Yeah unfortunatly I have nobody that hunts in my family in California my closest reletive is my great uncle and he's over in Pennsylvania so that makes things a bit difficult

I second that (taking the hunters ed course)! I have never actually been out on a hunt (this will be my first year) but that's because, like you, my family didn't have that interest. THE BEST THING I think I could have done was take a FREE hunters education course. With that little piece of paper that they gave me after the class I am able to do out of state hunts now (I'm pretty sure you have to have that to be an out of state hunter)! It's a win-win! You'll learn not only SAFETY, but ETHICS too! :D

Another Hobby to take up would be Archery,You can learn how to shoot a Bow and eventually Hunt with a Bow if You desire to do so.It will extend Your Hunting Season and get You more time out in the Field to enjoy the Wildlife.Some States also require a Hunters Safety Course in Bow Hunting..another thing to consider is stand safety and to always wear a Safety Vest when hunting from an elevated ladder stand or climber!

If Your into taking pictures of Wildlife a good Camera is needed or even a trail camera to help You monitor the Deer or other Animals in your area.If Your wanting a decent Rifle the Savages with the Accu-trigger are very nice and the Remingtons You mentioned are good Rifles too,there is also Brownings,Kimber and Weatherby's just to name a few more.The Bolt-action Rifles are more accurate in my opinion and will hold their value,a good gun needs a good scope so shop around for one that has good clear optics....I prefer the more afforadable Leupold Rifleman scopes!

Watching some Hunting Video's will help You some but it doesn't always happen that easily and You need to realize it takes lots of time and patients when Hunting.

I under stand the time and patients aspect of it all, I'm an advid fisher and i've had days where i've waited 7 hours for a bite and days where I went home empty handed but it doesn't stop me from doing it :). I found my hunters safety card, does that make me eligible in any state?

Not sure how it works now with everything being electronic,
But generally, you need to show your hunter ed certs to get your first license.
After that you should be in the system and don't need to show it anymore.
May also need it if buying an outofstate license for the first time in that state.
You should keep your hunter ed cert in a safe place.
As don't know if/when you will need it again in say 10-20 yrs.
I have had people retake courses because they couldn't find theirs, and for whatever reasons they weren't in the system.

just remember, half the fun of hunting and fishing is the anticipation of getting something, if u bagged a deer or caught alot of fish every time u went out .......you would soon get tired of it????