back up side arm

[Skunkmonkey]

I'm not to worried about animals much but you never know when you'll slip up on a meth lab, pot garden, Ect. Not everyone is in the woods to hunt, Some hide bodies there.

[pandaxmx]

Well back in the 70's i had a 180lb Bear chase me up a tree after i shot and wounded him my hunting buddy shot him befor he got to me, I shot him twice with a 22 mag derrenger in the skull he just shook it off ...the one that worried me as much maybe even more was a Hugh Racoon at Ft. Desota park camp ground got into my tent while camping and was cornered we vacated the tent and he tore it up real good, he must have been 80 pounds and was all scared up from fighting...There you aren't allowed to harm them even if they attack WOW What a night, the Gal i was with slept in the car for the next 3 nights

[nachogrande]

not lookin to start trouble but gotta ask why would you shoot a bear with a 22? your'e lucky he didn't maul your azz. you musta been a lot younger/faster/thinner in the 70's, I know I was. I even had hair.

[doghunter]

you know people and movies fill us "YANKS" full of horror stories of 500 lb big tusked boars killing dogs and charging/killing hunters LOL. I was walking practically shoulder to shoulder with a guy showing me some property when he stepped on a hog, guess that hog never heard how vicious they were. I think it was more scared than us, if possible.

We've blinded a few sows at night with the headlights and jumped out and grabbed them while trying to tie them up or knife them. We've caught two smaller sows but nothing over 100 lbs yet. This past year I walked up to a 150lb boar and was over him shining the light in his eyes while he was bedded down before he jumped up and ran off. I started to kick him but decided he might attack. My great grandparents had hogs on their farm and while I was younger we would harass those poor hogs and I lost all fear of them.

Why do they tell y'all such horror stories up there? To keep y'all out of the woods I would think lol. I would think any of the larger predators up north would cause more damage than a hog anyday, well, besides a giant boar.

[Ironcat]

I worked on a pig farm and you are wrong wrong wrong...
While 90% of hogs will run away, the ones that don't will chase you down , kill you, and eat you!

[nachogrande]

predators up north,not so much. they do have black bears,yotes and bob cats but nothing to worry about. a moose is something to worry about if you get in the wrong time and place however. and copper heads and timber rattlers but rare. wolves are said to be extinct, but I wouldn't be surprized to find one in real remote areas. almost anything could get rabies and become dangerous I suppose,I got bit by a chipmunk once but survived LOL. I never carried a pistol for defense while hunting, but in metro areas those street gangs were a more real threat. before moving down here my wife and I went out to dinner with another couple and just as we were about to walk out the door my wife decides to use the ladies room so another couple walk out into the parking lot and she got shot by a drive by. you know it's an authentic Italian restaurant when someone gets shot on the premises.

[fishindad]

My backup side arm is a 357 mag snubbie. If I go out, its with me.

[FullPull]

When hunting I always carry a New super black hawk .44mag
Up north or in Fla.
On normal days its a Glock 23 or a 27 with LCP as a back up.
Been on the other end befor and that wont happen agin.

[Papa_J]

I have had a bear try to climb in a ladder stand with me. He got about 3 rungs below my feet.

I have had a bear follow me out of the woods (last season) and follow me to my truck.

I have had a bear in the back of my truck, helping himself to a bag of corn and my cooler(last season). he did not want to give me permission to access it.

I have had a bear next to my camper at 3AM with his nose inches from my head.

I stuck my 357 Rossi Stainless in a guys face about 15 years ago. He tried to car jack me at a red light when i was working nights. Had I not had it then, I more than likely wouldn't be typing this now...

I have been hunting since I was 4 (I am 37 now) and have killed over 300 hogs. I have been charged by a total of 2. One was a cracked out 600#+ barr hog, the other was a crazy 90# boar which I put a bullet in his brain at 5'
Bears and crack heads are the reason I carry a gun

Never had to pull the trigger, but it felt damn comforting to have it in all occasions

TimeE1 - You musta been huntin on my old lease. I had a mama bear do the same exact thing to me. I didn't end up needing to pull the trigger, but I was greatful to have my Ruger Single Six loaded with me. And she'd surely been shot before, cus she saw the gun pointed at her face and decided not to continue up the ladder and, instead, ran off into the woods.

[swampboy]

EAA witness hunter in 10mm. 180gr hornady custom hangun ammo, 90% of the time for hogs during small game season.

[BigJack]

I carry a Colt Commander 1911 .45, I backup shot a sheep with it and have shot some snakes with it .

[flbukhuntr]

No one ever said they were scared, but your gun jams, breaks, becomes malfunctioning? I just find it intelligent to carry a backup. Each to their own though, I just prefer to be prepared. I don't need a concealed carry permit but I have one and has nothing to do with being scared...just sayin'

I'm bow only.. so my "gun" don't jam

Me too. If I get caught up in a predicament with another hunter and he pulls a gun, I would simply to a Judo roll while nocking an arrow comin up full draw!

[M12Gunboy]

Read through this entire thread and it has been very intersting. Personally I have never carried a handgun for hunting, not even as a back up. Have there been a few times I "wished" I had had a hand gun on me, Yes! My father who is still lives in Western NY about 30 miles South of Buffalo has always carried a handgun for hunting. A Ruger Blackhawk 5 1/2" .357 Mag, right on his hip along side his Remmy 870 20 GA shotgun with slugs or with my Remmy 760 Carbine .308. He always wanted to kill a deer with it but hasn't ever been given a great opprotunity, or so he says. I have called BS on him at least 20 times, especially when he takes those head shots at deer with the 20GA slug gun at 30-50 yards and the deer falls dead. I think he just isn't as comfortable with the handgun as he is a rifle or shotgun, but he'd never admit to it. As far as predators, we've never ran into anything up north which required a hand gun except on two occasions when we were recovering two deer on two different occasions that my old man had shot on State land (same as a WMA). On both occasions we tracked the deer, in the snow, within a hundred yards of my father shooting them and found another hunter standing over them. When you walk up on a situation like this and have a handgun stapped to your side, especially up North, the first thing people think is your a LEO or the game warden since you have to have a permit in NYS to possess as handgun and it's a lengthy procedure that sucks and isn't awarded to all. Dad has had his permit for over 30 years now and knows and understands NY Pistol permit rules and laws better than most government officials who deal with it on a day to day basis.

I think I am going to start carrying a handgun as a "back up" based on running into some knuckle head, meth freak, or pissed off hunter who decides to claim my game. I normally carry a Carbine rifle or shotgun with slugs for hogs in the "thick stuff" while stalking hogs and if that's can't take care of the situation I am going to be in dire straits if I need to use a hand gun.

Now a large frame .22LR Revolver, to finish off an animal, is another story. My grandfather who passed away in 1992 carried a H&R .22LR long barrel revolver everytime he went hunting and I remember it as a kid. He always told me it's for finishing off an animal. He only owed one hand gun and carried it strapped to his side like it was a .44 Mag, again in Western NY and with a permit as required. I never seen him use it to finish any game off but I did notice as I have with my father in the woods or country that everytime we ran into someone in the woods, on a road in the country, at our camp, or on State land and they had there handguns strapped to there sides, that the folks we encountered were always the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

I think the moral of the story is having a handgun while hunting, can take game, kill a critter who has an issue, finish off game, etc. but it's usefulness IMHO is the impact it has when you are approached or approach someone in the field.

[Just 1 More]

This would make a good back up side arm
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7649

[M12Gunboy]

Yeah man, it sure would minus that scope....