LANSING, Mich. – Michigan’s coyotes are back to year-round pressure from hunters and trappers after a major policy reversal by state game regulators.

The state Natural Resources Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday on a controversial measure to allow coyotes to be killed all year long, backtracking on a position the state had successfully defended in court. Hunting groups immediately praised the change.

“It empowers landowners, safeguards the wildlife, protects our agricultural community and upholds Michigan’s conservation legacy,” said Merle Jones of the Michigan Trappers and Predator Callers Association.

Previously, Michigan game regulators had established a “quiet period” when coyotes could not be killed from mid-April to mid-July. That’s when coyote pups are vulnerable and not yet weaned from their mother’s milk.

State officials had been motivated by concern that hunters would leave young coyotes orphaned, turning public perception against hunting more broadly. Hunting groups balked at that notion and sued the state to overturn the policy.

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Last June, an Ingham County judge ruled against the hunting groups; an appeal of the decision remains pending.

Since then, the NRC has faced months of calls from hunters to restore coyote hunting opportunities. That’s while animal rights activists urged commissioners to stay the course.

This week the commissioners responded to the pressure from hunters.

Regulators didn’t fully restore year-round hunting and trapping of coyotes, though.

Instead, the NRC expanded “out-of-season” killing of overabundant coyotes or those causing interspecies conflicts on public and private lands, according to the approved state wildlife order.

A coyote hunting and trapping season will run from Oct. 15 through March 1. Then what regulators call a “management season” will cover the remainder of the year, when coyotes could only be killed on private property.

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The new rules will take effect March 1 this year.

The coyote regulation changes also drew opponents to this week’s meeting in Lansing.

Mitchell Nelson of Humane World for Animals nonprofit criticized the language of the wildlife order. He specifically complained that interspecies conflict isn’t defined, nor is a standard for what qualifies as an overabundance of coyotes.

“We don’t even have a current population count of coyotes, so with no accurate additional count of coyotes, no metrics for determining relative coyote abundance and distribution in an area, and no reporting requirement for the killing of coyotes, the concept of addressing overabundance is rendered completely meaningless,” Nelson told the commissioners during public comments.

“The bottom line is that increasing the random and indiscriminate killing of coyotes will not achieve any management objective,” Nelson said.

Game regulators also heard from a state scientist during their meeting.

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Commissioner John Walters asked the furbearer specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources whether it’s believed the change to coyote regulations would have any negative effect on the species population.

“We do not expect this proposed change to have a population level impact on coyotes,” said Cody Norton, DNR wildlife biologist.

Research has shown that more than 70% of coyotes in an area must be killed to reduce the population. As prolific breeders, the animals can recover their population within a year if only 60% are removed.

Rebecca Humphries, NRC chairperson, said the change is meant to address nuisance animals without altering the regular hunting and trapping season.

“The whole concept is to try and keep the integrity of the hunting and trapping season when they’re used as a furbearer species for pelts, and then outside that give people essentially the ability to take the species whenever it’s causing problems for them,” Humphries told MLive.

DETROIT – Rain in Southeast Michigan is expected to quickly transition to snow early Wednesday. These light snow showers are forecast to linger into the afternoon.

This could mean snow accumulations of just a dusting in some areas to a half inch in other locations. Some localized amounts could reach one inch of snow.

Farther north, a Winter Storm Watch remains in effect for eastern Huron and northeastern Sanilac counties through Thursday morning. In this area, heavy lakeshore snow bands could lead to 5 to 7 inches of snow.

Much colder air is moving into the region late this week and into next weekend. Thursday morning’s wind chills could drop to negative single digits for most areas.

Here are the forecast highlights for the Detroit area from the National Weather Service:

Light snow showers are expected across Southeast Michigan Wednesday morning before an Arctic airmass pushes lake moisture further south. Most areas will see minimal additional snowfall, with accumulations of just a dusting.

The eastern Thumb region is the exception. A winter storm watch has been issued for eastern Huron and northeastern Sanilac counties, where snowfall totals could reach 5 to 7 inches by Thursday morning. North-northwest winds are expected to draw Lake Huron banding over areas along and east of a Port Austin-Port Sanilac line from late Wednesday afternoon through early Thursday morning.

The core of the Arctic airmass will settle over the central Great Lakes Wednesday through Thursday. Thursday morning lows are forecast to fall into the single digits, with wind chills ranging from zero to 10 below zero. Thursday afternoon highs will struggle to reach the low 20s, with some areas in the Thumb expected to top out only in the teens.

Temperatures will moderate slightly Friday ahead of another weather system dropping out of northern Canada. This Clipper system is expected to bring widespread accumulating snowfall of 1 to 2 inches on Friday, followed by scattered lake effect snow showers and flurries. Arctic air will return for the weekend.

The top defensive back on Kyle Whittingham’s Utah team in 2025 is heading to Michigan.

Cornerback Smith Snowden, a two-year starter who earned second-team all-Big 12 honors last season, has committed to the Wolverines in 2026, he announced on Tuesday.

Listed at 5 foot 10 and 185 pounds, Snowden made 23 starts and 35 appearances over the last three years in Salt Lake City. He started all 12 regular-season games for Utah in 2025, leading the cornerbacks with 37 tackles (two for a loss) and the team with 11 passes defended.

Snowden finished last year with nine pass breakups and two interceptions, one each against Cincinnati and Kansas.

He also saw some playing time on offense, rushing eight times for 40 yards and a touchdown and catching 13 passes for 57 yards.

The Lehi, Utah, native made 11 starts at nickel in 2024, totaling 48 tackles (four for a loss), eight pass breakups and two interceptions. Snowden led the team with nine third-down stops that year.

Snowden saw immediate playing time as a true freshman in 2023, appearing in 11 games on defense and special teams. He added kick-return duties to his plate in 2024 and 2025.

A former four-star recruit, Snowden was a three-time first-team all-state selection at Skyridge High School, where he finished with 16 career interceptions and helped lead the school to a state title in 2022.

Snowden joins a Michigan secondary that could use the help. The Wolverines are set to return starting cornerbacks Jyaire Hill and Zeke Berry, but lost starting nickel TJ Metcalf and starting safety Brandyn Hillman to the transfer portal.

On Monday, Michigan added veteran Memphis safety Chris Bracy.

Snowden is the fourth Utah player planning a transfer to Michigan since Kyle Whittingham was named the schol’s head coach on Dec. 26, joining defensive end John Henry Daley, defensive tackle Jonah Lea’ea and receiver JJ Buchanan.