Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Poll: Do you hunt with a round in the chamber?

Most of my hunting is done where a quick unexpected shot is the norm, so yes I carry hot, but I don't carry guns that that make me nervous when carried hot. If it doesn't have a very good and positive safety, I don't use that gun.

Now, if I was hunting where it was dangerous, do to certain circumstances, like riding horseback, or maybe climbing in very rough country, I might take the round out of the chamber, and in very open country where a man usually has plenty of time to plan a shot, then I see no reason to carry hot.

Once I'm out of the vehicle, the firearms are loaded, rounds are chambered, and the safeties are put into the "safe" position and will stay that way unless I fire the weapons or have need to cross a fence or climb into a tree stand. There have only been a few times that I can recall not carrying a loaded weapon in the field and those few times have been dictated by the circumstances/situation, not by personal choice.

There are lots of folks whom I would prefer to go with an empty chamber if I was hunting with them, but I try to avoid those folks whenever possible.

Jeff

Klikitarik,



How big are your horns?

I've carried hot the past 27 years. I've also had time to take the round out of the chamber and dry fire on passed up bucks multiple times before they bug out. While elk hunting this season I had a front scope cap brake and the safty flip to fire while bashing through some brush. I had emptied the chamber when it started getting really bad, but it still got me thinking. Over the past few years I find myself clearing my weapon more often while hunting. I could adjust to hunting cold. As often as I get flagged by other hunters I wouldn't mind more guys hunting cold as well.

I do carry my 1911 cocked and locked.

What tool?You are the one posting your cure for your feminine itch.

Not sure why Jim, but that made me think of the now-infamous DEA agent in the school what shot his own self!

Rudy is leading the polls too.

I have a round chambered in most hunting situations, but I always empty the chamber for horseback, climbing into a stand, crossing a fence or stream etc. I am very careful of what my muzzle covers and always use rifles with very positive safeties. Still I always advice people to never trust a safety.

Hell, i even like WCB too much to accidentally shoot him.. i hunt empty chamber...

Same here and I've been doing it that way for 35 years since my dad taught me how to hunt. Sure the hunter's safety course taught otherwise and I did it to make them happy and went right back to the way my dad taught me. Nobody in our family has accidently killed anyone or even had a accidental discharge of a weapon in all of the combined time we've been hunting.

Same as one of the posters stated, 98% of the time I hunt empty chamber, the exceptions being walking up on a bear kill or a kill that's been left out over night, or digging a wounded bruin outa the brush etc.

Never been a problem to chamber a round, but then I don't usually walk through the woods with the chainsaw running when I'm going to cut wood. There's plenty of time to pull the cord when it's time to do the serious work.

Seems the mileage do vary, odd how prevalent it seems to be around these parts to hunt COLD. (grin, maybe a pun there)

I guess if I gave a chit how the majority do things I wouldn't have moved here. It all kinda comes together I guess.

To my way of thinking it's a courtesy extended to those you hunt with, if you hunt solo, who gives a rats azz what you do?

Check out the thread on accidental discharges on the hunting rifles forum, it looks like most who've experienced ADs had them when they flipped off the safety. Same thing happened to me 20 years ago, luckily, nothing was damaged.

Now, here are a few observations (besides the obvious never trust a safety):

1) You can't have an AD when flipping off the safety on an empty chamber.

2) If you handle the weapon safely, having an AD when flipping off the safety won't hurt anything.

3) Having an AD will sure enough change your thinking on carrying one in the chamber, and will make you glad you're a member of the cult of wearing underwear whilst hunting.

And I agree 100% with 1AK's last sentence above.

I carry my firearms "hot" when I hunt.

This was my 46th deer season and I hunt the rugged coastal range of the Willaimette valley in Oregon for deer but hunting has carried me far and wide.

My dad taught me to treat any firearm I have in my hand as if it is loaded and the the safety is off.

This is a matter of personal responsibility. I handle firearms constantly and I'm comfortable doing so. If you only pull "Old Deathwind" out of the closet once a year for a weekend hunt, as a responsible adult you have to assess your ability to handle a firearm safely and I applaud those of you who adhere to this.

Doc

An issue even bigger than carrying hot is one's attitude toward the safety itself. Sure, I can look at the mechanism and often see the "invincibility" of the device. Yet, experience tells me that there are a multitude of ways compromise just about anything. Guns, for all the lawyers that are (understandably) behind them these days, are no exception. And while it would be nice to assume that all the fine folks here don't keep company with nor act in ways that would include them among the idiots responsible for those lawyers, I will venture that one would have to be extremely conceited to say that they have never made a mistake or done a foolish thing- even when handling a firearm. That said, anyone is statistically subject to being the cause of an accidental - and likely an uncontrolled - discharge.

I carry my chainsaw running most of the time too but the chain isn't moving. If it does I adjust the idle back where it belongs. Usually I'm trimming fencelines with it more than cutting firewood.

Do you load the chamber before you turn on the spotlight or after you see eyes?

I load my rifle when I get out of my truck, and unload it at the end of the hunt just before getting back in the truck. I personally have never known anybody to do it any other way.

Wow, guess this one is back again. I hunt with a round in the chamber with the exception of when the terrain dictates that it would be better to unload. Of course when carring in a saddle scabbard or any other form of transportation it is unloaded. Can't imagine anyone trying to convince me that walking around with an autoloading shotgun cold is conducive to shooting fast flying birds. Realistically, you wouldn't even get a shot most times because somebody in the group would kill it while you were putting a round in the chamber. Would certainly do as the Romans if I ever get a chance to hunt AK but otherwise I'll stick to what works for me.

Depends on the situation, but for the most part, I hunt empty. If I'm sitting in a deer stand in the woods, I'll be hot, but hiking the mountains, its almost always empty, unless on the final end of a stalk where shooting will be likely.

Can't say that I've had an experience where I wished I would have been loaded or didn't have time to.