Robert, I DID exactly what you are seeking to do, starting in 2014.
I vaguely remember my Dad did some Pheasant hunting somewhere with agricultural fields when I was a kid occupying myself popping frogs in a ditch with a Daisy BB Gun, but that was it as far as my exposure to hunting. Fast forward to 45yo and a few marriages later, the idea comes around in my head again, figure I ain't getting any younger, better get on that now!
If one of your goals is a Deer, there are some things you will need to understand and wrap your head around.
Chances are very high you're going to have to do it Solo. Most people, do it Solo.
In the beginning when I researched it, I read that it typically takes 3-to-5 years before a new hunter makes his first big-game kill hunting public land in SoCal. I accomplished it in 1yr and 13days. And the only reason I did so was because of being dedicated to this pursuit. I scouted all that year. Minimum of 2 weekends each month, tried to make it 4 each month. In all that time I saw 25 Does... but only 1 Buck... (and best believe I brought that mofo home with me!).
It's gonna kinda work like this... at first, during the year, you be picking some places to go scout in that you saw in a Satellite view using some logic and reasoning. At first, when you go visit these areas... you'll puss-out and go to them after the sun is already up. You'll be an idiot and walk around constantly the whole day, maybe even blow thru your water and learn the hard lesson of how much water you actually need, and the lesson of not bothering to climb back out of some place until the sun goes down outta the sky a bit.
If you're lucky, you might notice some places of foot traffic where the deer prints are of decent size and the tracks look like they could possibly be newer in age. Or perhaps you find a property line bordering public land and there's a break in the fence, or a place where the barbed wire is unusually low because a tree died and fell over onto it... and you look at that ground and you can tell the critters have been making use of that bit of luck.
Then... since you're dedicated and doing it all year... you'll get "lucky" one day and get caught out in a monsoon. Hopefully you weren't an idiot and you packed some rain gear like you should EVER TIME YOU EVER GO OUT!!! The beauty part of that is the rain wipes the slate clean for tracks. So on the hike back out you'll see some brand new tracks and be able to make note of WHERE you saw those tracks on your GPS with a waypoint.
By this point, hopefully you've ordered yourself at least 2 trailcameras and matching Python cable locks for them. Also by this time your eyes should start to get pretty good at noticing game trails (little foothpaths of traffic typically on the sides of hills, but not always on hills). On your hikes ins and hike outs LOOK UP!!! LOOK UP!!! STOP LOOKING AT YOUR DAMN FEET!!! You're never going to see anything if you're looking at your feet all the damn time!! You'd be amaze how much action you'll see once you start getting in the habit of looking up a lot more.
And always always always while you're out and about, you should be trying to walk around quietly. You'll end up walking past a critter that was hunkered down and playing the waiting game waiting for you to pass by a safe amount of distance before they break from cover and sneak away. It's a survival defense strategy and they're darn good at it sometimes.
Many places though...walking thru quietly is simply impossible due to the dried oak leaves super mega loud crunching. I different tactic is required in these areas.
Once you've been checking out an area a number of times while the sun has been up, placed up cams and come back to check them and "Behold! Eureka!! OMG I'm not just some idiot walking around alone in the forest there actually ARE freakin bucks out here!" It will do MUCH to rejuvenate your spirits and persistance in this pursuit.
Now my friend, is where I tell you one of the most important rules about hunting/scouting in SoCal. If you ain't out there BEFORE the sun comes up.. and if you ain't staying out there until the end of light... you ain't gonna see hardly anything. You've got to understand somethings. These deer are either getting moisture from the plants they eat, or getting it from watering sources they must expose themselves to great risk to go to. It's especially more risky to do so during the day. SO... during the day, they are all about the shade, and all about being hidden so then can finally get some sleep, and all about finding places that happen to have a nice cool breeze (I'm of course now talking about the warmer months of the year, which is most of them in SoCal). And if they can, I'm told they'll find an elevated position where they can see a wide FOV, and that the wind comes to them from behind so that their noses can warn them about anything their eyes aren't pointed at. And I've also been told that bucks will seek out these places which seem desolate and why would anybody go there? But they do so because they are impossible to walk thru without making a sh!t-ton of noise so it helps alert them when they're trying to catch a snooze.
