So, my friends and I are thinking we want to learn to hunt. We're all in Northern California, and completely naive to hunter lore and culture. Our thoughts for proper game animals are wild turkeys (delicious and fairly large targets), wild boars (because bacon is awesome and those things are destructive, and licenses are cheap), and possibly ducks (just the males, out of spite. Anyone who's seen ducks mate knows what I'm talking about).
Other than that, we have no idea where to begin. My buddy just bought a compound bow off ****, and that's as far as anyone's gotten. I was thinking I would rather go for a recurve bow, but I have no idea what I'm looking for. I'd like to keep it cheap (preferably under $200, I think). I'm about 190 pounds, of moderate strength. What kind of draw weight would be good? My brother-in-law tells me 30-35 lbs will bring down most critters without trouble.
Anyone in California know where to hunt turkeys and pigs? We'd like to stay on public land. The idea of going to a ranch and shelling out a load of money isn't terribly appealing.
So yeah, we're clueless, unskilled cheapskates who want to wander off into the wilderness and pit ourselves against nature. What could go wrong? Any suggestions on bows, books, territory? If it ends up just being a big camping trip with a lot of hiking, that's cool with us.