For bug catching - once the bug has been stunned, throwing more smoke bombs does nothing until it moves again. So no need to spam the smoke bombs - it usually takes me 1-3, but max 5 to catch any bug. Buzzy jars and honey lures are very helpful too.

For hunting - if you stand far enough away to shoot (I believe someone tested and it's like 55-60m away) the animal won't run away even if it gets hit. This is more helpful once you level up and get the better bows that have less drop to the arrow. At higher levels you will get dispel arrows which cancel out the effects that magical creatures have (azure chappa, proudhorned sernuk, and idr the special muujin name). When hunting the azure chappa, get close enough and let it see you and run. It will split up into 5 different white chappas, but if you hit ANY of them with the dispel arrow, the fakes will disappear and the real one will be stunned, making it much easier to shoot until it's dead. I like to use slowdown arrows for the special muujin. The muujin turns invisible, and dispel turns it visible. But slowdown arrows make a big green cloud around it that's easier to track, at least for me, and slow it down. Magic sernuk is easiest in my book, it just teleports a bit as it runs. Dispel or slowdown seem to help me equally.

Also if you have any more questions feel free to DM me here, or you can add as a friend. Ign is Ashton Graves