Graybeard Outdoors (GBO Reloaded)
Survival & Self Sustainability => Camping, Hiking and Back Packing Discussion => Topic started by: 500 A-SQUARE on February 28, 2011, 04:38:38 PM
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Just wondering how many folks sleep in their tents with a loaded firearm and what caliber?
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Most times it's a 22 semiauto for me. Biggest danger where I go is 2 legged critters and not really much risk of that. Most everything else can be taken care of with a stick, except for skunks and I just watch them through the screen until they leave. ear
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Shotgun loaded with #00 buckshot in tent in Alaska on Caribou hunts. .22 or 41mag in tent in Colorado on big game hunts.
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Yup,
12GA period. For near civilisation, loaded with mag #2 shot or #4 buck. Out in the boonies, magnum OO Buck and slugs in rotation I also add a 45 hand gun at or on my side. ;D
CW
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Backpacking I carry a S&W Mountain Lite.
(http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2412/396mtnlite.jpg)
18oz of 357
Doug
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ALWAYS! Smith M&P Compact in 40 cal. I usually camp in pubic and private parks when travelling on my motorcycle.
I guess I should consider something larger when in bear country. Couple of years ago when I rode through Colorado on my motorcycle I stopped at Paonia SP (near McClure pass) just to stretch my legs since I had camped there the previous year and had fond memories of the place. As I pulled into the entrance I noticed that in the small camping area (ten spots or so) there were exactly zero campers and one very large black bear. I quickly turned the bike around and got back on the highway.
I'm thinking my 18" barrelled 870 with pistol grip (stoked with slugs) would travel well since I usually tow a trailer behind my bike.
Curtis
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You bet, gun and cal. depends on whay my fancy is that week. As much as I love 22's I like to have something bigger at night. I,m kind of a lightwieght .32 mag fan. Besides who would leave a loaded firearm outside at night and I can't fathom anyone going anywhere without a shooter of some kind.
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Always have a handgun, usually a .45 auto or .357 mag.
Depending on location/circumstances may also have a shotgun or centerfire rifle in addition to the handgun.
Also a good flashlight right next to the handgun.
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After my buddy got drug out of a tent by a black bear I no longer take chances. I now have multiple loaded firearms in the tent while sleeping. My self I have my ruger #1 500 A-Square loaded with 570 grain woodleighs at 2500 fps with a red dot sight and a flashlight mounted to the barrel, that rifle sits at the tent door. My next defence is a ruger m77 416 ruger, this one site next to my sleeping bag. And finally In my sleeping bag with me is a S&W 500 4" hand cannon ready to take anything the night has to offer, even Katahdin...... :-X
If my buddy is with me camping I have the above firearms. Then my buddy packs a pistol grip pump 12 gauge with slugs and buckshot, and a sig sauer p220 45 acp.
We decided if we dont take out the creature with all the guns except the 45, we will save it for ourselves ;D
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Handgun of either .357 or .40 S&W. Outside of hunting season 12 ga 870, 6+1 00bk or slugs (My do it all gun). During hunting season, whatever longarm i have with me. Lotsa two legged vermin as well as four in them thar hills.
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My Ruger Single Six and one of my Ruger 45 LC's always goes camping with me. Most times my wife will also take her Taurus 9 shot 22 revolver.
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Handgun of either .357 or .40 S&W. Outside of hunting season 12 ga 870, 6+1 00bk or slugs (My do it all gun). During hunting season, whatever longarm i have with me. Lotsa two legged vermin as well as four in them thar hills.
+1 on the 12 gauge, those are good bear busters
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I know the guy that lent them the 45-70 carbine.
www.alaska.net/~Jlanders/Fatal/Huffman%2006-25-05.htm
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after reading that story I guess it pays to be a very light sleeper. I wake up if I hear a mouse squeek, even at home. Too bad they didn't get to defend themselves. If I get kilt by a bar, atleast I want to be found with no loaded rounds left in the guns. GO OUT WITH A B I G BANG
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I was born and raised in the woods, Im a logger, so I also work in the woods. Animals have it out for me, I lucky to be alive. I have been stalked by packs of wolves many times, stalked by lions, charged by deer, moose and bear. I must put off an smell that critters dont like. I have to pack handgun with me when loggen cause the darn moose keep charging me when hiking into my strip.
