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- Mar 17, 2015
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In our pick up truck and in our van used for camping... we carry an axe, hatchet and/or a tomahawk.
It is in our emergency pack - survival gear.
My husband uses something a bit different than what I own.
Added more here since I screwed up my post.
I should add this here too. I do NOT back pack with all of those items. They are in the truck or van. When I hike with my husband, HE packs a smaller camp axe than what I own. We usually do NOT NEED the axe though when we hike. So it stays in the van or truck.
We go back to the van in grizzly bear country since I will not sleep under the stars or in a tent in grizzly bear country. I will in OTHER PLACES but not in specific areas up north.
So we are NOT carrying a FULL heavy load in our 60's even if we can walk/hike well. I have arthritis and some old injuries from a bad fall in my 40's but NOT in my legs. I can still swim well too.
By the time, I carry a rifle using a sling now, a fanny pack with a fixed blade and a folding knife (Buck!), my wallet-ID, my WATER and a Nature Bar... that is enough for me. I can't imagine carrying a lot of weight even though I used to open carry (Year round.) using a Triple K western, leather belt and holster for many years and sometimes I used a shoulder holster. I preferred the Triple K set up on my hip year round over shorts or jeans with a ranch coat. That was enough weight on my smaller body but it did not bother me since I was USED to that weight with a gun. I no longer shoot or own handguns but I used to shoot a LOT of rounds on an annual basis with handguns.
My husband is 6' 1" tall and I am 5' 3" tall so HE can carry something a bit heavier than me IF he absolutely has to do this.
The FIRST time that I tagged along with him in a different part of the state, another place that he wanted to try hunting, we parked and HIKED IN behind locked gates. I was literally packed for 'bear' - no pun intended (Self defense!) and he was NOT hunting bears. (I do not hunt but I like to fish.) That was the first and LAST TIME that I packed so much ON my BODY and I was 10 some years younger and my arthritis was not that bad or set into my OLD injuries.
He LOOKED at me and asked me if I had enough GEAR on me and I said that I was fine. Not! Ha! He told me that I was only hiking in a few miles from the Forest Service closure gate but I told him in MY stupidity that I needed this and that and, of course, my handgun. Spare ammo but NOT a lot of that. Oh my goodness, like I said, I did NOT want to ask him to carry MY GEAR! I did admit how dense I was later on too! I WAS STUPID. But that first time out in another part of the state that I did NOT know well... I was like a Boy Scout on being prepared only a WEE BIT TOO MUCH! Oh yeah, I had my late husband's knife that he gave me 30 plus years ago, the military one not the smaller one, PLUS I had one of my MT husband's FIXED blade knives too. We were not married at the time and he kind of laughed and said that he liked a well prepared woman. Ha ha.
I love the Boy Scouts - my only, older brother was one too!
I absolutely believe that when you are out in specific areas that you need two knives - one FIXED blade and one folding knife or two fixed blades if that is your thing.
Me? I am leaning more and more into fixed blade knives even though I carry a Buck 110 almost all of the time or the other Buck knife which has a fixed blade.
Cate
Added more.
I ain't never seen any women around where i live wear a shoulder holster... or a buck 110... that's totally cool!