Poot, Now I know you are a hunter..tho in different country..and as I have said on this and similar posts: YOU hunt knowing your own limitations, physical condition, terrain, how fast you need to move etc...so you are safe and come back in one piece. IF ya need a takedown rifle stowed in the backpack, go for it.
When a hunter hikes his arse off in steep terrain he ain't hunting..unless maybe for goats or sheep.:)
He's GETTING to where he's gonna hunt and the rifle is handled alot differently..Slung up, unloaded, on safe, even laid down at times... whatever.. When you need one or both hands and arms to negotiate the country..the rifle gets slung up and safe.
I hunt like I hunted men and lions and bears and like I still can hunt with a bow.
Slow and deliberate..not like I was busting my arse..
IF I am humping into where I want to hunt( or out) the rifle is unloaded and probably slung. IF I'm doing a run around on a herd of elk, rifle is safe and slung up..
IF a hunter is falling down and getting tangled up..don't matter IF all he's packing is a slingshot, IMHO, he's in over his head, in the country...picked a poor route, out of condition, poor footwear, fatigued, or maybe all of the above or worse.Jim
Jim, Point taken, but a lot of us do hunt in steep nasty locations where it is easy to lose footing. I just can�t imagine putting a gun �only� on safe when the possibility of taking a tumble is high. An empty chamber makes me feel a hell of a lot more comfortable in those situations. I think it is really a matter of semantics with regards to �what is hunting�. I consider myself hunting from the moment I leave the trailhead. I have shot more than one animal while crossing a steep nasty scree slope that I never would attempt with a round in the chamber. In those situations I steady myself and quietly jack a round in the chamber. This adds all of one second to the whole process all while decreasing the possibility of the gun going off should I fall.
The bottom line is I never know when a elk, deer, mtn goat, etc.is going to show themselves, therefore, I am hunting from the moment I start hiking. If I cross a nasty spot I don�t need to take the gun off my shoulder and remove a round from the chamber and then put a round back in the camber once I get to a section of easy walking, like you describe. If I leave the chamber empty I am safe for all conditions; I can hike as fast or slow as I want and I just need to run the bolt once to prep the gun for business.
