Backpacking Gun Owners

Grab your bear can or camp chair, kick your feet up and chew the fat about anything Sierra Nevada related that doesn't quite fit in any of the other forums. Within reason, (and the HST rules and guidelines) this is also an anything goes forum. Tell stories, discuss wilderness issues, music, or whatever else the High Sierra stirs up in your mind.
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Jimr
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Re: Backpacking Gun Owners

Post by Jimr »

giantbrookie wrote:
Harlen wrote:GB wrote:
once ran into a guy doing gold dredging with a 9 mm tucked into his waistband (ie underpants)
Did he have it up front GB? Aimed to take himself out of the gene-pool?[/b]
Yes he did.
Bandito carry. A potentially precarious position, but for those who are well practiced, appendix carry is very quick to draw. For the backpacker, well, not only illegal, but impossible with a backpack waist belt
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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rayfound
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Re: Backpacking Gun Owners

Post by rayfound »

We ran into a couple guys carrying handguns in the Kern Flats area one fall about 8 years ago. They were also carrying lawn chairs and had no bear canisters or plans to hang food - their bear-proof food storage plan was to keep their packs in the tent with them, and sleep with their guns handy.

No I am not joking.
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ExBigPiner
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Re: Backpacking Gun Owners

Post by ExBigPiner »

maverick wrote:Those of you who carry while backpacking, have you ever had to pull a gun in self defense against another human or animal? Has anyone here had a gun pulled on them while backpacking? Has anyone had a close call during hunting season from either end of a gun?
I used to carry a 1911 with me on the trail. And bear spray. We had lion sightings in Big Pine one summer; one cat was found snoozing on the back porch of a house in town. I didn't carry for fear of animals as much as I did for strange people. They're out there, the whack jobs like it or not. Hey, many of you this was before your time but Charles Manson and his groupies parked out in Inyo County, don't forget. In this day and age....well...I'm old now. I'll shut up. But I put in a lot of miles going up and down the Palisades Glacier canyons and then on down to Lone Pine and up Whitney Portal and up around Bishop. You'd come across the occasional guy on the trail who looked like he was hopped up and tweaked out, or overly friendly as we passed on the trail or just something was "off" about a person, and made the hair stand up on your neck. And I always hiked alone. And back then being a single semi-petite (*huh, what's that?*) gal, I guess, having the Kimber along just made me feel safer. I'm not a redneck gun nut either. Just someone who prefers to be responsibly safer than sorry. The added weight in the Camelback concealed carry pack (why they quit making those I'll never know) didn't bother me much at all, either. The few times I've gone on hikes in NV I always carry. But we don't have gun laws like Cali :unibrow: :snipe: :snipe: :snipe:
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SNOOOOW
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Re: Backpacking Gun Owners

Post by SNOOOOW »

ExBigPiner wrote:
maverick wrote: Camelback concealed carry pack (why they quit making those I'll never know) didn't bother me much at all, either. The few times I've gone on hikes in NV I always carry. But we don't have gun laws like Cali :unibrow: :snipe: :snipe: :snipe:
Camelbak concealed carry pack?? Best stocking stuffer ever IMO
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Wandering Daisy
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Re: Backpacking Gun Owners

Post by Wandering Daisy »

California does not have all the oddballs. Nevada has some strange people too! I have done a few backpacks from the east side of the White Mountains, and when I parked at the end of the access roads, locals made it clear that I was not very welcome. I mostly worried if my car would be vandalized when I returned. The real threat on the route turned out to be rattlesnakes. I have been in Indian Creek to traverse the from Mt Hogue to the Jumpoff, Leidy Creek to attempt White Mountain and Dry Creek to climb Boundary Peak. Have you ever been in there? I was pretty anxious about mountain lions, but never any sign of one. Compared to the Sierra, the White Mountains are REMOTE x 100! :eek: Really wild!
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Lumbergh21
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Re: Backpacking Gun Owners

Post by Lumbergh21 »

I don't have any light guns registered in my name, so on my first backpacking trip, my wife insisted I carry a gun. So, I packed a 45 Ruger and 2 full clips. Fortunately, my wife has allowed me to continue hiking without a gun since, and I have never been in a situation where I thought I needed one. My one bad experience with yahoos carrying guns was in the Seven Lakes Basin near Castle Crags. It's a beautiful area, and I would have really emjoyed the day if it hadn't been for the yahoos with several cases of beer and bullets camped at Upper Seven Lake. As I was hiking cross-country towards Echo Lake I heard the gun fire start. I hoped it would end before I wanted to head back, but no such luck. I made my way back keeping off hills and ridges for added protection. Fortunately, I made it out uninjured.
As far as people carrying small caliber weapons for defense against bears bwahahahaha! If it's smaller than a 45 it isn't going to help you against an agressive bear.
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Jimr
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Re: Backpacking Gun Owners

Post by Jimr »

just re-reading this thread instead of working like I should be. A couple of posts brought up the fact that while it is legal to carry (open) it is illegal to discharge the weapon within the park and that it didn't seem to make sense. It makes perfect sense to me if viewed from this angle. There are basically three reasons to discharge a firearm in the wilderness: To hunt, to plink or to defend against death or grave bodily injury. It is illegal to hunt and/or plink and there is no justifiable defense for breaking those laws. If one were to discharge a firearm in self-defense, be it human or animal, there is a doctrine of competing harms that basically allows you to argue that given the totality of the circumstances, following the particular law would create more harm than to break it. If it can be argued that to follow the law and not discharge the firearm would have lead to greater harm than to violate the law and the prudent person in the same situation would reasonably come to the same conclusion, then the only issue here is if you fail to prevail with the claim of self-defense.
If you don't know where you're going, then any path will get you there.
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rlown
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Re: Backpacking Gun Owners

Post by rlown »

No reason to carry in CA's National parks. Can't hunt there anyway.. I have a bigger problem here with skunks. one popped out of a 4" french drain wet and I was surprised by the second. Maybe I should name them.
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