Do you carry firearms in the wilderness? And why?

Do you carry a firearm in the bush?

  • Yes, always

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, when on trips more than a night

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, depends on where I'm going

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No, or very very rarely

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Nope, I can't!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
Mr Coffee - did they ever solve the murder of that female solo hiker on the AT, about 100 yards off of the Kancamagus? I understand they thought that the killer watched her cross the road and then followed her into the woods.

Just wondering how she would have made out if she was carrying a firearm.
 
I have been around firearms as long as I can remember, my great grandp, Grandpa & father have always carried & so do I & my brother ;) These days there are alot of weired/very bad people out there. If I'm around the house or my parents house I usually carry my Ruger MKII Target .22LR & a couple hundred rounds of ammo :D Love to plink :thumbup:
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I do occasionally. On long backpacking trips I usually don't because of the weight. I am often in national parks, so I have not carried there (although that will change soon!).
 
It was that weight that led me to buy the 340PD scandium/titanium revolver one of the prior posters showed. Only a pound loaded.

DancesWithKnives
 
mkhop said:
Yes , the one time I did not someone shot my airedale from hiding and if they had pressed on I was helpless.
In wilderness help of any kind is not around the corner , back in Texas around Fort Hood we had problems with feral dogs and the occasional feral hog and at least once gang style murder off on of the secluded range roads.

Not a criticism but a question to the guys from Finland and Norway. Don,t you guys have prisons and nut houses or any drug issues at all? If you do you have the potential for 2 legged varmints.
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Yes, we have prisons, nut houses and drug issues. But also a homicide rate of just 0.78 per 100000. And only a small part of those are gun related.
Most homicides are done with knife and blunt objects and among certain parts of the population (drug adicts, drug dealers, vinos etc). If you don`t belong to these parts of the population you are quite safe.
And besides I live in the north. Crime is really not an issue here. No need for a gun for self defence.

And no, I`m not bashing your (US citizens) right to bear arms.
We have to register our arms and that works just fine. I have the guns I need. Do I have the guns I want, see that is an economic issue not a law issue (yet).

Tor
 
Maybe it's just because I grew up near Chicago, but I've never owned a gun or had a real desire to own one.

I carry a very dense hiking stick and a knife. To get right down to it, anything I couldn't defend myself against with that stick would probably also best me if I had a gun. For example, if it's a 2-legged attacker bare handed, then they have a concussion coming. If the 2-legged had a gun, I'm not sure my own gun would gaurantee my safety. It may even the playing field, but still.

I dunno. I know there's lots of gun lovers here. Some day I may get one, but for now, I don't own one.
 
hollowdweller said:
I think I've said this before but when I first started backpacking I carried a .45 auto. Then over time I went down to a 9mm. Then after I had gone like 15 years I switched to a 6" barrel Charter Arms Pathfinder in .22 mag. Finally after a particularly tough trip, overloaded I got a NAA mini master .22 mag.

As I have gone on and on the gun keeps getting smaller and smaller because I see it's not needed. Haven't brought myself to not bring it at all yet though.

Although that's only on long trips way back. Hardly ever have one car camping or hiking in my woods.
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Seems like car camping is when you'd most want protection. Last summer there were a string of robberies along the Columbia River where the authorities believed the same guy would stop where people were camping in fairly out of the way sites and rob them.

I always carry in the woods, and usually around town. Only one time have I actually had my gun in hand, though didn't use it. I was about 22 at the time, and my mom and I got tired of being in my grandparents stuffy house and decided to go for a walk. Now, my grandparents lived way out in the country in central California, amidst a bunch of orange groves. In the course of our walk, we had to cross a paved road that saw very little traffic. As we came back across the road on our way back, a pickup drove by just after we crossed. The truck stopped, backed up, and started down the maintenance road we were on. Bear in mind this was about 9 at night, so they weren't out to check on their irrigation hoses. I grabbed my mom and scooted into the trees, thinking the truck would go on. It stopped at the row we'd gone up, turned and started up the narrow row between the trees. This was starting to really freak me out, so I pulled my mom a couple of rows over and back under a tree. I unzipped my fanny pack, pulled my little Colt .22, my pathetic Mini-maglite, and waited. The truck stopped right across from us, and just sat for several minutes. We didn't move, and they couldn't see us, so eventually the backed out and left.

