I'd like to do some night hunting for yotes but here in MI we're limited to rimfire or certain buckshot loads. I'm open to a thermal optic down the road but I'm thinking something I can headmount for walking around would be a good first step (don't own nv of any kind at the moment). Do they make hardware for QD between helmet and rifle?

All that being said, what kind of rimfire or shotgun setup should I be thinking about?

I would suggest the 17 WSM. It's a 3000 fps rimfire.

 
That is a good suggestion, a few guys around here have good luck on coyotes with .17HMR as well.

+2 on the .17.  I thought we had it bad in IL, but ya work with what ya got.  I would also imagine the recoil on a shotgun would be bad medicine for something like a pvs 14 if you were to somehow utilize it mounted on the shotty.  An ir laser sight would probably be better for shotgun use, and a dedicated weapon sight may be able to handle the recoil of something like a 12 g but definitely don't quote me on that, yo would definitely need strong mounting points.  Plus the .17 would bump up your range effectiveness  I would assume.

I've hunted a bit of yotes here on northern IL during our 24 hour season.  The most difficult thing I would say is determing range on those dogs that hang out there.  So much more when I was running a single tube, even with the dual tubes I still have misses on those that were much further than I thought.   I love the laser, it is quick and easy to work with, but it is not guaranteed that you can get a dog to come in under 100-150 yards everytime.   This is why I have added a nv clip on to my arsenal, I have had better success since with the clip on and a mil scope.  A thermal clip on is on my next list of desires.  

That 17 wsm sounds perfect. Are any of the ARs that shoot this round reliable or should I look at the bolt guns? I wrench on ARs a little and have parts around so that would be my preference.

I'd forget about the shotgun.  You can't safely mount any kind of NV optic to it.  The recoil and smoke discharge make helmet mounted optics very difficult to work with as well.  Besides it just isn't the right weapon for yotes.

.17 is the way to go.  Get some thermal if you can afford it and have a ball.  With a Larue quick disconnect, I never really worried much about moving the scope off the rifle to use as a spotter.  

Alexander Arms makes a very nice AR in 17HMR.  If you go to this page on the Alexander Arms website you can customize their AR.  Unfortunately it is a little spendy at $995 for the complete rifle.  They used to sell an upper in 17HMR but it's no longer listed on their site but it wouldn't hurt to shoot them an email and see if it's still available.

A bit off topic but head over to the MI Hometown forum and look up the thread; Centerfire after dark, sign the petition and call/e-mail the MNRC Commissioners so we can get rid of the damn centerfire restriction. The plan is to try to get it to pass at their June meeting. The group heading it up is proposing limiting it to basically .224 and under which would prevent me from using my 6.8 which sucks but at least we'd be able to have more eithical kills. We were successful in getting suppressors for hunting use passed by massive involvement so we're hoping for the same results with this.

Also, there's no way in hell I'd use .17 HMR on coyotes, if you don't use the hit or miss in the accuracy dep't .17 WSM then .22 mag will get the job done under 75 yds (my limit). My Dad and I are wanting to go full thermal since prices are approaching manageable but that isn't happening unless we can use our .223's at night.