Check ALL your settings. Do not try to operate more than one piece of new or unfamiliar equipment per outing. Fog banks have innate intelligence. A well-known rule states that if you get one good picture per roll of film, then you're doing good. Another related one states that you shouldn't expect to get ANY good pictures at all until you've been through three or four rolls of bad pictures.
Happiness is a good polar alignment.
Vicious dogs, wild pigs, and the genetically-challenged armed with shotguns can ruin your outing. Choose your observing site with care. It is difficult enough trying to remember the previous 10 pointers without the lil' buggers sinking their mandibles into your tender flesh. Not everyone can afford a Schmidt camera, but you can produce a picture worth framing with practice and dogged determination. Please note that some of these references are regional in nature.