Wow, I missed this post when it first showed up!
I was born into a hunting, fishing and an outdoor family. I am 78 and started hunting when there was no such thing as "points". OTC tags were there everywhere and in all states. Some states setup special areas for limited draw, but no points. By the time I turned 30 (graduated from college, married, drafted in the Army and a great job), I had hunted deer in Arizona, Utah and my home state of California. Deer hunting was my passion. Work made it tough (I was an aerospace engineer for 40 years), but financially made it possible to hunt most anywhere I wanted to. Getting time to do it was the challenge.
In the 70's I got the "Baja Bug" and for 20 years spent my spare time exploring, fishing and boating all over the Sea of Cortez. I hunted too, but not my main focus. I caught tons of billfish and tuna and hunted lots of quail in Mexico. As the politics changed, so did my visits south of the border. Havn't been there since the early 90's and don't plan on going back.
I Started hunting Wyoming in the 80's and have hunted Montana and BC, Canada. I wish I had gotten the Alaska experience early on too.
I think JimP"s advice is spot on. I hunt OTC here in Colorado every year that I want to or draw units that require minimum or no points. Luckily I have been retired for 20 years and can do the research on the ground.
A lot depends on what you want to get out of hunting. For me, I was brought up to bring something home to eat. As a result, early on, I took almost anything that was legal. Success was high, trophies low.
I also got my son started when he was 7 or 8 hunting birds. Easier to go when family goes too.....for the most part.
There aren't to many of my original hunting buddies left who hunt, so I do more solo hunting than I have ever done.
If I had it to do over, I wouldn't change much. One thing I would do is work and save for a "blue chip" hunt (to borrow an Eastman's term) so you could do one every few years. Do something out of the box to somewhere you wouldn't normally go. Never know what you will turn up. Above all......keep applying for those tags!