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Hell I keep a 357 mag on the night stand when I'm camping in my bed at home. In fact I keep one no matter where I am. In the woods, either a Winchester 3030, or a Model 92 Winchester clone in 357 mag. In a tent, then the hand gun mentioned, one of the rifles mentioned, and a Model 1100 sawed off with #4 buck magnums right next to my cot or sleeping bag.
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Awoke trying to scream during a nightmare while elk hunting in CO a few years ago. So frightened I could hardly make a sound. Scared my hunting partner to death, then he nearly laughed himself to death. Had a dream that a black bear had its paws around my throat.
For certain I would have empted the chamber inside that tent if a loaded pistol had been nearby.
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I have used the same in-tent gun for over 30 years now , a mod 94 trapper in 30/30 , its easy to swing inside a tent and has plenty of stopping power for most 2 and 4 legged vermin . ;)
stimpy
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I've taken to using .22 shorts due to over penetration concerns if i should happen to miss ;D.
I carry a P239 SIG and it has to do camping duty as well as city duty, 40S&W. Hunting season would find all manner of long guns of course.
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Whatever rifle I have with me during the hunt.
Being armed off season in campgrounds is frowned upon here. But then I haven't slept in a tent for many years.
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Whatever rifle I have with me during the hunt.
Being armed off season in campgrounds is frowned upon here. But then I haven't slept in a tent for many years.
I am quite certain if they knew people had firearms in camp grounds "they" would not be so happy...
Reminds me of a saying.... I would rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.... ::)
CW
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In some campgrounds in bear country the bears have developed a pattern of jumping on top of tents, collapsing them, and then sorting out what they want. Something like that would probably be likely anywhere a bear wants in a tent. If that happened, a long gun would be pretty unhandy under a mass of canvas, tent poles and a romping bear.
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Always have protection handy,camping or not. Short barrel shotgun or handgun. You can't use it if you don't have it.
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S&W MODEL 29 IN .44 MAG
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The last time slept in a tent I had my little bride with me.
We got invaded by squalling Bobcat kept waking the wife up so I would get up and through rocks at the critter.
I'm not sure what the cats issue was but it got close enough that I landed a good side rock broadside on it and it finally moved on.
I always have my old 3 screw Smith 38 with me to use if I have to.
Pat
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i don't sleep in tents
my 357 is never more than 10 feet away
in my pocket when sleeping i a dtrange place
i just sleep better that way
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Ruger .41 Magnum Blackhawk. Always!
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357 mag. revolver and any other gun along. Why not ?
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I keep a Kahr P9 under an untucked shirt at all times while hiking. Don't do any overnight stuff anymore but if I did I would carry my Glock 22 in .40 SW and they would just have to frown a lot. I just don't think anyone would ever know.
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Even though I woke up with a bear standing on me as a teenager, I didn't worry much about them until a couple of years ago when a bear tried to invade my parents house while we were staying there on vacation, then killed one of their neighbors the next night. I now keep a 357 available and a can of bear spray in each tent whenever we camp.
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Don't you think using bear spray when tangled up in tent, bedding, and a romping bear would spray you more than bear??
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Whatever rifle I have with me during the hunt.
Being armed off season in campgrounds is frowned upon here. But then I haven't slept in a tent for many years.
I am quite certain if they knew people had firearms in camp grounds "they" would not be so happy...
Reminds me of a saying.... I would rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.... ::)
CW
Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
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Don't you think using bear spray when tangled up in tent, bedding, and a romping bear would spray you more than bear??
Although a godawful scenario one would hope to survive the spray in better shape than a mauling. Bears seem to crave the sweet and the savory more so than spicey, ;D when is the last time you heard of a bear baiter serving up enchiladas and chile.
I have come into a .41 Blackhawk that now goes camping. I can agree that I would have more to fear from my fellow tentmates than the bear were I to set off a can of bear spray in the tent. Those old Swedes think catsup is spicey. ;D
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Getting close to camping trip #400 in my lifetime. My Dad was never without a gun while camping when I was a kid and I always have one while out with my family or friends.
Only times I've been without one was while camping with the Scouts with my Son, at camps that were more like Disneyland than real campgrounds.
I have tents but like to bed down in a vehicle whenever possible. About ten years ago two buddies and I were camping in the Southern Sierras on a quail hunt. I was sleeping in the back of my Ford Explorer, they were in tents. At dawn, one of my buddies excitedly wakes me up to tell me there's a bear ~100 yds away. I look out the window and say...
"Yep, that's a bear. Wake me up at 7:00..... or when you run out of ammo."