Hiking Handguns?

Which Type Of Hiking Handgun?

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  • Poll closed .
Lightweight in the 357 to 40 s&w on up gets my vote. Unless your in the Northern rockies in the lower 48 I wouldn't get to worked up about 'bear medicine'. It's different in AK.
 
Hiking guns, Lions and Tiger and Bears, Oh My!

"If you think snakes aren't a problem, you haven't been back packing it as long as you say you have, or you hike in the arctic circle."

Perhaps Georgia has a healthier population of snakes. I've hiked and hunted extensively in Calif. and a few trips to Idaho and Utah. We have rattlers, no copperheads out here. Though I've seen a few rattlers, all were easily avoidable. I've also read fairly recently that snake bite kits do more harm than good.
If for hiking, not hunting I prefer my SP101 loaded with 180 Gr. magnum loads. Should be able to handle anything smaller than a Grizzly/Brown bear without adding a lot of weight and bulk.
 
Wheel gun

I always carry a revolver. I normally carry a S&W Mod 10 38 SPL with a 4" tapered bbl. It is light enough and this one is pretty accurate(it shoots better than I do:)). I just like the way a revolver sits on my hip. Jim
 
Yeah, Ricky we do get a lot of snakes here in the Southeast. If you go into any brush areas during the warmer seasons you really have to keep your eyes peeled. With the above referenced incident, I was on a gravel trail leading to the shooting area and the copperhead was off to the side. I didn't see him at all. I got complacent and was walking on the right side and while the 80 lb ammo bag barely moved, that snake had to strike that thing hard for me to feel it at all. I let out a yelp and dropped the stupid bag when I saw him. One of my shooting buddies calmly lifted him up with a long stick and tossed him into the woods where he slithered off, as glad to be rid of me as I was of him.
 
I have seen a lot more snakes in my yard in VA then I ever saw hiking in the northwest. I think I ran into one rattle snake in 15 years of hiking. And only one black bear, at least one close enough to worry about.
 
Most might think its a little on the big side but I trust my 6 inch 686P with my life, for anything, except maybe big bear country, and even then, I'd probably still carry it. Foolish? Maybe, but I like it that much!
 
Not to get too OT here, but here in Ohio, we have our share of copperheads and missasauga rattlers. I have seen a few on the trail, but they never bothered me.
One of the best backpacking pranks I have seen is to tie a rubber snake to a tent or sleeping bag zipper pull with a piece of monofiliment. This works great on tyros or old hands. Works REALLY great.
 
Depends, in a dry, arid region I would pick a .357 revolver. In damp conditions I find semi's much easier to maintenance.

LK
 
In northern Michigan, we have exactly one type of pit viper, but I've never seen one in 53 years. I have, however, seen lots of black bears so I arm mainly for those and the 2 legged variety of predator I'm already used to reading about. 10mm fits the bill for both nicely. If I was in the southern states, I'd feel a lot more like arming with snake medicine.:eek:
 
I frequent two distinct geographical regions in arizona, High desert/pine elevation of Northern Arizona, and the lower deserts of Central AZ. I take my S&W 27 with 2 snake loads and the rest FMJs. There are a lot more snakes than predatory mammals, so my logic falls in line with TriumphGuy. That said, I dont want to kill a snake, and to date I have not. It's a last resort. If I do encounter a larger threat, Bang Bang til it hits the ground.

I work on a commercial fishing boat in AK and we try to stop in remote bays when ever possible for a lil shore leave and hiking, up there we carry a friends .454 cassull. Black and brown bear country. And yes, as stated above, the old wives tale hold true 99% of the time, "They're more affraid of you, than you are of them." It's the suprise encounter that concerns me.:)
 
snake shot

What I don't get is this: if you have time to draw and fire on a snake, don't you have time to jump out of its way? What good does snake shot do?
 
Typically if you go into the Emergency Room with a snake bite, the first question asked is "did you kill the snake and bring it with you". A quick, positive ID of the snake species will have a profound impact on the treatment used. Certain types of venom require specific antivenom. Yes you could measure the two puncture wounds, distance apart, diameter, and compare it to a snakebite directory, but that takes time. This may not be as important in some regions as there may only be one species of venomous snake, but here in the Southwest, you have a handfull of dangerous snakes and that ID time is critical.
 
Hey, thanks to everyone in this thread. I'm not tryin to hijack Roys thread, but I would like to thank everyone for inspiring me to really ponder my carry in the great wilderness :) Watch out for little critters and respect life.
Cheers!!
 
Yeah, here in the Southeast, we HAVE to take the honors of "most vemonous snakes per capita". LOL, most yankees don't believe all the stories I tell em' about growing up and shooting 6-7' diamondbacks while out rabbit hunting. We always killed rattlers on our property, and some were bigger than people's pet pythons. The .38 shotshells work ok, but I've had little luck with one-shot kills on big snakes with em''. Therein lies the problem. If you don't kill em' with a good head shot, and I mean DESTROY the head, they can still bite as they flail around. I was hiking in a very remote part of Putnam county FL, and came accross a 6' 1/2" Diamondback. I had a p3at keltec, and a backup mag. 13 gold dots to the head didn't stop the beast. ended up beating it to death with a limb. I only kill snakes that are near humans, and this one was ON a path where people (and little kids) hike. I've also ran over several near schools and bus stops. I have snake loving buddies who swear its evil to kill th epoor snakes, but I've let several live. they just cant be near humans, or i feel obligated. my 2cents on snake guns- Shot is the only way to go, and if its out of a handgun, you need more than one round usually. I like 12ga with a light turkey load for killin big snakes. I was gonna volunteer to help with the project to "rid" the FL Everglades of 100's of thousands of boas and pythons that are taking over and ravaging the local wildlife polulations here in south FL, that was, until I heard you couldn't shoot the snakes!! You have to CATCH these giants in a SWAMP, bag em', and take them to the vet to be EUTHANIZED! I wish they'd let me take a couple mossberg 590's out there!! Guess they don't REALLY wanna get rid of them snakes afterall :rolleyes:
 
"What I don't get is this: if you have time to draw and fire on a snake, don't you have time to jump out of its way? What good does snake shot do?"

+1 Awful hard to argue with that one.
 
We don't have too many snakes up here in north central PA. I've seen a few and the hiking staff I carry was enough to send them on their way. We do have black bears but as long as you are making any kind of noise they'll be gone before you can see them. The only thing in the woods that I worry about is the two legged snakes and for that whatever my carry piece for the day works just fine. :D
 
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