I $3000 coyote in South Carolina.

[philos]

I was turkey hunting early April when I saw a coyote chasing deer and made a little squeaky sound with my mouth to draw him in. Much to my surprise it worked. I don’t shoot coyotes deer hunting simply because I am deer hunting but since I saw this one chasing deer and the turkey hunting was very slow, I decided I would shoot him.

When I walked up to the coyote, I noticed he had tags in each year from SC DNR. Turns out since 2023 they have a $3000 bounty on coyotes with certain ear tags. I took him to a biologist nearby to verify the tags and about four weeks later South Carolina sent me $3000.

That kind of made up for the lousy turkey season. Not sure which states offer this, but South Carolina traps and releases about 16 a year throughout the state and offers the $3000 bounty.

So from now on out, I’ll be checking Mr. coyote to see if he has any jewelry in his ear.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I'm not getting this. So they want to get rid of the coyotes, they trap them, tag them and set them free? Why don't they just shoot them? Unless they are trying to encourage more people to hunt them? Why don't they trap more of them and kill them? Sounds a little backwards.

 

[weekender7]

It's called "incentive".

 

[Erict]

Congrats! A pic or two would be nice.

 

[philos]

Consider that they only trapped 16 a year and offer $3000 on killing those it is as weekender7 posted-incentive. This bounty program is a force multiplier for the state. My guess is there are thousands killed by hunters hoping to get a bounty. According to the stats I saw between trapping and killing there was 27,000 taken in 2025.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I'm not getting this. So they want to get rid of the coyotes, they trap them, tag them and set them free? Why don't they just shoot them? Unless they are trying to encourage more people to hunt them? Why don't they trap more of them and kill them? Sounds a little backwards.

South Carolina coyote hunters, upon learning of the $3,000 bounty on certain coyotes, be like:

 

[philos]

Congrats! A pic or two would be nice.

DNR told me this coyote traveled 50 miles distance measured in a straight line, which means he traveled a lot more than 50 miles from where they trapped him

 

[omicron1792]

That’s cool man. Congrats

 

[philos]

That’s cool man. Congrats

Thanks man. It’s funny because I had no idea about the bounty until after I shot him.

 

[omicron1792]

Thanks man. It’s funny because I had no idea about the bounty until after I shot him.

I’ve killed a ton of yotes. Never been lucky like that.

It’s a cool incentive for people to manage predators. Congrats on SC

 

[justin davis]

Pretty neat. I saw another guy online about a year ago got one of the tagged coyotes

 

[justin davis]

I'm not getting this. So they want to get rid of the coyotes, they trap them, tag them and set them free? Why don't they just shoot them? Unless they are trying to encourage more people to hunt them? Why don't they trap more of them and kill them? Sounds a little backwards.

I think it’s incentive to turn in the coyote for their research. They are tagging them to study them

 

[BLJ]

I would have been out $3k.

“Contact DNR”

No way.

 

[Livedog]

Congrats on hitting the coyote lottery @philos ! I heard about this years ago, but this is the first I’ve heard of someone getting one. Which area of the state was this?

 

[philos]

Congrats on hitting the coyote lottery @philos ! I heard about this years ago, but this is the first I’ve heard of someone getting one. Which area of the state was this?

I was hunting in Union County at the time. The coyote was trapped and released somewhere in Northern Greenville County.