An article on why to woods carry...

There was a long discussion on a Colorado forum here....

https://www.ar-15.co/threads/166472-Danger-in-the-Forest

Like some have said before me, illegal grows are nothing new here. There were several places that were known to be areas where these took place as far back as the early 90s on the Grand Mesa in western Colorado. Even though I and many people I knew carried at least a .22 we usually avoided those areas. We figured it was best to avoid a gunfight if possible.

 

I spend a lot of time in the Sierras and carry because of people, not animals.

We have run into all kinds of weird folks for all kinds of weird reasons.

I once came across the remains of a wanted felon trying to evade capture up there.
A freak snowstorm in spring did him in.

When we called it in the Sheriff's office thought we were joking.

 

Carry in the woods for the same reason, I pack snake shot and the appropriate "medicine" for the other varmints out there.

 

If one strictly played the probabilities, one wouldn't carry at all, since odds are most US citizens will not be a victims of a violent attack in their life needing it.

But a layered approach to safety and security keeps all the layers on all the time. You wouldn't leave your spare tire at home on routes where flats are unlikely or cancel your car insurance during spans when you are sticking to safer driving routes, would you?

The best approaches to safety and security are redundant. Odds are pretty good I'll never "need" a gun since I strictly follow these guidelines: 1. Don't go to stupid places. 2. Don't hang out with stupid people. 3. Don't do stupid things. Yes, I check the crime maps. Yes, I leave iffy situations immediately. Yes, I say no to fun opportunities if they involve iffy places, iffy parking, or iffy travel routes.

 

Out here in liberal WA, I'd say there's the 'woods' and there's forest land. By that I mean that homeless people tend to stay near cities and support networks. They usually don't have reliably running cars with recreational amounts of gas (if they have a vehicle at all), they rely on food banks, and they steal from large understaffed stores for the equipment and clothing they need to live and to sell for spare cash. Wooded areas around cities like state parks? Sure, you get that element there. At a trail head or halfway up a mountain found three hours by car from a major metropolitan area, and at least 30 minutes from the nearest gas station? Not so much.

I'm about 50/50 on a gun in the woods as a defense against animals. The literature I've found shows bear spray to be more effective vs bears than most firearms -- and certainly most handguns! I've run into aggressive goats, rattlesnakes, a couple bears, and a small wolf pack on my adventures and the best tools I had at hand in each of those encounters were best practices. Traveling in a group, keeping all scented items and food in a bear can, using trekking poles to coax snakes off a trail from beyond striking range, and the like. The only time I ever felt I wanted more than bear spray was against the wolf pack. I was solo, had nowhere to go, and was intimidated by the five of them coming to the periphery of my camp site. But they were just interested in my bear can and made no attempt to enter the camp site, so I'll never know if the spray would have worked. I carry a pistol now based mostly on that encounter, but I regard it as a safety blanket that costs me extra weight more than anything else. Still haven't run into a situation where pulling the trigger was my best option.

 

I have had my truck broke into a few times over the years while walking the dog or riding my mountain bike on trails outside of town. If I ever roll up on someone hanging out of my back slider window or my dog encounters something bigger than a feral cat, I want at least a 380 with woods ammo. If I'm in bear country around here (Eastern WA) that goes up to a 9mm with woods ammo.

Just last summer a woman was raped in one of the areas that my wife and I walk our dogs and ride our bikes. Another individual lost their dog to a pit bull attack. There are also cougars, coyotes, and now wolves in the area. It's reasons like this that my wife carries a Glock 42 loaded with these when she goes there alone now https://underwoodammo.com/product/handgun-ammo/380-acp-p-100-grain-flat-nose/

Wen we go together, I open carry my CZ-p01

 

Lot's of truth to this. Out here in Eastern WA, trails and wooded areas outside of Spokane and now even coeur d'alene in ID are crawling with meth-heads and homeless people. It's sad to see.

 

Hmm -- maybe this is a self-correcting problem. Or will be once the cougars, coyotes and wolves learn how tasty meth heads are.

