Around the camp in the spring to the first frost, I carry one of my .22LR's. In the woods I carry one of my S&W Model 10's loaded with #8 shot, these are for shooting snakes.
After the first frost, I carry one of my 45 Colts or 45 ACP's.
What you carry?
Well since this thread still has legs...
I cannot say for sure that I have a particular favorite. It depends on the task.
We don't have woods and bears but we do have Mountain Lions.
We are at the age of old folks camping style meaning a RV / camping trailer. We are starting to talk more and more seriously about a RV or camping trailer. We enjoy fishing and my fishing gun is a Taurus M85 Stainless Steel revolver with a mix of shotshells and non +P semi-wadcutters.
A top contender is my S&W Model 10-6 4" heavy barrel. I really like it. Wadcutters make for good close range varmint control. +P JHP's are a good (mostly adequate) choice for personal protection. (It will be nice for keeping in the RV / Camper also). My chief complaint is the 38 Special does not hold much shot. Shotshells hold enough for mice but not enough to make me feel comfortable for snakes.
This puts my Ruger Vaquero 4 3/4" barrel 45 Colt near the top. The 45 Colt is extremely versatile in the strong Ruger. I don't have to worry about bears so my concern are mostly two legged varmints. We do have poisonous snakes and the Prairie Rattler are common and especially toxic and aggressive. I try to keep the field mice under control as to reduce their food supply. (My cats are of no help. Cats <sigh>). The big ole 45 can hold a lot of shot and, more importantly, bigger size shot. I have a lot of history with my Vaqueros and one hangs of my bedpost for self-defense.
The Lady brought a Ruger SR22 last month and I am getting to like it really well. (I know it is not a revolver but I don't have woods or bears either). My local
drug, er gun dealer really is really tempting me with the suppressor Ruger is making for it. I have never had any interest in a 22 handgun but I can foresee acquiring another one for my personal use. However the 22 is not a good choice for close range snake protection. Still the SR22 small size just makes it very convenient to carry and is a fun gun to shoot (plus the suppressor make us more friendly with other campers).
We are facing the vey unpleasant task of selling my wife's parents home and moving them to town. They live in the country in woods in Oklahoma and making the situation dangerous is they are pack rats with lots of boxes stored outside on a back porch, in a shed and garage.
Did I mention that they never throw things away? They grew up in The Great Depression and they never throw things away as you never know when you will need it.
Anyway we are sure that the boxes on the back porch and in the shed are comfortable homes for mice. Probably a bunch of field mice. (The boxes have not been moved in many years). Copperheads are common where they live. So with such a good food supply of mice we are very concerned about them when we start moving boxes and cleaning out the shed. Ideally we might be able to do some cleaning this winter with the colder the better. We are really, really dreading this project due to our concerns about poisonous snakes spending the winter inside some of those boxes. Wearing heavy gloves probably gives the nod to the Vaqueros. As my wife has shot a lot of CMSA she knows how to handle the Vaqueros so one of us (me) will move boxes while the other one (she) stands really to shoot whatever comes out. She is a good shot just a coward when dealing with something dangerous.
These discussion has me headed down to the reloading room to do some studying and making some shotshells for my 45 Colt.