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Do you carry a pistol while hunting

15K views 168 replies 69 participants last post by  Pahack 
#1 ·
I carry a judge when I archery hunt. I like that it shoots 45 and 410 shells. I always worry about snakes in archery season. Do you carry and if so what do you carry.
 
#23 ·
its ok to carry while hunting in PA. even in Archery season. i did it before the PGC said i was allowed to. i did that after two black bears walked past me to get to the apple tree i was bowhunting near. i hunt from the ground with a crossbow. i have a carry permit and carried my glock 27 after that encounter.


i figured i would let the local magistrate decide if my carry permit for personal safety ruled over the PGC telling me i couldnt when my permit said i could.


but now...its perfectly legal. i do carry in the woods, at home, and when i go out. we have had several people from other states that were wanted for murder arrested here in Harborcreek. even when i am home my doors are locked, when i cut the grass in the backyard, my doors are locked.


if you have it..carry it.
 
#6 ·
I don't understand why someone would carry a sidearm in PA because of snakes. You can't just randomly shoot a rattler or copperhead here. They are both protected species. I you fear snakes that much,maybe you shouldn't be IN the woods. If I carry my sidearm during archery season,it's for protection against the 2-legged variety of snakes.
Bob
 
#8 ·
I carry a 10mm Glock when I'm in the woods with my bow.

I have experienced some very uncomfortable situations with 2-legged critters who thought they were somewhere they wouldn't be seen by others, doing things they didn't want seen by others.

While I do my utmost to avoid those situations, I won't willingly go without a firearm anymore when I'm in the woods.

When my daughter is hunting (she's now 16 and can hunt solo), I make sure I'm near enough to know what's going on in the immediate area around her.
 
#11 ·
Most always. Had several close encounters with bears during small game season. Bird shot makes a poor bear deterrent Also started carrying bear spray if I decide to leave the revolver at home.
As far as snakes, if I was bit I would kill it so that the medics could identify what it was that got me which could be important for treatment.......I'll take my "medicine" from the game warden on this one.
And if you think there are no 2 legged predators lurking in some remote areas just because you've been in the woods for 30 years and never had a problem, I hope your luck continues, it's a different world now.
 
#13 ·
I agree with if I get bit I would diff so I knew what but me. I don’t like snakes but have walked around many of them but I also had a close in counter with a rattle that scared the sh#! Out of me. Guess I should have posted I do not kill the snakes I see just was saying that’s what I like about the judge is he can shoot 45 or 410 and they also make a home defense shell that has 3 disc in them to where if you was to fire it shreads when it hits the wall and not hurt a family member in the next room. I have never fired that shell to see what it does tho.
 
#15 ·
yes just do a google search for bear attacks in Pa, there was one in July and one last year. I personally know a guy 2 years ago that escaped an attack and the bear bit his backpack. The next day he was charged again this time he had a weapon and shot in the ground to scare it away. This was in Perry county. He was hunting by a cornfield that had 9 different bear frequenting that corn field.
 
#18 ·
I could be off on the details but I think there was a lady attacked on her porch a few years ago in Susquehanna county, no serious injuries. And a young girl out playing attacked but bear was scared off by other people present close by. I think she was also okay afterward.
So no, it doesn't happen often but......
 
#21 ·
Out of every 100 bears there is one bear with a problem that could cause a problem..I saw a semi tame boar the other year in Virginia he was seeing hikers all summer and did not run when I hiked a trail past him...Any time you surprise a sow with cubs stand up and walk away from the cubs and she will lead the cubs away from you...The worst possible time is when you are sitting on the ground and a sow and her cubs show up... And night time is even worse...
 
#22 ·
I usually carry a .22 buckmark with me whenever I’m toting a bow or shed hunting. I’ve had a couple sketchy encounters with bear in the late winter/ early spring. I had a bear try to attack my dog one time when I wasn’t carrying. It worked out alright and shouting finally scared it off but I would have felt a lot better if I had a firearm. The worst harassment I’ve had was from an owl one November morning in the dark. If I would have been carrying I wouldn’t have thought twice to pop that bugger. It actually made contact with me and my climber a couple different times that morning.
 
#29 · (Edited)
I am going to start carrying a sidearm into the woods with me this year. While the farm that I bought out this way has excellent game numbers, the unfortunate side effect of that fact is that it also has some poachers. Just before closing on the place, I had a run-in with 2 guys who had no business being there and who had just shot a deer. I was alone and, looking back, that situation could've ended VERY differently. In that neck of the woods, similar rules apply to PA: it's generally not the 4-legged critters that create concern for safety, it's the 2-legged ones.
 
#30 ·
Never leave home without one.

In the deer woods it's my S&W 686 with 180 GR handloads. At the local Wallyworld it's just a 9mm with decent capacity.

Either way, it's exactly the same as finding out you must leave a perfectly good airplane in mid-flight and the parachute you thought about toting along is back home..... now that you need it, and don't have it, there's a pretty good chance that need will never arise again. My 686 will be with me in the tree.:wink2:
 
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