Wondering if it's worth getting into hunting. Always wanted to do it, and now I have the means. But it seems like the chances of getting a shot at a decent deer, let alone an elk, without having access to private land or being maxed out on preference points is slim to none. Anyone have any experience that would be willing to share their opinion?

Yes, but.

The good news is that America still has hunting that all can afford, and within the conus, CA has a lot of public land.  Good upland bird hunting is widespread.

The bad news is that big game hunting pressure is high in so cal, and deer are sparse.  Pigs are on private land statewide, or deep into hiking territory.

You can hunt deer in so cal, but you will eat a lot of skunk or pay a lot for private land.  You are better off going out of state.  AZ, MT, UT, ND, ID, and many others.  The weather will be cooler anyways.

For pigs, just pay the money for access, a guided pig hunt is $1,000 or less in state.  Out of state won't be cheaper.

My advice for deer - get a friend and go east.

So Cal is a tough area to hunt, I just got into hunting about three years ago. Most public land is hunted pretty hard, unless you know someone willing to show you the ropes and where to hunt it is tough in So Cal. My uncle has access to a small bit of private land and I have been able to put down to small bucks over the last 2 years. Pig hunting is tough in So Cal, better towards the middle of Cali, I just paid for access to hunt private land a few months ago and shot my first pig. I started out just hunting upland bird and graduated. My best advice to a rookie is find someone willing to take you under their wing. Always apply for a CA preference point and just collect them to start, and find a different state you may know someone in and start applying there. I finally drew a deer tag in Utah after three years this year. Good Luck, its addicting and expensive.

Sounds like a lot of hassle and money with a not very good chance of someone like me being successful. Damn.

I strongly considered it a few years back until I looked into tag costs and access costs. Not worth it in CA anymore, imho.