Home/Coyote & Predator Hunting/Stand Duration and Patience

Stand Duration and Patience

Stand CraftLevel 2 — Intermediate

Prerequisites

Stand Setup

Unlocks

Competition Calling StrategyNight Hunting — Stand StrategyStand Spacing and Sequencing

What It Is

Stand duration and patience is the discipline of staying on a stand long enough for coyotes to complete their approach, while avoiding wasting time on stands with no realistic chance of producing. Duration is not a fixed number — it is a function of terrain, wind, conditions, and purpose (contest vs. guiding vs. pleasure hunting). The foundational data points: Al Morris's decades-long journal shows 72% of coyotes arrive within 3–7 minutes, with the next 12% at 7–10 minutes. Tony Tebbe's field observation puts 80% within 7 minutes and 80% of those in the first 1–2 minutes. Les Johnson documents stands lasting 45–55 minutes in difficult conditions. The skill is knowing when each rule applies.

Correct Execution

Hunter commits to a minimum stand duration before sitting down based on conditions. Does not leave at a round number (10 minutes, 15 minutes) that happens to coincide with impatience. Executes a complete calling sequence through all sound stages before considering departure. After the final calling series, remains completely motionless and silent for a minimum of 5–10 additional minutes — late-arriving, sneaking coyotes materialize in this window more often than hunters expect. In adverse conditions (cold fronts, late season, pressured country), extends stands to 20–45 minutes. In contest situations or high-volume days, limits to 7–15 minutes based on the volume-vs.-patience tradeoff. Departure decision is based on a deliberate assessment, not boredom or discomfort.

Progression Levels

Diagnostic Tree

Coaching Cues

  • "72% come in 7 minutes. But I'm here for the other 28%." — Used to reframe patience as targeting the minority of animals, which still represents a large absolute number over a season. (Al Morris — "2022-08-12 Ep 231")
  • "Set your timer before you sit down. Stand duration is a decision, not a feeling." — Forces pre-commitment, removes in-stand negotiation. (Tony Tebbe)
  • "The last call is not the end of the stand. It's the beginning of the ambush." — Reframe the silent period after final calling as active hunting, not waiting. (Les Johnson — "2017-02-18 - My Coyote Calling Strategy")
  • "Eighty percent come in the first seven minutes. The ones you remember come in at forty-five." — Tony Tebbe's competition observation applied to patience in the field. (Tony Tebbe — "2024-06-03 - S-2 EP-10 Predator Hunting with Tony Tebbe")
  • "Cold fronts don't shut coyotes off. They slow them down. Wait them out." — Used when hunters abandon stands in adverse conditions. (Les Johnson — "2019-02-18 - Be Patient — Learn From Mistakes")

Common Errors

  1. Leaving at a round number: Quitting at exactly 10 or 15 minutes is almost always psychological, not tactical. Coyotes don't operate on human time preferences. → Internal discomfort with silence. → Set a timer at stand entry and commit to it; departure time is decided at entry, not in-stand.
  2. Applying competition duration to non-competition hunting: Tony Tebbe's 7-minute contest rule is valid when you have 30+ stands mapped and the objective is body count. Running 7-minute stands on a slow day in thinly-populated country produces nothing. → Borrowing rules from a different context. → Duration standard must match the day's objective: volume hunting or deep-penetration hunting.
  3. Leaving immediately after a shot: Al Morris, Randy Anderson, and Les Johnson all document that additional coyotes remain in the area after the first is killed. The post-shot silence + soft calling window is one of the highest-value stand segments. → Adrenaline and desire to recover the first animal. → Stay seated, continue calling softly for at least 3–5 minutes before moving to recover.
  4. Not accounting for extended cold-weather response times: Cold, post-frontal coyotes move slower and respond more cautiously. A 15-minute stand in these conditions catches almost nothing. Les Johnson documents 45–55 minute stands specifically for cold/difficult conditions. → Applying warm-weather stand times universally. → When temperatures are extreme and conditions poor, extend stand duration to at least 30–40 minutes.

