No argument about flies. If you are familiar with the Outer Banks of NC, you know about the big bridge that takes you south out of Nags Head to Hatteras Island. Before the storms messed it up, there was a pond between the surf and the sound--right at the north end of the bridge. If you've driven southward across that bridge, you saw the pond on your left.
Early in the morning, I would go there with a fly rod and wade a ways from the grass to catch sea trout an puppy drum. Great fun, except the long grass harbored huge black flies that brought blood when they bit. Horrible things, those flies. No matter how much bug spray you applied, the devils would follow you out in the water and attack. I learned to wear long sleeves and a had, but they still got to my face and hands. I'm still not certain it was worth the fish. So, yes, some creatures we might not think of as agressive enough to require toting a gun, but they are there.
Not too many years ago a racoon wanted a chunk of my hide while I was bowhunting. Another time, a small rattlesnake got me on the right hand while I was trying to get some lizards out of a mountain stream to use for bait. No fun at all, and a gun would have at least given me some revenge. Maybe not. It scared me so bad I probably would not have been able to hit him. Still another time, I put my shoe on a a "dead" gray squirrel to remove my arrow. He chewed up the end of my tennis shoe before running off with the arrow.
All sacrcasm and hateful talk aside, I'm the first one to say you should have a gun all the time.
Now, if I ain't made too many people mad these last few days, I'm outta here and will make an ass of myself on some other thread.
