Should You Carry A Gun Outdoors?
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 6 months ago
Bear spray is a great option outdoors. It will deal with any dangerous animal, two-legged or four. It’s what I carry when I go play in Baja, Mexico. (You can’t take a gun across the border.) Combined with my two dogs, I feel that it satisfactorily handles my safety. You don’t really need to aim bear spray—it hangs in the air as a shield even if you miss your target. It also won’t look out of place or scare people if you carry it around.
But bear spray canisters are too large to carry day-to-day, away from outdoor activities. The nonlethal solution my fiancée (who also carries a handgun, for the same reasons I do) uses is a Kimber Pepper Blaster II. Small, slim, and light, it’s easy to carry in a purse or pocket (there are also plenty of holster options) and employs a unique percussion-fired pepper gel design that gives it a couple unique advantages. Pressurized canisters like bear spray can leak if left in a hot car or just due to age, but this nonpressurized design remains inert until fired. Also, the shotgun-like blast of pepper gel isn’t affected as much by wind and can’t blow back on the shooter, making it more foolproof in action. You get two of those blasts, which stain an attacker’s face bright red for later identification and have a range of up to 13 feet. The wide shot pattern also ups your odds of actually hitting your assailant as much as possible during a highly stressful situation.
The thing with a nonlethal option is that you’re able to take action if you feel threatened, but without risking a life. This is hugely empowering: you get the ability to decisively deal with a threat free from the burden of making a life-or-death call.
Yea, don’t listen to this idiot.
It’s simple, yes? The decision not to engage in life or death decisions – just use bear spray. It works great! Except when it doesn’t work. Dogs are wonderful, and readers know I recommend that everyone have them. Have many of them. They are great protection against men, protection against some predators, great companionship, and significant responsibility.
But dogs can’t stop bears, boy. The author is purveying dangerous advice. Always carry means of self defense. God expects and demands it. For you are made in His image.
On October 2, 2018 at 11:41 pm, TheAlaskan said:
I have the experience of being inside the reindeer enclosure at UAF in Fairbanks with my wife, who was the reindeer coordinator (whatever that is…native thing) at the time. She was separating some of the doe’s to get them into a separate, adjacent enclosure. She carried a full canister of bear spray on her belt…University policy. I had none and was not supposed to be in the pens with the deer…also University policy. Whatever.
While in the pens, a bull started sizing up my wife, rolling has massive rack side to side , ground to ground, slow at first then as he approached, first at a walk, then at a trot, then at a gait, closing the distance, until his hose and rack close to the ground and coming for her.
She noticed, right away, pulled the spray, waited for range, and unloaded a long, yellow, tight stream of spray right between his eyes. He kept coming, now, really really pissed. We ended up on the top of the ten foot fence. The bull racking the fence below us, enraged.
Spray will get you gored (my experienced conclusion.) Spray will get you mauled. A conclusion often realized up here too late. Another mine worker killed, 18 years old, just the other day in SE, by three black bears…sow and two youngsters, all killed later by searchers.
On October 2, 2018 at 11:47 pm, TheAlaskan said:
Oh yea, always, always carry a gun…because a cop is too heavy. And I bet ya didn’t know reindeer had a “hose”….whatever.
On October 3, 2018 at 12:03 am, TheAlaskan said:
Sorry, it was a brown bear with cubs.
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/wildlife/2018/10/01/person-reported-dead-in-bear-mauling-near-southeast-alaska-mine-troopers-say/
On October 3, 2018 at 6:11 am, Jess said:
Unless it’s a flame thrower, I won’t spray anything at an attacking animal.
On October 3, 2018 at 7:15 am, Mark Matis said:
Look, as long as you are with a partner, in the wilderness you’ll never need anything more than a .22 pistol. After all, you don’t need to be able to outrun the bear or the reindeer. As long as you can outrun your partner…
On October 3, 2018 at 7:21 am, Bram said:
I had a mastiff who was pretty enthusiastic about chasing off black bears – what they were bred for. A friend lives on the edge of a forest – his enormous Great Dane has bitten many a black bear on the butt and treed others.
I wouldn’t count on either for protection against a Brown Bear.
On October 3, 2018 at 8:33 am, Sabre22 said:
Carry an Adequate gun and or a flare gun with at least a 1 inch bore 26.5,37 or 40 mm depending on the time available fire the flare into the ground in front of the bear. magnesium and white phosphorus to the senses of the bear should do the trick. If it does not. Hit them with the flare white phosphorus and magnesium to the face should stop all aggressive activity and they will not need DNA evidence from the bear to prove which one attacked you. Flare guns are lighter than rifles and shotguns. Plus they can be used as a signaling device. if I was traveling in a a group of 4 I would spread it out I with bear spray 1 with an adequate gun and 2 with flare guns. Just a few thoughts.
On October 3, 2018 at 11:28 am, Furminator said:
I feel quite safe carrying nothing but hefty can of mace in my pocket. Along with a couple of knives in my other pockets. And a Glock 23 or 44 mag on the belt. And of course my rifle when out hunting.
On October 3, 2018 at 12:36 pm, TheAlaskan said:
@ Sabre 22
Maybe it’s just me, but I see ‘burning down the forest’ as a response to an aggressive bear….are you then going to stick around to put out a likely fire? What if it’s a windy day and everything is dry? Would a windy day make you hesitant to deploy your flare gun? If so, and it should, what’s the point in carrying it, if it can only be deployed in a certain range of conditions.
Carry a gun, of adequate caliber by a person who is proficient in its operation. A shotgun, loaded with slugs, slung up properly is not that much to carry, and, it can be deployed in the wind, in the rain, low light, at night and it can’t cause fires.
Not to mention, it works best at stopping bears.
On October 3, 2018 at 5:14 pm, GomeznSA said:
Well he was right about carrying a gun to Mexico – yet another very valid reason to NOT go down there. They don’t really like gringos, no matter how ‘hospitable’ they may act at the resorts – they do like our greenbacks though. I can think of any number of places to vacation in here in the good old USA where you CAN carry your personal protective device(s).
On October 3, 2018 at 6:53 pm, Gryphon said:
The problem with EVERY form of “Non-Lethal” defensive device is that whatever you Use it on remains Alive to F**K with You. While the Bear will only Kill You, a two-legged Assailant will be able to use the “System” to Jail You and Take everything You Own, including your Family.
The old Adage of “Dead Men (or dindus) Tell No Tales” is still Applicable.
On October 4, 2018 at 8:02 am, Ned said:
I pretty much ignore anyone who uses a statistical chart on accidental deaths in an article about carrying a gun for protection.
I mean, statistically speaking, the average human has one testicle. That bit of “knowledge” is as helpful regarding carrying a gun as learning that some people drown.
On October 4, 2018 at 9:05 am, Fred said:
That’s funny, right there.
On October 6, 2018 at 3:50 am, Dan said:
And stay the hell out of Mexico. It’s a failed state and there is no good reason to spend tourist dollars there supporting narco terrorism and the
quaint centuries old custom of “La Mordida”.