Your Side Arm of Choice?

I had a encounter with a bear. It was on the archery elk hunt. The bear was with in 20 yards. At the time I did not carry but now I do. I was glad I was not on the menu that day. It hung around and stared at me for what seemed like along time but might have been a minute or 2 before it walked away. I now carry a Glock 30 when I head out.
 
I run into black bears all the time when I am out in the woods, never had one try to attack me, but if they do thats what my glock 20 10mm is for.
 
Depends. It's like everything else -- different tools for different jobs. On thing for snakes... one thing for bears... other things for concealed carry...

Sometimes I get tired just trying to make a decision.
wink.gif
 
I hunt where the Griz roams so I always carry my Taurus Tracker .44 Mag 4 inch with 300 grain Core Casts. First shot out is a snake shot load though backed by the 300 grainers. Perfectly legal in Wyoming to carry a sidearm while bowhunting.
 
Illegal in NY to carry while bow hunting big game. But NOT while bowhunting predators so generally i am hunting coyotes with my bow and 90% carry my ruger MkIII hunter in.22 lr. There are black bears around but not too worried id be more worried about a big yote or 2 legged predators and i know i can rapid fire this pistol into a 3 inch group at 30 yards!
 
Last edited:
Never carried one bowhunting. But when in bear country there's one in the tent at night. Started doing that after a bear raided camp three nights in a row. Kinda felt helpless!
Have a couple hunts planned that's in big bear country though and the Casul may be on my hip on those.
 
While I don't Bow Hunt, and the likelihood of running into anything more dangerous than a Pot Farmer or Meth Lab, when I'm out in any kind of hunting situation, I'm packing either a Kimber 10mm or a S&W .357 Mag with some really devastating rounds capable of shattering concrete blocks at 25 yards...
 
Here in CA it is illegal to carry a firearm during an archery season or if your tag is for archery only. It would be nice to be able to since there are black bears and mt. lions, but especially because there tends to be alot of pot gardens up in the national forests.

As far as what I would carry if I could would depend more on how comfortable it is to hunt with it on, than how powerful since anything is better than nothing IMO.
 
It's kind of a touchy subject in KS...

So, we recently passed a law (when we passed our state CCW licensing program)that bowhunters can carry concealed firearms during bow season...

But that kinda implies that they weren't allowed to do so before, right?

Not so much, as KS firearms laws state that hunters, while actively hunting (or traveling en route to or from hunting), can carry, and always were able to, open or concealed.

But then hunting regs (contrary to state firearms law) state that you can't USE any firearm during the archery season, which is often misconstrued as can't POSSESS.

All clear as mud right? Yeah, it is for the rest of us too. Basically, there's a lot of leeway to either get away with something, OR get in trouble, just depends on what law the guy that catches you KNOWS, or even THINKS is true.

Luckily, it's spelled out directly that us CCW holders CAN carry while bowhunting, so I carry a .357mag SP-101. I don't expect to need it to defend myself from anything, as the worst thing we have around here is coyotes (and OCCASIONALLY a mt. lion about once a decade), but I do feel like exercising my rights as they've been allowed to me.
 
Not legal to carry a sidearm while bowhunting in Alabama. If I were to do so, given a feral dog or hog is the worst I would run into (other than two-legged varmints), I would opt for my 2 1/2" S&W M-66 with heavy hard-cast bullets. Short, concealable, but pretty powerful and plenty accurate for defense work on man or beast.

My favorite little woods gun, however, is my Charter Arms stainless Pathfinder .22 with 3" barrel.
 
Back
Top