No idea why this happened, but let me tell you, having that little .22 in my hand in such a situation felt wonderful!
 
dipbait said:
I carry sometimes. I would carry most of the time but there are a lot of thieves in Missouri. Im afraid Id leave it in the car then it would get stolen.
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That's why smart people DON'T LEAVE GUNS IN THEIR CAR !

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Some people think that "carry a gun" means having one in the car.

Most folks serious about it know that "carry a gun" means carrying the gun on their person.

They can't steal it from your car if you're wearing it.

.
 
I carry whenver I'm out in the wild. Protection from 2 legged predators (most likely) and 4 legged (unlikely with the local wildlife, but with more cougars and wolves showing up it might start to become something to think about). I've run into some sketchy people in the woods, and it seems once they see my piece they change their attitude.

If on multi night trips I usually bring along a long gun, most often my mossberg 500, I think its more versatile than a rifle and since it's unlikely I would be firing in self-defense at ranges over 70 yrds, so slugs work just fine, with the option of buck shot or smaller shot.

I also carry my pistol in addition to my rifle while deer hunting. My rifle is a single-shot TC encore, and I hunt on hundreds of acres of family property that sees little use apart from deer season. What spurred me on to carrying my pistol was when I ran across a pair of hunters who I did not know clearly on our land. I thought perhaps my grandfather had told them they could hunt there (he likes to do this without telling me), but when I started talking to them it became clear they weren't supposed to be there. With two of them with lever action rifles and me knowing I had only one shot if things went south, I realized that I needed to have more firepower at hand for situations like this.

The possibility to use a firearm as a signal device is also a reason I always carry one.
 
David E said:
Some people think that "carry a gun" means having one in the car.

Most folks serious about it know that "carry a gun" means carrying the gun on their person.

They can't steal it from your car if you're wearing it.

.
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My degree of seriousness may not be very high but I am sincere.
 
If I'm going to be around people I don't know, I always carry. If I'm going into areas where there are predators, I carry. Sometimes I carry just because I can.

I carry mostly for defensive purposes, and because as a human, I was born without natural weapons.

Andy
 
cmdionne said:
I think you're dead wrong. I feel we were born with the best natural weapon in the world, our brains.
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Yes of course. The weight of the average brain is about 3 lbs.... which, if frozen solid and affixed to the end of a 2-3 ft. shaft, could be a devastating impact weapon! At least, until it thawed.

Unfortunately, after removing the main component of the central nervous system, most of us would be dead. :cool:

But on a more serious note.... you are right. Thankfully, however, humans throughout time have had the foresight to use our brains.... to fashion and carry weapons. :thumbup:

Andy
 
A common theme here of "Well it never happened before, or I've been coming here for X amount of years". many forget, that the end of a day is in fact-the end of THAT day. Each day is different, as is each time you go out into the woods or anywhere. No more can anyone of us predict the outcome of a baseball game before it ends, no one can predict what will happen on a hike. We carry our gear for our own safety. To get the most of nature. Clothing, your favorite knife, tarps and ways to make a fire. I carry my weapon because I can't predict the world. It's a 2 pound insurance policy that has many times allowed me to come home. Every victim I have ever encountered said the same thing--"I never thought it would happen to me".
From my observation here, this forum is not made of violent people. We see knives and axes and guns as tools, as they should be. We are hikers, woodsmen, hunters and fishermen. It's been my pleasure to meet a number of you. All exceptional people. But I am also very well acquainted with the other side. They are the reason I carry my gun
 
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