>>3415742Thanks Anon, and good luck. I used to be more talkative and give opinions on techniques and gear, but those threads always devolved into shitstorms for whatever reason. I could go on for a dozen posts, but to water it all down:
Just look for signs of animals and when you find them, hang around; Most are territorial (in one sense or another) and fall into patterns that make them predictable once you get to know them. The winter is a great time to do this because you can just follow their tracks in the snow. Often I'll find a few places through the year and then fill in the gaps come winter.
If you see a bird of prey fly past hunting, try to watch exactly where it goes, and wait for it to come back. They often do circuits, so learn them all and you can scout out perches as well as good vantage points to plan out shots. Some birds only take a couple of minutes, others may take hours, but odds are if you saw a bird of prey hunting then you will see it again. Pre-planning goes a long way. Once I saw a Short Eared Owl flying through a clearing at 9pm. I went back the next night at 8 and waited, and got a shot just a couple of minutes before 9. He was very punctual.
It sounds lame, but above all: just enjoy the experience and treat the shots as a bonus because they are few and far between.
