Good question, OP!
When I was stationed several hours from home a bit over a decade ago, I had the extreme pleasure of being able to work up in my folks' ranch during the weekends, up in Northern California. A small spread of 40 acres or so, remotely located in the Sierra Nevadas on the side of a mountain, heavily timbered. For three years, I did heavy brush-cutting, felling trees and the associated sectioning, splitting, and stacking of firewood, ditch-digging and minor road/pond repair, and quite a bit of gold panning when I could squeeze it in
)).
Way up in them thar' boonies, I started out with an M1 Garand (I wanted the big bullet), but frankly, it was too heavy to carry while I worked, and I felt uncomfortable leaning it against trees or equipment...plus the cost of those things kept going up, and it didn't really belong in the woods as a "work" rifle.
I switched to a Ithaca 37 riot 12 ga., and it was much easier to carry. It was an older, ex-Sheriff's Department parkerized model, and it's used, rougher condition was perfect for woods carry. What I really didn't like about the shottie was that I felt that I didn't have any sort of range at all.
Next up was an AR-15. It was light, carried plenty-o-rounds, and fairly reliable. Frankly, though, it didn't give me a real "solid" feel, though I love these rifles. I just didn't see it as a woods gun, and the bullet is a bit small.
My main concern was poachers (of both firewood and game animals), mountain lions, and bear. I thought 5.56 was plenty for humans, probably enough for medium cats, but woefully inadequate for bear. Oh, I'm sure that in the hands of a trained, experienced hunter it would've been plenty, but I figure if I was shooting at bear, it would be with the gun pointed behind me, running full-tilt downhill (I go faster that way), screaming like a girl, and with uncomfortably soiled shorts. On the off chance that one of my bullets did actually manage to hit, I wanted it to be with something that would do a bit more damage...and the gun was a bit too "nice" to be leaning against trees, or caught in the occasional rainstorm/snow fall.
What I eventually ended up with was a Winchester 94 lever action 30-30 with a 6" Harris bipod mounted on the end. The bipod wasn't for prone shots: It was to allow me to put the rifle wherever I was working, and keeping the action/bore out of the mud/dirt/sawdust/gravel. I bought the post-'64 model at a garage sale for $150 (you could do that in those days), and it's light weight, solid feel, and rough condition gave me a medium-caliber rifle that would do some pretty decent damage and seven or so rounds. Simple model with fairly accurate stock iron sights. That gun ended up being perfect. With a home-made leather sling it was light and easy to carry African, and once I got to the work site, I could unfold the bipod and put the rifle down wherever the job took me that day. I ended up staying with that combination. Hell--if that gun had been stainless, it would've been just about perfect as a woods working rifle. Light rain or snow would cause it to start to rust, but if the weather looked bad I just wiped the steel down with a rag dipped in old motor oil, and it worked very well preventing corrosion.
On a side note, I was mostly afraid of big cats. We'd had a spate of mountain lion attacks, but mostly against joggers, and little tiny female joggers at that. Still, the thought of being something's lunch wasn't appealing, and since they liked to attack from behind, I figured I probably wanted something closer to hand than a rifle just out of reach. I carried a sidearm, but it turns out that cowboy holsters are lousy to work in, so the Vaquero didn't get carried. I tried a 1911 in a drop-leg, but that's a miserable, miserable rig to work in. I then moved the .45 to my front pocket, and was horrified to find that the sweat from a single day of work had worked it's way through the parkerization and started rust on the slide. Plus, it was a bit too bulky in the front, considering the amount of bending/leaning I was doing. I eventually ended up with a Ruger SP-101 with a 2" barrel in .357. The gun was stainless, built like a tank, and the only time it reminded you that it was there was when you tried to sit on a stump. I could pull that out of my pocket at the end of a job with condensation/moisture all over the finish, and it never discolored. With hydrashocks (sp?), I felt it would do any job I needed a short-barreled handgun for. Worked so well I gave it to my mom for her gardening and outdoor trips around the ranch...then promptly had to buy myself another because I missed it's comforting weight so much!
Kinda long winded, but my two cents.
Respectfully offered,
Sixtigers
(hey, it was the rifle heavier than .22LR that was sighted in best that year).