The best night vision scope for coyote hunting
Quick answer: the ATN X-Sight 5 3-15x (around $470) is the best night vision scope for coyote hunting, because its 3x base keeps a usable field for a dog that commits to the call up close, it works in full color by day and digital night vision after dark, and it is the cheapest pick here. The SightMark Wraith 4K (around $500) is the simple alternative with batteries you swap in the field, and the ATN X-Sight 5 5-25x (around $700) is for open country and longer shots, though it is currently on backorder with a wait the retailer counts in weeks. All three are covered in full in our best night vision scope guide.
Calling coyotes at night is not the same problem as hunting hogs at a feeder. A coyote is wary, it usually commits fast and close, and you have to know it is a coyote and not a neighbour's dog before you press the trigger. That rewards a scope with a low base magnification and a wide field for the animal that appears at 40 yards, enough sensor detail to identify it, and an IR illuminator that actually reaches the distance you call. Here are three picks, two of them in stock and the long-range one on backorder, and an honest word about where night vision loses to thermal.
Read this before you buy: night vision does not find coyotes the way thermal does. A thermal scope shows a coyote as a bright shape against a cold field at several hundred yards. A digital night vision scope shows you a dark field until you put IR light on it, and then it shows you detail. So night vision is the identifying and shooting tool, not the searching tool. If finding coyotes in open country is your actual problem, our best thermal scope for coyote hunting guide is the honest place to start, and thermal vs night vision explains why. What night vision buys you is a scope that also works in daylight, for about a third of the price of a thermal.
Our picks for coyote hunting
Best overall: ATN X-Sight 5 3-15x (OPMOD)
around $470 4.1/5, 27 reviews on OpticsPlanet
For called coyotes this is the pick, and the reason is the low end, not the high end. A 3x base magnification gives you the widest field of the three here, which is what you need when a dog circles downwind and shows up close and fast. It is a digital day/night optic, so the same scope hunts deer in full color at dawn and coyotes in the dark, and it carries the highest sensor resolution in its class (4K+ 4056x3040) so you can confirm what you are looking at. The onboard ballistic calculator and One-Shot Zero help on a .223 or .22-250, it mounts in standard 30mm rings, it runs 14 hours on the internal battery, and the 850nm IR illuminator is in the box. It won American Rifleman's Editor's Choice in 2023. Keep the honest limits in mind: it is crisp from about 3x to 8x and grainy at 15x, and it needs that IR illuminator on a moonless night.
Best simple alternative: SightMark Wraith 4K 4-32x40mm
around $500 4.8/5, 12 reviews on OpticsPlanet
This is the pick if you would rather learn a scope in five minutes than tune a smart menu, and it is the highest-rated night vision scope we cover at 4.8 stars. It keeps what a predator hunter needs: a 4K CMOS sensor for day and night, a 300-yard detection range, an included 850nm IR illuminator and 10 reticles. Its real advantage on a long winter stand is the batteries: four CR123s you swap in seconds in the dark, rather than an internal cell you must recharge before you leave. The trade matters specifically for coyotes, though, and we will not paper over it: a 4x minimum magnification is a narrower field than the ATN's 3x, and owners note it is not ideal inside 50 yards, which is exactly where a committed coyote often ends up. It is rated to .308, so every predator caliber is fine.
Best for open country: ATN X-Sight 5 5-25x UHD (backordered)
around $700 4.1/5, 14 reviews on OpticsPlanet · backordered, est. 7-16 days
If you call big open fields and take the longer shot, this is the step up, though the retailer has it on backorder with a wait the retailer counts in weeks, so it is an order-ahead rather than a this-weekend buy. It runs the same 4K+ Gen 5 sensor and smart suite as the 3-15x but on a larger 65mm objective, which gathers more light and pushes usable identification farther downrange, with the same 30mm rings, ballistic calculator, Recoil Activated Video and 14-hour battery. The honest trade cuts against close-in calling: a 5x base is a narrower field than the 3-15x, so a coyote that appears at 30 yards is harder to pick up, and it costs about $230 more. Buy it for the fields, not for the woods, and remember that at night your identification range is still limited by how far your IR reaches, not by the 25x on the dial.