 

I have been working in the bottoms of my small farm and had people drive right in and start going for metal, poles, whatever. When confronted, they say, "isn't this an abandoned farm"? With modern gates, signage, me! All right there. I always have something, at least a 357, in a visible holster. Usually a rifle leaning close by.
Illinois law clearly states that you cannot enter private land without permission, even to retrieve wounded game.
We are in a county well known for meth, poaching and theft.

 

Vern Humphrey writes:

I wonder if meth-head meat is as addictive as meth is.

 

Sure, just what we need, a bunch of addicted cougars, coyotes, and wolves.

Talk about a possibly strange rehab program..... lol

 

When my daughter was living in Northern California (Siskiyou County) she did a lot of trail running. She normally carried a Makarov. The only time she fired it, with need, was due to a pack of feral dogs.

 

Yes, you do. All three are there, whether you see them or not.

Shortly before I got out of the Army, I was visiting friends in Weed, CA. While in a bar in Redding, a guy tried to recruit me to guard his 'patches' and train the riff-raff he'd hired to do so. I wouldn't go anywhere out there unarmed.

 

I understand the concern, but it really is a very peaceful type of criminals. The same daughter once rode her horse right into a Marijuana patch. She said, a bit loudly, "I'm leaving and I didn't see anything," as she turned her horse around and rode out.

Of course, if she had tried to take anything with her, I am sure the response would have been different.

One more story. Seeing as you know where Yreka is, She, and both my wife and I, went to Yreka High School. There is about a three mile woods path (unimproved) from the school to my parents, where she waited for me at the end of the day for a ride home. This was in the early 2000s' and she frequently ran this trail at the end of the day instead of riding the bus (she almost never rode the bus, she was more likely to ride her horse from my parents to the school than to ride the bus, they had/have stables in the AG science building).

One day she was at school and they ran the dogs through the building. She knew she had been caught when she went to her locker and there was a pre-printed form style note marking the date time, and type of pistol. The form stated that "Firearms may not be stored in lockers. If you firearm is found in a locker after this date your firearm will be confiscated and your parents will be called to retrieve it at the City Police Department." At this point both she and I wish she had saved that note.

She, and some of her friends, did ask the principal where they were supposed to store their guns. He said to just put them in someones car. When I was there we were able to check shotguns in at the office in the morning (for the after school skeet club). Again, when I was there, many students had rifles in window racks.

When she was there they had mandatory firearms safety training (part of the PE class). Interestingly, they never have had so much as a misfire.

 

Well, yeah, that guy was, although he had a 1911 stuffed into his Bermuda shorts. Otherwise, he looked like Jimmy Buffet does now (this was in 1988) Hawiian shirt, shorts, Panama hat, and flipflops. Despite the $100 he stuffed in my pocket and him buying all the drinks and regaling me with some great stories about his trade, I had to politely decline, as I had a very anxious finacee back here. He wanted to know if I could put da switch in his guards' AR's.

Yeah, it is a laid-back area up there, I could see the school being a bit nicer about it than they would be now. I brought a .357 to school for a demonstration once; I had to leave it at the principal's office until I needed it, and pick it up from him after school.

 

Things have been happening in woods for a long time, kidnapping and murder

This is a good read.

Incident at Big Sky: The True Story of Sheriff Johnny France and the Capture of the Mountain Men
https://www.amazon.com/Incident-Big-Sky-Sheriff-Mountain/dp/0393023346

 

My attitude is, when you walk out into the woods, you are entering the food chain. With a pistol, you are at the top of the food chain, without one,
you are considerably lower...

 

Reminds me of a Tom Selleck movie. He plays a bi-plane era pilot who's down in the mountains. He kills a rabbit and encounters a wolf pack that snarl at him and make him drop the rabbit.

I said to myself, "Hmmmm. Here I am with a Colt M1917 in my right hand, a rabbit in my left, and a wolf pack that wants my rabbit. There's only one way this is going to end -- with me having a supper of roast rabbit and rolling up to sleep in my nice, warm wolf furs."

 

Vern, Im glad I wasn't in the middle of my drink cause that made me laugh!

 

Glock 23 or 21 for me in the woods, if I don't have a long gun. Sometimes even WITH a long gun.