Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Carrying rifle loaded or empty?

Good with me, as long as you use binoculars.
The person you are most likely to shoot is yourself, or your partner.

I carry cold 99% of the time. The only time I go hot is when I am going through alder jungle in brown bear country. I hunt solo so I am extremely careful and in general this is only for a very short period when I know that there are brownies in the area. I go cold as soon as I get out up above the alders.

I am not happy during these situations but many bears in the area that I hunt are not acclimated to humans and would monkeystomp my azz. I have had to take two dlp bears and have had to sling a shell right under two other bears...one sow with cubs and one big old boar.

This goes against my training and hunter safety education but it is a case specific thing that runs counter to my norms. I would never carry hot hunting unless I wanted to hunt brown bears in the brush and that isn't a winning play.

Sincerely,
Thomas

Thomas-
That's many times more compelling than "The dink I shot this year would have escaped and grown into a forkie next year if I had to chamber a round.....".

I carry cold, but handle every weapon as if it were loaded. Makes the people around you much more comfortable, cause they don't know for sure whether it is loaded or not.

But, because I was carrying hot, I was able to quickly blow his azz off...

When I leave the truck and I'm clear of the road, my rifle is fully loaded. The clip in my sidearm is full but left with an empty chamber. If I jump a whitetail I don't want to spend my time chambering a round. But then a lot of the times I'm hunting with a 45-70 Ruger medium sporter and your only going to get that one shot.

Exactly!

I used to carry hot most of the time. This year I decided to give carrying cold a shot, just 'cause, and I doubt I'll ever carry hot again. Carrying hot wouldn't have increased by chances to kill the deer I saw, and believe me, I don't think an animal could get more skittish than a PA whitetail on public ground during the last weekend of firearms season. It's nice knowing when I fall on my face and down a hillside that I'm not going to shoot myself (at least accidentally).

Looks like I'm not needed here...

If I'm in a tree stand, I have one in the chamber and the safety is on. If I am on the ground still hunting, I have one in the chamber and the safety is on. When I get back to the truck/cabin/etc. then I unload the chamber and magazine.

I must be a product of my environment. I've never hunted with anyone who doesn't do what I described above.

I agree, what IDIOT carry's a loaded weapon in a vehicle, up a tree with a loaded gun and down the tree and carry's a loaded gun crossing a stream, creek, muddy bank, what ever!!GOOD GRIEF!!!

I took a header once while deer hunting on an island in PWS. The soil and grass will simply give way in some areas depending on how close the bedrock is to the surface, and water content of the soil. It's not if you're going to fall in that terrain, but when.

I don't know for sure if the muzzle of my rifle swept my son or not, but it certainly could have. For me I simply won't tollerate the possibility of a loaded gun sweeping my family members.

Those that argue about people being killed by unloaded guns are idiots. Just as the people that don't know how to unload a gun are idiots and shouldn't be handling guns.

Simply put, you can't be killed or kill a family member or hunting partner with an unloaded gun.

How many times has this been done, and has anyone on either side convinced anyone else?
Wasted effort on both sides!

Yep.... however, for all of those that do not have a round in the chamber when hunting... I also suggest you unload your carry gun as well....

And all those with a round in the chamber I suggest you marry a swallower.

Can only speak for myself Tracks, but since I started reading these hot v. cold debates I give a lot more thought to where I'm at, what I'm doing, and then make a conscious choice as to the condition of my gun. This is a big change from being raised to always hunt hot. It's very timely info that I can pass on to my kids as they become shooters and hunters.

So yes, it changed my mind and I'm glad for the new info.

New info, my hairy white BUTT...

Stubbie
By far, the folks I know carrying cold kill more game than those insisting on carrying hot...

By that I mean specifically the folks I know insisting on cold chambers are by far the more experienced and lethal subset. Not an absolute of course...
art

You missed my point entirely,the key word in my post was NEVER.If you NEVER load the gun,you can't shoot anything,and there is no chance of an accidental discharge.In fact,since you are not ever going to load the gun,you don't even need to have ammunition for it.