What's crazy to me is that I dare say, most, hikers are so against guns that they would almost rather be raped or chopped into pieces than carry a firearm for protection.
Foolish in the extreme.
I know folks who have said they would prefer such treatment who then were victimized. In every case they changed their minds after surviving their victimization.
Yep. Hiking sticks don’t work well against a machete.
I don’t go anywhere without a gun. If I can’t take my gun, I don’t go. Some may label it as paranoid, but I just call it being prepared.
That's it--my thoughts exactly ! Going without preparation is total ignorance. Dozens of times these pilgrims on the trail have asked me with contempt in their demeanor, "What's that gun along for?"
We've hiked and climbed hundreds and hundreds of miles over the past 38 years, and never once have we done so without protection along.
Once, while hiking in the rugged, remote Taylor Hilgard wilderness, we were back in about 8 miles, just shy of the base of Imp Peak. There had been no other cars at the trailhead. Yet up ahead, I saw two guys bring their horses up on the trail, forming a "V" shape on the trail, blocking our path. From appearances, they looked like trouble--dirty, scruffy--imagine the dopes in the movie "Deliverance". We were about 50 feet from them, when one of them said a nasty comment to us. We had a peak in mind, and kept going forward, and when we were about 15-20 feet from them, they saw my .44 magnum on my hip, and for lack of a better way to put it--it was all over. They got out of our way, but I had eyes on the back of my head that whole trip, not knowing if they would show up again, or if they had a rifle back at their camp.
When one goes into places like this, you're on your own--and in a potentially difficult spot if something occurs and your wife is along.
While weight might be an issue for some, we take two rigs along--the second one concealed--just in case one gets hurt and has to leave--each are still armed.
