>>3057036Honestly, get closer faggot is the best advice.
I did try it out of curiosity once, but as expected, the quality is terrible; blurry, low contrast, slow, shallow DOF despite tiny aperture, tedious to set up... absolutely worthless. But I knew that would be the case.
I just stay mobile and do a lot of observing to figure out the patterns of the wildlife when I find it. Then go in with a plan, with the sun behind me. If I fuck it up, I try again in a few days. Animals keep schedules. I got a shot of a short eared owl flying at night once (using a 300 f/2.8) just by showing up the next day at the same place and time. I hid behind a small hill it had flown over, and it came right toward me from the same direction. Got it with manual focus.
I don't use a tripod or even monopod (unless at a nest) because they slow me down with setup and getting caught on shit, and have caused me to miss shots. You shouldn't have to do anything other than stand or crouch, and should be able to move without putting anything down or picking it up.
Wildlife here is skittish as well... you just have to be sneaky. You'll miss a lot of shots, but that's how it goes.
>>3056801 was taken with a 70-300 on a crop body (pic related) after creeping up on it from at least 100 meters away. Saw 4 of them (3 young and an adult) flying down the coastline, and watched with binoculars until they stopped, then spent 10 minutes creeping up on them. Stepped out from behind a tree to get that shot... look at how scared it is.
TL;DR: Always risk missing shots to get closer before clacking away, and keep everything as simple as possible.
