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While hunting, I don't see how the handgun in your holster is going to be better than the rifle or shotgun in your hands. I did find the guy who wants to have a final last ditch if he is wrestling around with a lion or bear to have a good point, but that is the only reason I can think of, while hunting.
There's a multitude of good reasons to carry one, and only a couple reasons against, being weight and it gets in the way as the reasons most commonly cited. Well, the day that a couple pounds on the hip becomes too cumbersome for me, I probably shouldn't be in the woods anyway. Besides, there are many good airweight options out there that are compact, and weigh next to nothing. I'll go that route before I give up carrying in the woods.
I've also trained my son to do the same. His first sidearm at 11 years old was an airweight Smith .22lr. Like carrying air in a holster. Neet little sidearm for the kids. When he graduated 8th grade last summer, he got upgraded to my old GP100 with a new Magnaport velvet hone finish. And about 1000 rounds of wadcutters for practice.
The plus of a sidearm is it is ALWAYS there (if worn). Someone strange approaches, I can concentrate on them and what they're doing, and not where my rifle is at or how I'll get to it if I need it. It's not in the backseat of the truck, leaning against a tree, or on my bunk when the stranger enters camp, or the bear rounds the corner as I'm field dressing my animal.
Another good reason is where I hunt is open range. I'd rather have a .357 with some good hard cast ammo than the .223 or 22 mag when facing a ticked off range bull with no fence in sight.
But, just as with a rifle, it does you no good if it's likewise in the truck, on the bunk, or hanging off the back of a camp chair. I select my sidearms with that in mind. The big old 44 might be comforting when a bear is about, but the chances of that thing being on the back of the chair or in the truck grow greater as the trip grows longer. A good med frame .357 with some 187 grain cast cores even a .40 cal on the hip beats the heck out of a 44/454 on the bunk.
What I want is a 5 shot .41 mag in a med frame revolver with 4" barrel. Potent and relatively compact and easy to carry. If they made one, I'd be all over it. Until then it's the .357 or the .40.
Again, many good reasons to carry. Unfortunately what I see a lot of times the reason a good number of guys don't carry is because they fear they'll be ridiculed or joshed by other guys who were ridiculed for carrying, or just chose to not carry or see the benefits of carrying. That's a bit more common than I think people will admit. How many times have you heard the tired old joke about "hope that front sight is filed off, because it's gonna hurt when the bear shoves it up your rear"? And "carrying a sidearm is a true sign of a greenhorn where I hunt". Or "you'd be laughed out of camp". Well, laugh away buddy, my skin is thick. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif And if you think where you hunt is rough, come visit some of these canyons in AZ. If I can hump it up and down these canyons with a sidearm, I can do it in your mountains.