Is carrying a side arm necessary?

[salmonchaser]

Some one asked if you'll get in trouble shooting a bear in self defense; quite simply if you can present an explanation that shows you were in fear of great bodily harm or death, your golden.  A dead bear 50 yards from your brass, that's going to take some explaining. Retired from the high risk social service, recidivist interdiction industry I'm
Working my third career as a guide in Alaska and there I always carry. Best day we counted 22 grizzlys. I've pepper sprayed two, never shot one. Spray works instantaneously.

[RadSav]

If you truly needed to shoot a bear in self defense I'm not sure you are too concerned with how much trouble you will be in.

[GT]

Boy Scout Motto: Be Prepared. 
My Motto: You never know what evil lurks around the bend.
My Opinion: Carrying a sidearm is necessary when hunting.
Conventional Wisdom: Better to be safe than sorry.

[DOUBLELUNG]

It's not necessary, in the sense that not having it wouldn't stop me from going bowhunting (or hiking, or whatever).  I do strongly believe the trailhead is the most dangerous spot in the woods.  I've had a couple of sketchy situations in the woods where I was glad to be armed, but have never drawn a pistol on anyone.  My mantra with concealed carry is to never do anything that I would not do unarmed, I think most scenarios where people get hurt or killed who are packing, is because they did something they would not do otherwise. 

I have had one wildlife encounter where I was glad to be packing.  I was working, not hunting, and a rutted up 2-3 year old bull moose got way to interested in me, alternating between threatening and courting.  I was in a hardwood second growth stand, the biggest tree for 200 yards was probably 4" diameter - not too great for climbing, and impossible to run through.  I had my back to the thicket on a log landing in the cut, .357 cocked and in hand aiming at his forehead.  I was absolutely confident I could kill him, but feared the consequences on my wildlife career aspirations.  I was going to kill him at six feet if need be, I wanted powder on his face!  He stood at 10' for what felt like forever, grumbling, blowing snot and hooking his paddles toward me, then turned and ran off.   

I do carry UDAP 10% capsaicin bear spray in grizzly country.  If I could only carry one, I'd take the bear spray every time, just my personal opinion.  For 2 and 4 legged attackers.

[jeffro]

Bear spray. Read quite a few articles about how effective bear mace is over firearms. Theres pros and cons to either side but when bear spray can blind you and nearly shut down your respitory system long enough to get away from the situation without the resulting consiquences of the law or me spending the next 5-10 years in prison. Ill take the lesser slightly more risky rought.

are you being serious, or an elitist bow hunter?

Repost for edit:

I want to apologize if I hurt an ones feelings
As this was meant as a joke.
I understand the situation with Mr. Smossy, and truly apologize to him if he was offended.

[h20hunter]

Jeffro....good on you for your last post.

Granted......Mr. Smossy is a complete bow snob.....DON'T EVEN begin to ask him about cameras! He has been known to tote around quite a bit of hardware on places like party boats while sneaking a sip of some agave juice from the missus canteen.

 

[swashington2128]

Some great posts, I for one never go without one. I am more worried about the 2 legged critters but the four legged ones scare me too. Had to pull my side arm with a bear while scouting for early season deer a few years back. Having a black bear running directly at you has a way of making the day interesting. Thank god he decided the confrontation wasn't in his best interest. So yes I think a side arm is essential gear if.....you practice with it and have the skills to discharge a shot with skill. I have shot thousands of rounds through my 1911's and a glock 21 over the last few years and am confident I can put a two in the boiler room and one in the pilot house under stress. If you can't draw, acquire a target, release a safety, and then shoot accurately don't carry in or out of the woods.

[sidehil]

I carried before it was legal after a cat that was eating a dead calf hissed at me from 30 feet and I was going to use my bow as a baseball bat. I had just enough time to nock one and it split. I carry a S&W Governor with home loaded 45 lc for archery and 410 while modern for deer. Its a hoot to use on grouse, the little red dot gets them every time:) Seen six cats now but never enough time to get a shot until it was in my face. My bro missed one last year at 30 yards walking right at him growling, its hard to fling a arrow when your the prey!

