Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Pistol for Backpack Hunting

I don't think anyone says you have to be from Alaska contribute to this thread.

Most are mearly giving our experience on what we do when we go hunting with a rifle into grizzly country (OP didn't ask about people in KC, cats in Colo, or black bears in New Mexico).

Some of us spend quite a bit more time in grizzly country that others, but that certainly doesn't make your concerns any less valid at all and I don't think anyone is saying that.

We aren't talking about just general backpacking, cause then of course taking a handgun along makes sense. But for a backpack hunt in grizzly country when you are already taking a rifle then it just seems overly redundant to take a handgun IMO, and my opinion is just that so you get what you pay for it.

MH, on your brown bear hunt it wasn't a backpack hunt, in that you weren't carrying your whole camp on your back everyday. In such a situation then sure why not bring a sidearm to go fishing and what not, though I still think its overkill cause you were with a guide but that is your choice not mine so rock on, but this wasn't what the OP said he was going to do. He said he was going backpack hunting in grizzly country, not backpacking in Colorado with mountain lions and black bears. Just trying to keep it on topic.

I certainly respect your opinion/experience based on your hunt up here in Alaska. I just have a different outlook on it. Doesn't make either right or wrong, its a free country (for the most part unless you live in Cali) and we can carry whatever amount of firearms we want into the backcountry. I just don't feel the need to take more than one per person and often one handgun or rifle shared is good enough for my backpack hunts.

If the OP sleep better at night cause he has a 30 oz handgun in addition to his rifle then by all means take it...sleep is important on a hunt and 30 oz isn't gonna really make a difference in the scheme of things, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy a handgun if I was him and didn't have one.

Depending on his rifle even bringing a 30 oz handgun along might still be lighter than many hunting rifles. My .308 Kimber and 329 PD combined for 7.5 pounds all up and loaded. Its not that it weighs too much, its that I don't see the need for it and I don't like carrying things I don't feel I need.

However if he is trying to justify a handgun purchase....then by all means I agree :), YOU'LL FREAKING DIE IF YOU DON"T HAVE ONE...BUY TWO!!! :P