Edges

🔑 Hidden Causal Lever

The Silence After the Call Is the Ambush

stand-craftstand-duration-and-patience →

The quiet period after the final call sequence is not passive waiting — it is the active kill window for the coyote that has been sneaking in for 15-20 minutes. Coyotes that approach cautiously often hold until the sound stops before covering the last 200 yards. Hunters who leave during this window burn the most productive minute of the stand.

What most people do
Treat the post-call silence as dead time, using it to pack up or start moving to the next stand — effectively abandoning the stand at its most productive moment.
What the best do
After the final call, remain completely motionless and silent for a minimum of 5-10 minutes with the rifle up and eyes scanning. This silent period is treated as hunting, not waiting.
Why it's an edge: Cautious coyotes time their approach to avoid overlap with the sound source — they arrive when it goes quiet. Every hunter who leaves at "the end of calling" abandons the animals targeting that window.
How to exploit: Set a rule: stand is not over until 8 minutes of silence after the last sound. Stay in shooting position, not packing position. The kill probability per minute is highest in this window.
Les Johnson, My Coyote Calling Strategy (2017-02-18) — "The last call is not the end of the stand. It's the beginning of the ambush."
⚡ Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong

Competition Stand Duration Doesn't Generalize

stand-craftstand-duration-and-patience →

Competition callers run 7-15 minute stands optimized for two conditions that rarely coexist outside competition: (1) pre-scouted, confirmed coyote density, and (2) the goal of maximizing body count across a fixed area. Applying competition duration to general hunting — where density is unknown and each stand may be the only shot at a specific animal — is a category error that produces systematic early departures.

What most people do
Adopt the short-stand competition norm (7-12 minutes) across all hunting contexts, treating volume-per-day as the universal optimization target.
What the best do
Calibrate duration to the day's objective: 7-15 minutes for confirmed-density volume runs; 20-45 minutes for difficult conditions, single-property focus, or pressured animals with slow approach timing.
Why it's an edge: The competition rule was built for a specific context with explicit constraints. Borrowing it removes the 28% of coyotes that arrive after minute 7, which compounds over a season into dozens of missed animals.
How to exploit: Before each hunt, explicitly decide whether it's a volume day or a penetration day. Only volume days justify short stands. On penetration days, set a 25-minute minimum and don't negotiate it downward.
Tony Tebbe, Tony Tebbe interview (2022-02-03) — "Stand time varies: 7 min (contest), 15-20 min (guided), up to 1 hour (problem coyotes)." The full range exists — using only the short end is wrong outside its context.

Sources

  • Al Morris, "2022-08-12 Ep 231" — Primary source for 72%/3–7 minute arrival data (journaled over decades) and 12% in 7–10 minute window.
  • Tony Tebbe / O'Neill Ops, "2024-06-03 - S-2 EP-10 Predator Hunting with Tony Tebbe" — 80%/7-minute rule from competition context; stand duration calibrated to purpose.
  • Tony Tebbe / O'Neill Ops, "2022-02-03 - Tony Tebbe interview" — Stand time calibration: 7 min (contest), 15–20 min (guided), up to 1 hour (problem coyotes).
  • Les Johnson, "2019-02-18 - Be Patient — Learn From Mistakes!" — Extended stand times (45–55 minutes) in cold/difficult conditions; patience as the primary differentiator.
  • Les Johnson, "2017-02-18 - My Coyote Calling Strategy! Calling Coyotes in All Seasons!" — 20–45 minute stands in late season; silent period after final call.
  • Randy Anderson, "2024-02-15 - How Long To Stay On Coyote Calling Stand?" — Extended stands in productive areas with trail camera confirmation (40–45 minutes).
  • Randy Anderson, "2024-03-06 - Two Great Hunts! Same Sound, Same Spot, One Year Apart!" — Stage 3 coyote at minute 35–45 as proof that full stand duration is rewarded.