fatdad wrote:^^^^
And with that, a civilized thread begins its death spiral...

Civilization took a step back with your passive agressive insult. You stated your opinion three different times. You were loud and clear. Sunny took the opposite view. Now its time to relax...

Accepting different opinions is what seperates civilization from the animals.

For what it's worth, I think carrying a gun is just stupid... between the gun and the ammo... too much weight...

The original post was basically-Do you or Don't you?
How bout we it leave off at-Take one if you want, don't take one if you don't want to!

Bill Reed wrote:The original post was basically-Do you or Don't you?
How bout we it leave off at-Take one if you want, don't take one if you don't want to!

Bill, that sounds a lot like "Smoke 'em if you got 'em." This thread resembles that dude who wanted to carry (and smoke?) cigarettes in the mountains.

fatdad wrote:^^^^
And with that, a civilized thread begins its death spiral...

No, it's bound to gain new life in "The Comfort Zone."

Fletch wrote:

fatdad wrote:^^^^
And with that, a civilized thread begins its death spiral...

Civilization took a step back with your passive agressive insult. You stated your opinion three different times. You were loud and clear. Sunny took the opposite view. Now its time to relax...

Accepting different opinions is what seperates civilization from the animals.

For what it's worth, I think carrying a gun is just stupid... between the gun and the ammo... too much weight...

Like I said death spiral, though with that comment I think we've hit the talus. Way to keep it classy Fletch.

DayHiker2011 wrote:

boyblue wrote:Never have and never will.

"I've had 45+ years of hiking and backpacking experience and have never needed a firearm."

In today's world, the human predator might be more of a risk than the wild critter variety.

I agree with that statement, but the op was pretty clear and specific about his post:

firebirdude wrote:And just so we're clear, it's for protection against animals. Not for humans.

I was trying to stay on that topic. In the areas where I hike (mostly in California), I don't have any fear of the critters. I simply try to respect them, stay alert for their presence and keep at a safe distance whenever possible. Based upon my many experiences with wild animals, firearms would have been completely useless and unnecessary.

Whoa! This topic has gotten lots of attention.

cbeats wrote:First of all, I'd just like to commend everyone on having a conversation more than a page long - about guns, on an internet forum - without it devolving into a politicized shouting match.

AGREED!!! So happy to see most everyone staying mature on the matter.

Yes, I did specify firearms vs animals. Mainly because human vs human is pretty much the same discussion in or out of hiking and I didn't want to get into that.

All in all, looks like a pretty good 50/50 split between folks.

jesu, joy of man's desiring wrote: He'd been sighted on the edge of the canyon, sleeping in rabbit hutches and chicken coops--probably smoking meth and having long conversations with the hens.

Funny ... should have been nabbed for Beastialitality --- did he do the smoking after he did the chickens ? I think I know the man.

lcarreau wrote:

jesu, joy of man's desiring wrote: He'd been sighted on the edge of the canyon, sleeping in rabbit hutches and chicken coops--probably smoking meth and having long conversations with the hens.

Funny ... should have been nabbed for Beastialitality --- did he do the smoking after he did the chickens ? I think I know the man.

He shall be directed to the bath of shame, but I wouldn't count on him showing up.
...............................................................................................

In all my years hiking I've seen one fisherman with a holstered handgun at a backcountry, high mountain lake on forest service land. I suspect a small number of other wilderness users carry, but would bet it is generally not common outside hunting seasons and areas.

A friend who doesn't hike much once insisted on packing a handgun in his pack on our backpack trip into a known black bear hot spot. Despite the weed and rum that he consumed, he slept restlessly and complained about my dog sleeping too deeply to guard us. He had heard lots of stories about grandpa hunting bears, including cubs, and seemed to view them as likely to be vicious. Well, if shooting at them, I suppose aggressive behavior could be a likely response. He did refrain from shooting a six foot rattlesnake that crossed the road on our drive out when I calmly asked him why he was going to shoot it and he couldn't come up with an answer.

Awareness, loud noise, movement/retreat, trekking poles, sticks, and rocks are all I have ever relied on to keep extremely rare confrontations, out of many animal encounters, from turning ugly.

jesu, joy of man's desiring wrote:^^^^ what the hell !!! Why does the dude in that video take 12 MINUTES to get to the fuking point???????????

I gave up after 6 minutes...I got no ATTENTION SPAN for some random Wyatt Earp dude filming himself in a loud moving truck detailing his wilderness saga of being stalked by a couple crackhead illegal wetbacks


I assume at the climax he draws and blows them away!!!!



.

OMG! I was going to post the same thing but didn't want to spread negativity (no offense lol)

Guy drones on and on and on.

I used to hunt animals and eat them but as soon as I started technical climbing I quit hunting and have never carried a gun into the back country since. It had nothing to do with my fear of wild animals but rather a matter of weight. After loading 5-7 days worth of gear in my pack there was just no room for something that I might not need to use. And unless you're carrying something a lot bigger than a 40 cal pistol you might cause yourself a lot more trouble than you think. I live in Idaho and most hunters I know carry at least a 357 mag if they think they might have to shoot a bear at close range.

In my 40 years+ of hiking and climbing in the northwest and Canada the standard is bear spray, not guns. I have encountered wolves, packs of coyotes, bobcats, black bears, one grizzly. cougars, moose, elk, deer and two years ago, a wolverine. In all of those encounters it was a very large bull moose that was the most worrisome. Second in my list would be cougars and third would be the wolverine. He was definitely the smallest but man did he have some attitude. I was on the opposite side of the river from him or I would have gotten out of his way.

As for fear in the outdoors, humans are my biggest worry. They might break into my car at the parking spot, get shit faced and shoot guns in a campground, start forest fires, litter, or just challenge you because you're out in the middle of nowhere. I have also been shot at by hunters who mistakenly thought I was game. Also, I see far more humans in the woods than wild animals so I consider myself quite lucky when I do see one. I do shoot them but I use a Canon G12 instead of bullets.

Bob