Woods weapons, are they really neccessary

I live in Maine, and do most of my hiking either here or in NH, and I have never felt like I needed to carry a weapon. Though I have certainly had some weird encounters on the trail, I've never felt threatened. As for animals, the only thing I really worry about are black bears, but they're fairly reclusive. In over a decade of hiking I have never seen even one.
 
Do we really need the "I'm a ninja and I can break you before you get your gun out" nonsense in here??
 
Mentor said:
A few things:

First, I want to emphasize that this is a 'to each his own' thing. If you want to carry a firearm when you're hiking / camping, that's fine, of course. If feel that you need to do so, well, that's fine too. I don't carry one, don't want to carry one, and don't need to carry one. And I am not irresponsible for thinking and choosing thusly.

- Mike
Click to expand...

You have a great point Mike. I've chastised a few guys who legally carry concealed pistols and tended to act more brazen and over-confident. That is an issue...the same as rock climbing...just because you have an anchor and belay man doesn't mean you take unnecessary risks and act stupid. I would never call somebody's choice to not carry a firearm irresponsible, that's ignorance. What is more important is that you are aware of your surroundings and stay alert. Even though I carry a firearm for self-defense, I would seek every other method of avoiding conflict with two or four legged predators with the firearm being the very last resort. I've found a good, stout walking stick to be the most effective tool to keep dogs away and if needed, you could keep an aggressor at bay with a little training. Guns are not a necessity in my opinion, what is a necessity is a good head on the shoulders, being alert and being aware of your surroundings. The concept of military survival guns is that they are small geared toward just small game...you don't want to be picking fights with anybody behind enemy lines; don't give them a tool that makes the evader too confident.

ROCK6
 
MustardMan said:
Do we really need the "I'm a ninja and I can break you before you get your gun out" nonsense in here??
Click to expand...

You are right my friend, I should not have posted here and didn't mean to hijack this thread. my apologies.
 
I see nothing wrong with your posts there are indeed folks that if they are close to you they can be deadlier than a gun. My son used to train at an MMA school run by Marcus "the Irish Hand Grenade" davis, a former pro boxer who now fights in the UFC. He fights at 170 I think, not a huge guy by any means but I have never seen a human being move so fast. I am a big guy but I have no doubt he could wreck me before I could pull a gun on him if he was close to me.

You even posted a disclaimer saying farther than 4ft YOU would be the one in trouble.

Nothing wrong with what you said.
 
A very good friend of mine and his wife drove to a river that they like to camp next to. They were unloading their gear when another truck with three men in it, pulls up and stopped about 100 feet away. The three men look at my friends, take out baseball bats and start walking over. My friend continues to unload his truck, reaches in and sets his pump 12 gauge shotgun with the rest of his gear, the three men stop, look at each other, go back to their truck and leave. Two legged predators are a bigger problem than wild life.
 
You guys are doing a good job of self moderating here. I really don't want to shut this one down. Keep up the good work and stay on topic.
 
Personally i do not go into the woods without a firearm. This is in large part due to bears and other wild things, But it's also not to the discount of two legged predators. Last summer there was a noticeable bear problem in the area we frequent, so we armed ourselves accordingly.

Just as a side note, and not trying to get political. Not all Canadian's have such a "Canadian" view on firearms, I know many who have a more "American" view including myself. If I could i would carry concealed or openly whenever possible.
 
Dannyboy Leather said:
We live in the woods *year-around* here in the mountains in a small populated area of the state. Wild animals can occasionally be a problem if you have livestock. If not, they have no interest in people. People (more often) can sometimes be a problem when they come out of the big cities and clearly don't understand the rules and culture here. Hard working folks and guns ARE THE culture here and they are more than willing to use what they have to protect home and family. ;)

We have backpacked for months on the thru-trails. Never had an issue with either man nor beast. However, near a trailhead once, I had to discourage two would-be bad guys from taking an interest in our persons and property by standing up (I was a little larger than they thought I was) and showing my handgun and two speed loaders (they stumbled backward). My wife said I enjoyed it more than they did. :) There was another time on a remote stretch of ocean beach, camping, where we were rapidly approached by a vehicle full of scruffy looking characters clearly looking for trouble. Handgun out, they found reverse quickly. I called the State Police and gave them the license plate number and description. Real geniuses who were later caught...drunk. In both instances, these were people who were near some form of escape if they needed it. These types are most always lazy and will not venture far from a vehicle. This is one of the reasons that all experienced thru-hikers camp well off any trailheads or away from populated areas.