So ok... now let's say that you're at a point where you've consistently captured some bucks on a trail camera. And it's about to begin the deer season in the states deer zone you've chosen to get your tag in. What's next Larry?
At this point, the assumptions are that you've already got yourself equipped and experienced to where you can hike-in to a spot... leaving your car at between 3am-4am in the dark... to hike let's say about 6-7 miles in, with the goal to arrive there 30min before sunrise.
At this point in the game, your goals are scent control protocol, getting to your spot quietly and undetected, and KNOWING THE WIND so you can be picking a spot to sit at with your concealment gear on where your scent WON'T blow to a direction you believe they will be coming-in from.
SIDE NOTE: This is where all your pre-season scouting pays off dividends! You use the pre-season scouting to do things like note WHEN and HOW the direction of the wind changes depending on the time of day it is at this particular spot. You actually sit-down at these various spots you're thinking might be good ones to sit at. Can you see well from here? (Mihgt look like a good spot, but when you sit down you realize aw poop can't see over to there because blah blah blah is in the way) Can you shoot from here? If need be...NOW... pre-season... is the time to be bustin' out with a hatchet or a saw to trim away branches or deadfall that might impede your moment of truth. ALSO its a great time to be yanking around pieces of left-behind deadfall the forresty service trims off and just leaves on the ground to make them into ground blinds. ALSO... that great spot to sit at?... How long does it remain in the shade? You may need to either pick another spot OR just realize that this spot is only going to serve you until up to X o'clock at which point you'll have to move over to this other tree over here. Your movements stick out like a sore thumb when the sun is shining on you! RE: Movements - When you're on your sit.... if you feel you need to turn your head to look into another direction... it should take you about 7 seconds to turn your head 90 degrees. Once you are in your sit spot. Seriously seriously seriously focus on not freaking moving, not making a sound. Don't sniff, don't cough, don't clear your throat. Learn to be ok with having a drip of snot hangin' off the end of your nose. Only after you've slowly checked for the coast to be clear on both sides do you then reach-up a finger to quietly wipe away the drip. Learn to look to the sides with your eyes first, then if need be... consider if it is necessary to slowly rotate your head in that direction. I have to wear glasses all the time now so unfortunately my ability to do that is severely limited these days.
On your way in.... you stash your tent and related gear near around the spot you think you're going to set the tent up at later, like maybe mid-day you come back and deal with setting it up. You take off the sweatied-up shirt you had on for the hike-in, replace it with a fresh one, maybe even re-spray with scent killer. Focus the spray on the stinky parts, pits and crotch and buttcrack. (I'm not making that up, read the directions on scent killer products!)
RE: Concealment gear - I cannot recommend enough getting yourself at least a set of 3D Leafy concealment gear! Together with a Mesh facemask. I used to use a ThermaCell device to try and keep the flies away and all that. But ever since I started using Leafy suits and Mesh Ghillie suits together with Mesh facemask... once you settle in and are not moving anymore. The bugs don't know you're there and leave you alone. You occasionally get one that might land on your glasses, but a soft quiet blow of air shoo's 'em away.
On the topic of concealment, you're there on your sit... Oh sh!t!, Oh Sh1t! OH SH!T!!!... OMG.... Here comes a Legal Buck! IT's finally happening!!!
Don't freakin' Blow it for yourself... whether bow or rifle... when possible, you want to wait until his eyes goes behind a tree or bush before you draw that bow or raise that rifle. If that's just not possible... if he's in a relaxed state and is occasionally lowering his head to the ground... THAT is when you draw your bow or raise your rifle. If you don't have that luxury... he's just tooling by... buckle-up buttercup 'cause you're going to have to draw your weapon and aim altogether in one motion because once he sees your motion he'll likely pick up the pace of his walk to a trot, won't be a Stott just yet because he's not sure what you are because of the concealment gear.
