a free permit if a guardian buys a full-price one.

Subsection (B) closes the spotlighting season entirely from August 1 through November 30. 24 and bans automatic weapons while requiring expanding bullets; subsection (D) bars spotlighting within 600 feet of a residence, city or town boundary; and subsection (H) requires hunters to call the sheriff's office every hunting day with their permit number, hunting location and hunting time. Section 5-3E-5 exempts a person, or the person's agent, lawfully protecting crops or domestic animals from predation by coyote, red fox, striped skunk or raccoon, as well as an animal-damage-control agent working under a Division of Wildlife Resources agreement, so ranchers dealing with active predation do not need the sheriff's permit.