Wash away the Constitutional foundation from the house and the house crumbles. As a VERY proud member of our U.S. military, I worked for the people, not for a government that set itself up separate and apart from its people. I was constantly reminded that my multi-million dollar combat aircraft belonged to the "taxpayers", not me. :) My military brethren take an oath to "uphold" our precious Constitution, not remove it. We will be keeping our guns, Sir. :)
Click to expand...

First of all, let me say thank you for your service and F'in right. We will certainly be keeping our guns, Sir.

Secondly, I carry concealed EVERY time I go for an extended trek. I walked up on a rural marijuana grow once on a three day solo cross country hike (maybe 4 years ago or so, I am 26 y/o), and all I can say is that its a d*mned good thing no one was there at the time. Its difficult to say what size the plot of land was because it was distributed among the trees in a way that you wouldn't be able to tell from above that there was a crop of bud growing there. There was a square card table set up, three chairs, 7.62mm casings (I saw dozens) on the ground, and some very shot-up tree trunks. Had anyone been around I probably wouldn't be here to tell this tale. Ever since then I have carried EVERY time I go out if I don't intimately know the area.

My Springfield XD-9 subcompact goes just about everywhere with me now.

I will NOT be losing my life to some douchebag with a few pot plants out in BFE. At least not without making him seek cover first.
 
I carry a hangun at all times when in the woods, unless I am hunting large game, in which case I am carrying a rifle. I carry because it is my right to and I like firearms. In order of potential need for a firearm for self-defense: Humans, Dogs, Mountain lions, Bears, Coyotes, Rattlesnakes, any rabid animals. (I have shot rabid skunks before)
 
I had a situation in the woods as a teen where a young guy decided that he was going to run down my girlfriend and I on a narrow trail with his ATV.

He chased us, kicked my girlfriend in the back and tried multiple times to hit us with his four wheeler.

I ended the problem with a properly placed peice of bailing wire between two trees. He was wounded pretty badly for his efforts and, after the fact, we found out that this wasn't his first go around with being an idiot.

Had I had a weapon on me the ending would have been pretty different.

Either he would have been intimidated and left or he wouldn't have walked away.

Point being is there are two and four legged problems out there, as was said before, you might never need it but if you do you'll be glad you had it.
 
Flipincanadian said:
Just as a side note, and not trying to get political. Not all Canadian's have such a "Canadian" view on firearms, I know many who have a more "American" view including myself. If I could i would carry concealed or openly whenever possible.
Click to expand...

What is a 'Canadian' view, and to whom do you attribute this perspective? Many of us own and use firearms, and are comfortable around them.

Having looked back over the thread, I can't find any examples of Canadians who took issue with anyone choosing to carry a firearm on wilderness outings. Seems like the only area where opinions differ is whether each individual chooses to carry.

I see very little disagreement here, beyond matters of personal preference.

Best,

- Mike
 
The further away you are from help/support, the more important your tools become. A weapon is just a tool, therefore this axiom is just as relevant. There are no police in the woods. There isn't an ambulance or a hospital either. There are plenty of dangers, either 4 or 2 legged, that a firearm can prevent. While carrying is a personal choice, choosing not to is little more than hoping bad things won't happen.
 
I hope you guys never get surrounded by a pack of wild dogs as I have. I carry each and every time I go into the woods and most of the time in town. In my opinion we currently have two things to be concerned with in the woods... people and dogs. We have a growing black bear population so that may get added in the future.
 
yeah in Montana we had a pack of coyote and dogs runing together lots of chickins died andi guess a small boy got bit good them fwp guys killd about 12 of em not much you can do when ya got 12 dogs about ta get ya
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top