Prices verified August 18, 2026 on the OpticsPlanet product pages; confirm the current price on the retailer page. Scores are our editorial opinion; owner ratings are shown attributed. Always confirm night-hunting, artificial-light and night-vision regulations for your state and for coyotes specifically before you hunt, as the rules vary widely and change. See how we evaluate.
What a coyote night vision scope actually needs
- A low base magnification, not a big top number. Coyotes commit close. The 3x base of the X-Sight 5 3-15x gives the widest field here; the Wraith's 4x minimum and the 5-25x's 5x base are both tighter.
- An IR illuminator that reaches your stand. In true dark, your identification range is your IR range. All three include an 850nm emitter; it has a faint red glow at the source.
- Enough resolution to tell a coyote from a dog. This is the whole point of night vision over thermal. The 4K+ sensor in the ATN pair and the 4K CMOS in the Wraith all resolve enough detail inside sensible range.
- Batteries that survive a winter stand. The ATNs run 14 hours internally but need a recharge; the Wraith runs 3.5 to 4.5 hours on CR123s you can swap in the dark. Pick the failure mode you prefer.
- Day use, if you want one scope. All three shoot in full color by day, which is the practical argument for digital night vision over a thermal you can only use after dark.
See all three ranked in our best night vision scope guide, scan for the coyotes first with a thermal scope or thermal monocular, or hunt by day with our best rifle scopes.
FAQ
What is the best night vision scope for coyote hunting?
The ATN X-Sight 5 3-15x (around $470) is the best night vision scope for coyote hunting. Its 3x base magnification keeps a wide enough field for a coyote that commits to the call at 40 yards, it runs in full color by day and digital night vision after dark, it includes the 850nm IR illuminator you will need, and it costs the least here. The SightMark Wraith 4K (around $490) is the simpler alternative with field-swappable batteries, and the X-Sight 5 5-25x (around $700) is the pick if you call open country and shoot farther.
Is night vision or thermal better for coyote hunting?
They do different halves of the job. Thermal finds a coyote, because it reads body heat against a cool field and shows you an animal you would never see otherwise. Night vision identifies one, because it shows detail, fur, shape and what the animal actually is, at a much lower price. If your budget only covers one and finding coyotes in open country is your problem, thermal is the honest answer. If you hunt where you already know coyotes are working, or you want one scope for day and night, night vision does it for a third of the price.
Do coyotes see the infrared illuminator?
A digital night vision scope needs its IR illuminator in true darkness, and the 850nm emitter included with these scopes throws a faint red glow at the source. Whether an educated coyote reacts to it is debated among hunters and we have not tested it, so treat it as a real possibility rather than a settled fact. What is not debatable is that you need the illuminator: without moonlight or IR, a digital sensor has nothing to amplify. Hunters who want no visible signature at all use thermal, which emits nothing.
How far can you shoot a coyote with a digital night vision scope?
Plan on about 200 yards as an honest ethical identification range with these scopes, and understand what limits it: not the magnification, but how far the IR illuminator actually reaches and how much the digital zoom softens the image. The X-Sight 5 3-15x is crisp from about 3x to 8x and grainy at its 15x top end, so the headline magnification is not usable identification range. Most called coyotes are shot far closer than 200 yards anyway.
Will these scopes handle a .223 or .22-250?
Yes, comfortably. The ATN X-Sight 5 models are rated up to .375 H&H and the SightMark Wraith 4K up to .308 Winchester, so every common predator caliber, .223 Remington, .22-250, .243 and 6.5 Creedmoor, is well inside what they are built to take. Recoil rating is not the deciding factor between these three; field of view, battery type and price are.
More: best night vision scopes overall · best night vision monoculars · thermal vs night vision.