Depending on where I hunt I sometimes carry my G-19. Some places involve driving quite a ways onto public land. I don't like the idea of coming back to the truck after dark with only a bolt rifle.
Never really needed it, but I've run into some drunks once or twice. One group had ran off the road and wanted me to attempt to pull them out. It was an impossible job that needed at least 1 wrecker, maybe 2 to keep the truck from rolling down the mountain. They were pretty pissed when I said I'd call a wrecker when I got back to pavement, (pre-cell phone days). I actually called the local sheriff.
I discovered a very recently destroyed moonshine still when I was 16 and walked up on some guys in the process of stripping a Mustang when I was 14. This would have been in the mid-1970's.
I've had enough incidents in the woods to keep me alert, but so far haven't felt the need for more than a handgun.