SIDE NOTE: On your bow, you should have your draw weight set to a poundage where YOU PERSONALLY can pull it back ninja slowly and quietly directly back... without all this pointing the bow up at the sky business and lowering it as well down into the pull... and also you should be able to do it without any grunting from the exertion.
Like an idiot... my dumb a$$ goes and orders a 70# draw-weight bow. It arrives at my door. Excited I grab it to pull back and...Yeah... that's not happenin'. Luckily this particular one allows adjustability. For me that magic number wound up being 54 Lbs of draw weight. Don't be a dummy like and order a 70# draw weight. TOTALLY not necessary at all.
Now... some personal notes: I highly recommend that you talk to your Dr and get an Rx for a limited number of Tylenol #3's or an opiod like Percoset or Vicodin if that works for you (I can't do Vic's, my skin itches horribly on that stuff) if you can swing it. You'll explain to them that it's for your hunting pack so that in case...er...check that... WHEN... you get injured, you can limp your sorry a$$ back to your vehicle. Also... you will likely want it for the first time you get to pack-out an animal on your back. On the pack-out.. life gets serious REAL DAMN QUICK!!
Let's take a moment to talk about money. If you are serious and committed and know for sure that this is something you want to do and you are committed to sticking with it... you need to do yourself and your body a BIG HUGE FAVOR and buy yourself a serious hunting pack. On my first pack-out it was a used BadLands 2200. Not a bad pack, mind you... but... the hip belt kept on loosening back up. So I kept having to cinch the heck out of it. And it's just not as nicely designed for the hauling out meat aspect of it. OMG... over the next 3 days all the skin on my abdomen started to redden and blister from all the abuse it rec'd that night on that packout! I was freakin' out, thinking to myself "OMG!!! WTF?? Does this happen to everyone who packs out an animal?" So of course I asked around and showed the pics and NO... a BIG FAT NO... this does not happen to everybody. It only happens when you're not using good equipment, and equipment that's NOT properly adjusted for your bodies dimensions too.
And be prepared... chances are highly likely that when that magical moment happens and you get your first deer... once you raise to standing by walking your hands from all fours... to onto your knees and up your thighs until you're vertically upright... you won't want to have to do that again, so you're highly likely to decide "Naw bump that.... I'll come back for the tent and stuff." RE: The pack-out. I strongly urge you to have at least 1 nice carbon fiber trekking pole with you in your pack. When you are hiking back out... especially on downhill slopes with all that weight in your pack... scary sh!t will happen where without a trekking pole... your feet may slide and for a brief instant your upper leg will be pointing one way, and your lower leg will slip and twist and point another way sending frightening messages from your nerves to your brain that Holy Sh1t, we almost just snapped our knee right there! DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN! On the pack-out, learn to take shorter, more sure-footed steps than you're used to. You will feel motivated to hustle and want to push it to get this weight off your back... just DON'T DO IT! And remember how I talked about those Tylenol #3's? Yeah... now's the time for one of them. But only 1!! If you take more than one... from all the squeezing that's going on from your pack-belt... you'll get all kinds of acid reflux if you try to take 2. An electrolyte supplement is crucial on the packout too. The very second you feel your calves get any kind of crampy, bust out with the electrolytes and aminos. Also... if you're just not pissing hardly at all on the packout... that should be your cue that you ain't drinkin' enough. I'm telling you all this because it's crazy important to make sure you're not fatigued any more than you have to be on the packout. Anybody who's every rode MotoX or Desert will tell you that fatigue is when crashes happen, and that's some isht you DO NOT want happening in the middle of the night with a big ol' bag of bloodied-up Deer meat strapped on your back, believe that Jack!
After you've finally read all this, hit me up on this thread with any other questions. Since I very recently went thru learning all this starting from scratch, I'm betting I can give you exactly the answer you're looking for that will keep you from wasting time and money.