Using a plan to cover your hunting territory will increase your success and cut down on overhead costs (gas and mileage).
Plan your setups in a circle or cloverleaf from your home base.
Do as little backtracking as possible.
Try to hit as many setups as possible.
Try to get out before or after work. Yea, yea, yea, get up 3-4 hours before work and hunt the late night shift before work in the morning. Even an hour or two before work will put more fur in the shed.
Learn to save time. If you save 2-3 minutes per setup, that will give you an extra setup at the end of the line. Save time by being somewhat organized. Have a routine. Stop truck, have equipment close by, carry only what's needed and setup.
Visiting your setups before the hunt, a hunter can save lots of time. Cut a few branches or brush, make a makeshift blind, check distance for killing zone, know where to park and so on.
Get permission on alot of territory. At times, your core area isn't producing but a county or two away, you will have a banner hunt.
Ever talk with another predator hunter about a good/bad night? I told a friend that I couldn't call the operator one night. He said he killed 6 Fox and 3 Coon the same night. He lived in a different part of the state.
My point is, cover a few counties, think big.
Continue to 'scout'. In-season scouting is mildly overlooked (folks have a mindset that they are going after 'em where they saw 'em or heard 'em this summer). As crops are harvested, hunting seasons open, leaves drop, cover thins and human pressure arrives, critters change their core areas and eating habits. One must keep an eye on critter movement throughout the season.
Planning and Pre-season work is a large part to success.
My best to everyone this season.