What back up do you carry in the field?

B

Boogershooter

New member
The situation I'm asking about is more likely a tracking job on a deer or other game animal. I have always used a old marlin in 357 and occasionally a youth model 30-30. In the last couple of years I've started using pistols. If your wondering why this is even a issue it's because I'm not going into a thicket tracking a deer with some of my higher $ rifles. I understand some states don't allow this but fortunately louisiana does.
 
Season is just about over here now but I finally found a uncle Mikes shoulder holster for my ruger 7 1/2 hunter in 44 mag. The Burris fast fire on top makes it easy for fast shots. I've been carrying a 6 inch python or 1911 in 10mm. We have alot of youth hunters now days so I've gotten good at tracking jobs.
 
Always a Glock 20, 10mm, loaded with 200 gr. XTP's by Underwood Ammo. I also carry an extra magazine in my pocket loaded with cheap FMJ's for finishing off game if it is wounded or for snakes. But I always keep the magazine loaded with the nuclear stuff in the gun with one in the chamber. I only load the FMJ's if I don't need to waste the nuclear stuff.
 
I just carry the rifle I'm hunting with. I usually carry a handgun too. But I can't imagine a situation where I'd set the rifle down and use the handgun. A Glock in 10mm is my preferred handgun BTW.
 
I used to carry a handgun in addition to my primary. I had a few opportunities to handgun a deer that was close but most often the handgun was just added weight. I dropped the practice when just getting around became difficult.
None of the rifles I hunt with are "too nice" to go to the brush and I now feel I need the scope to make effective shots even on follow-ups.
I'm more likely to haul a suppressed .223(most likely let Son or Grandson haul it for me) to the deer house to plink the abundant coyotes than I am to carry a handgun these days.
 
I usually don't carry one to the stand but have it in the truck for when it's needed. I have several rifles that my wife would kill me if the stocks got scratched. She has a couple herself. She has had several stocks built for me out of some very expensive wood. I also have some that I will unload then grab by the barrel to beat down brush with if I had too. Some people consider these to be safe Queens or show pieces but I still like to shoot live critters with them. If you have never been on your hands and knees crawling thru a louisiana briar thicket on the edge of a swamp you are blessed. Often times I leave more blood and hide in there than the deer did.
 
I hear you Boogershooter. I get in the same situation on most of my hog hunts crawling on hands and knees through the dense jungles and creek bottoms. I went last week and came back covered with scratches, some a lil over a foot long. But that's one of the many reasons why I pack a G20 as my backup because a rifle is anything but useful in those thickets. Most of the time I'll just leave my rifle on the edge of the jungles and only go in with my pistol. But sometimes ill strap my AR across my chest and go in if I know I'm gonna come out in a different spot.
 
I'm not going into a thicket tracking a deer with some of my higher $ rifles.
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I've never seen the sense of investing in a hunting rifle/shotgun one was afraid to take into the woods. Kinda like those guys that buy big 4-wheel drive trucks but then don't take them off road because they might get a scratch on 'em. Can't drive them in snow cause the salt might make them rust........

As with anything to do with firearms, one should use what makes them comfortable, what they are most proficient with and have the most confidence in. In my state, you can carry whatever you want when following a wounded deer. But....if it comes to a finishing shot, you must use what's legal for the season and it must be within legal hunting hours.
 
Buck we have the same laws here. If we are tracking a wounded animal here after dark we simply call the sheriff's dept and they notify the game warden. Only twice have they ever showed up to check us out. And both times big buck got mentioned to the sheriff's dept. They usually believe if you are calling it in and may be shooting after legal hours you aren't likely being illegal. Around here it's common practice to buy breakfast or lunch for local law enforcement. It also helps when you invite them to come shoot at your range. We have a couple that are just absolute buttholes that will write your grandmother a ticket for going to slow.
 
Usually what ever rifle I happen to be hunting with at the time. As far as a side arm, either my 2 1/2" 66 or 2 1/2" 686 S&W. If I were planing on going off into the heavy brush I would grab my 336 30-30.
 
As with so many discussions here, the answer is:

Depends.
Depends.
Depends.
(Not the adult diapers.)


Sometimes I opt for a rifle - preferably light and short.
Sometimes I opt for a revolver.
A few times, I've opted for my 9mm in a drop-leg rig.
When I was in Florida, I took nothing but my .380 Auto a few days.
(Whatever I carry, it's always legal ... even if only through some obscure loophole and I'm limited in what I can do with it.)

Generally, I find myself carrying my 7.5" Super Blackhawk (.44 Mag w/ 310 gr cast bullet handloads, and at least two [legal] homebrew shot shells for grouse).
But, this year, it was a bit more varied. I carried my Ruger LCR in .327 Federal more than once. I carried my Ruger GP-100 in .327 Federal a handful of times. And, I even shoved the .22 LR derringer in my back pocket for one hike on the Idaho deer hunt (for ultra-short-range grouse, mostly).

I tried to bring my 9mm as the 'camp pistol' but discovered that I no longer owned another handgun that would fit in the lockbox for my wife. :rolleyes:

More and more often, I find myself skipping the sidearm for general hunting. It's due, in part, to having built a few fairly light, compact rifles that were intended for the short-range, quick shots where a sidearm would have been the usual stereotype; and partly due to the fact that extra weight annoys me, since I still-hunt (no stands, blinds, or sitting on a ridge top in the truck -- I almost always hike, and it's generally nasty terrain).

So the sidearm is typically only seen when I'm not hunting big game and have a shotgun as the primary (think grouse or rabbits); or when I have locked the rifle up in the truck and I'm doing something like packing out elk, hauling firewood, camping in the summer, or just wandering around before the season opens.

Kcub funny you should mention the sp101. I ordered a 4 inch in 327 this morning.
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Have one. Love it.
Still haven't shot it enough to even sight it in! :(
It's likely to be the favorite 'woods gun' in the future. ....If I can find or make a suitable holster.
 
My SP101 is 2" 357 and I carry 200 grain double tap. My pocket holster is a Kramer horsehide. Mine has a hammer I've practiced drawing with my thumb on the hammer so as not to snag and is a rare factory polished I was lucky enough to find used. It's such a hefty little gun recoil is not a problem. The long heavy 200 grain bullets don't start ro come out under recoil. I've heard of that happening with some really light scandium or titanium snubby magnum revolvers.

Works for me.

In another pocket I have a Walther TPH 22. I have quite a few extra rounds for it mostly to make noise with if I need to draw attention should I get in trouble in the boonies since I am somewhat disabled.
 
I usually do not carry a back up when I am tracking deer. I know they are dead because I shot them.:D We do not have any predators around here that will attack man under normal circumstances.
 
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