[trophyhunt]

I carried before it was legal after a cat that was eating a dead calf hissed at me from 30 feet and I was going to use my bow as a baseball bat. I had just enough time to nock one and it split. I carry a S&W Governor with home loaded 45 lc for archery and 410 while modern for deer. Its a hoot to use on grouse, the little red dot gets them every time:) Seen six cats now but never enough time to get a shot until it was in my face. My bro missed one last year at 30 yards walking right at him growling, its hard to fling a arrow when your the prey!

yikes.  I have also always carried, this year during my spring bear hunt I had a female bear stand up and start woofing at me.  She was only about 60 or so yards away and didn't seem very happy that I had killed her mate.  Sure I had my .300 win mag, but if she did charge, finding her in my scope with about 3 to 4 seconds to spare wasn't going to be a choice.  If she did charge, I had already planned on dropping the rifle and pulling my .45.  I just feel better having it on my side when out and about.

[PA BEN]

I never had a problem with bears or cougars, but with the wolves yes. I never go into the woods without one.

[Smossy]

Jeffro....good on you for your last post.

Granted......Mr. Smossy is a complete bow snob.....DON'T EVEN begin to ask him about cameras! He has been known to tote around quite a bit of hardware on places like party boats while sneaking a sip of some agave juice from the missus canteen.

 

Lmao. Its sad you know me so well.

Bear spray. Read quite a few articles about how effective bear mace is over firearms. Theres pros and cons to either side but when bear spray can blind you and nearly shut down your respitory system long enough to get away from the situation without the resulting consiquences of the law or me spending the next 5-10 years in prison. Ill take the lesser slightly more risky rought.

are you being serious, or an elitist bow hunter?

Repost for edit:

I want to apologize if I hurt an ones feelings
As this was meant as a joke.
I understand the situation with Mr. Smossy, and truly apologize to him if he was offended.

No offense taken at all. Trust me, If I could carry a sidearm it would probably never leave my side; bowhunting or not.
But as it stands now, Bear mace and a sharp knife are my best two friends. Plus my girl is with me when I'm hunting 98% of the time and she usually has a rifle, at the least a .Sig P220 with two mags. I'm not too concerned about her missing either.

[AudiDat]

2013 My Brother in law had to put a few .45 into a cougar that was pissed to find out him & his partner were not a Cow & calf calling.
It snuck up RIGHT behind them, his partner heard something creeping, and assumed it was an elk. he slowly drew & turned only to find a big cat coiled up just a couple of yards behind them. He let his arrow fly, was "fairly certain he hit it", the cat screamed at them, and stood fast. He screamed for my BIL to "Shoot that SOB!!!!". My brother drew his Glock and put a few rounds into it before it spun and ran one direction while the 2 hunters ran the other. All of this happened in a couple seconds and neither hunter had been so scared. They went back early the next morning to find a huge blood trail, but no cat. 


ETA: I've seen them at range, and I've seen tracks that were clearly following me before, but I've never seen one up close.   I always almost always carried before, and I damn sure do now.

[jasnt]

 
Durning this hunt I was very glad to have it!

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,136550.msg1820561.html#msg1820561

[AKBowman]

On my last archery dall sheep hunt up in AK if I remember correctly we saw 9 separate grizzly bears on a 10 day hunt. Around day 6 or 7 we were making another grueling hole up to a pass when I looked down and saw a mature boar coming up the shoot putting his nose in our tracks as he came up the draw, first left them right. Mind you this was at around 80 yards.

I clapped really loud twice and he stood up on his back legs. I yelled at him and he lowered his head like he was trying to flatten to the ground then he took off straight down the hill over almost a sheer cliff. He took off so fast you could hear the short alpine brush whip. Those tales you hear about bears not being able to run down hill...they aren't true this bear basically sprinted straight down a cliff I wouldn't even come up let alone try to go down!

We saw the same sow with 3 older Cubs a number of times on the trip and they made me nervous as hell. We weren't packing side arms on that trip because of the weight. unless I'm just scouting and with someone i always pack.

[huntnphool]

Many people bow hunted for many years without handguns.

 And many kids for many years used to have to stay out of the house during the day, without parent supervision, until the street lights came on.

 And many people for many years used to leave their cars unlocked at night.

 Etc.

 Etc.
 
 Etc.