Yes, you can hunt coyotes at night in Oregon. The state’s shooting-hour restrictions apply only to game mammals, and coyotes are classified as predatory animals, so there is no legal “closed” time of day. The catch is that several equipment rules apply around the clock, and two of them — the ban on artificial lights and the ban on night-vision optics — hit nighttime hunters hard.
Why Night Hunting Is Legal
Oregon makes it unlawful to hunt game mammals from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise.1Oregon Public Law. Oregon Administrative Rule 635-065-0730 – Shooting Hours The state’s game mammals are pronghorn antelope, black bear, cougar, deer, elk, moose, Rocky Mountain goat, bighorn sheep, and western gray squirrel.2Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Oregon Administrative Rules 635-045 – Definitions Coyotes are not on that list.
Instead, coyotes fall under the state’s “predatory animal” category alongside rabbits, rodents, and feral swine.3Oregon Public Law. Oregon Administrative Rule 635-435-0005 – Definitions The classification comes from ORS 610.002, which covers species that are or may be destructive to agricultural crops, products, and activities.4Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code Chapter 610 – Predatory Animals Predatory animals have no closed season and no bag limit. You can take as many as you want, any day of the year, at any hour.
Equipment You Cannot Use at Night
The absence of a shooting-hour restriction opens the night to coyote hunters, but it does not switch off Oregon’s method rules. Two of those rules determine almost everything about how a night hunt actually works.
Artificial Lights
Using an artificial light to hunt wildlife is generally prohibited, with exceptions only for raccoon, bobcat, and opossum. Even for those three species, the light cannot be cast from or attached to a motor vehicle.5Oregon Public Law. Oregon Administrative Rule 635-065-0745 – Prohibited Methods Coyotes are not on the exception list. For a general hunter on public land, that rules out handheld spotlights and weapon-mounted lights for finding or shooting coyotes.
A second rule specifically names predatory animals. You may not cast an artificial light from or within 500 feet of a motor vehicle onto predatory animals while possessing a weapon capable of killing them.5Oregon Public Law. Oregon Administrative Rule 635-065-0745 – Prohibited Methods There is no ambiguity about whether this covers coyotes; it does.
Night Vision and Thermal Optics
Oregon prohibits using infrared or any other night-vision sight or equipment to hunt, locate, or scout for the purpose of hunting any wildlife. The only exception is trail cameras.5Oregon Public Law. Oregon Administrative Rule 635-065-0745 – Prohibited Methods That ban covers thermal scopes, image-intensifying goggles, and similar devices for any species. Because the prohibition reaches scouting, you also cannot use thermal optics to locate coyotes and then switch to a conventional scope for the shot.
The same rule prohibits laser sights, scopes with electronic rangefinders, and scopes that receive data from an external electronic device. Battery-operated sights that only illuminate the reticle, such as a red-dot sight, are permitted.6Legal Information Institute. Oregon Administrative Code 635-065-0745 – Prohibited Methods
What’s Left
With spotlights and thermal gear off the table, nighttime coyote hunting in Oregon runs on moonlight, open terrain, calling setups where animals come to you, and illuminated-reticle sights. It is a tighter toolkit than hunters have in states that allow thermal scopes or spotlights for predators, and it shapes almost every tactical decision.
License Requirement
You need a valid Oregon hunting license to pursue coyotes on public land. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife confirms the license requirement on public lands and notes it may apply on private land in certain circumstances.7Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Living with Wildlife: Coyotes All wildlife in Oregon is state property, and anyone who hunts must comply with the state’s wildlife laws and administrative rules.8Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code Chapter 498 – Hunting, Angling and Trapping Regulations No season or bag limit does not mean no credentials.
Landowners Have Broader Authority
Oregon law treats landowners dealing with coyotes on their own property differently from hunters pursuing them under the wildlife code. Under ORS 610.105, any person who owns, leases, occupies, or has charge of land that is infested with predatory animals may immediately proceed to control them by “poisoning, trapping or other appropriate and effective means.”9Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code Chapter 610 – Predatory Animals – Section 610.105 The statute extends the same authority to the landowner’s agents.
ORS 610.060 reinforces the point by stating that nothing in the wildlife laws is intended to deny any person the right to control predatory animals as provided in ORS 610.105.10Oregon State Legislature. Oregon Code Chapter 610 – Predatory Animals – Section 610.060 That creates a distinction between hunting coyotes under the wildlife code, where method restrictions apply, and controlling predatory animals on your own land under chapter 610, where the statute authorizes broader methods. The phrase “other appropriate and effective means” gives landowners flexibility that general public-land hunters do not have.
The interplay between the OAR method restrictions and the chapter 610 landowner-control provisions is a genuine gray area at night. If you plan to rely on the landowner authority after dark, call ODFW or the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division first and get the specifics confirmed.
Where You Can Hunt
On National Forests, Bureau of Land Management lands, and ODFW wildlife areas, all state regulations apply in full. Lights and night-vision gear remain prohibited, and any area-specific closures or access restrictions still apply.
National Wildlife Refuges are a separate matter. Refuges frequently impose rules more restrictive than state law, and some prohibit predator hunting outright. Individual refuges may protect coyotes or limit hunting to specific hours regardless of state regulations, so check with the refuge manager before planning a hunt.11eRegulations. National Wildlife Refuges
City and county ordinances can also restrict or prohibit firearms discharge and night hunting within their boundaries. Municipal limits, parks, and residential buffer zones commonly carry blanket firearm prohibitions that override any state-level permission. Check local ordinances before hunting near populated areas.
Hunting on private land always requires permission from the landowner, regardless of time of day.12Oregon State Police. Oregon State Police – Know the Rules Written permission is better than verbal, especially at night when your presence on someone else’s property after dark could easily be read as trespass. Knowing exact boundaries matters more in the dark, since it is easy to drift onto a neighboring parcel without realizing it.
Safety and Target Identification
Target identification is the hardest problem on a night hunt. Without daylight, and without the thermal or light-based tools other states allow, the margin for distinguishing a coyote from a dog, livestock, or another person shrinks. Oregon requires hunters to positively identify their target before shooting under any conditions.
Practical measures help: hunt over a call in open terrain where you can see approaching animals by moonlight, wear reflective or illuminated markers so other people can see you, and consider hunting with a partner. Let adjacent landowners know you will be out after dark. One risk deserves specific attention. Oregon’s gray wolf population is fully protected with no hunting season, and wolves can be mistaken for coyotes in low light. A misidentified shot carries both criminal penalties and significant civil exposure.
Penalties
Oregon treats intentional wildlife violations seriously. Deliberately violating hunting regulations is a Class A misdemeanor, with a potential fine and possible jail time.13Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 496.992 – Penalties, Revocation, Forfeiture Spotlighting and hunting from a motor vehicle in violation of the rules are specifically addressed in the penalty statute and are Class A violations when committed without criminal intent.
Repeat offenses escalate quickly. A third conviction within ten years triggers mandatory forfeiture of all equipment used in the offense, including firearms, vehicles, electronic devices, and any other implements involved.13Oregon Public Law. Oregon Code 496.992 – Penalties, Revocation, Forfeiture Losing a truck and a rifle collection over a coyote hunt is the kind of outcome that makes verifying the rules in advance worth the time.