Should you carry a firearm while bowhunting in Wyoming

[Zerk]

Where legal, I carry a gun to bed.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

There are an average of 11 bear attacks in the USA each year, with 1/2 of those being fatal. Given that, I am stupefied as to how much of our (outdoors types) conversation revolves around protecting ourselves from them. Here's an idea. I am assuming that the members here drive like the drivers that I see on a day in and day out basis. You want to protect yourself? Stop driving like damn idiots. Put the phone down and pay attention.

 

[Zerk]

Anti gunners say this about defending yourself in general. I saw I got fire insurance on my house. I also ask them what is the acceptable risk for daughter raped and wife killed? 1 in 10k? 100k? Not saying I carry 100%, but I like to have it. I already own it.

Let's now discuss acceptable hand gun calibers.

 

[Torrent50]

I stopped reading at " should you carry a firearm...." No more need be asked. The answer is YES. Always YES.

 

[rodney482]

I do in Wy

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I had a very close encounter with a mountain lion it was the first time I left mt Glock in camp and the last...

I carried a .357 last fall in WY. Made my daughter feel safer, espeically when we had fresh lion tracks in our boot tracks in the snow on the way back to the truck one night.

The worst folks from Iowa gotta worry about in the dark is a rabid coyote or skunk. So those tracks had us on edge for sure.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

Were legal, I carry a gun to bed.

I do the same, I’m scared of my wife.

 

[Zerk]

I do the same, I’m scared of my wife.

I am not here to judge what a man does with his wife in the bedroom.

 

[jtg88]

Dragging this back to the top for opinions. I've got a buddy that drew an archery elk tag in heavy bear country in NW Wyoming. I'm going with him to pack meat and so he won't be hunting solo in bear country. I have a short barreled turkey gun with a red dot and Brenneke Black Magic slugs that is very fast handling and much more accurate than a pistol. Anyone know if this is legal for me to carry for the one in a million chance in a bad bear encounter?

**Got a call in to the local warden to verify, I just wanted the Roksliders opinion as well

 

[Beendare]

There are an average of 11 bear attacks in the USA each year, .....

I would bet there are 5x or more of those attacks....and the vast majority we never hear about.

 

[Beendare]

Dragging this back to the top for opinions. I've got a buddy that drew an archery elk tag in heavy bear country in NW Wyoming. I'm going with him to pack meat and so he won't be hunting solo in bear country. I have a short barreled turkey gun with a red dot and Brenneke Black Magic slugs that is very fast handling and much more accurate than a pistol. Anyone know if this is legal for me to carry for the one in a million chance in a bad bear encounter?

**Got a call in to the local warden to verify, I just wanted the Roksliders opinion as well

If you are going back in the next day for a downed animal...absolutely pack a shotgun with 00 buckshot/ slugs.

 

[BigNate]

The answer is ' yes ', and train with what you carry.

 

[patrick_ford]

Why not?

 

[Jellymon1]

I would bet there are 5x or more of those attacks....and the vast majority we never hear about.

I believe this is true. If a solo hiker is killed, dragged off, and half buried, there is nobody to report it. And with the hundreds of missing hikers every year……

I carry bear hunting because tracking a potentially wounded bear through our thick rainforest underbrush, I’d rather have my G20 than my long, cumbersome, and at that point, single shot bolt rifle.

 

[grfox92]

Dragging this back to the top for opinions. I've got a buddy that drew an archery elk tag in heavy bear country in NW Wyoming. I'm going with him to pack meat and so he won't be hunting solo in bear country. I have a short barreled turkey gun with a red dot and Brenneke Black Magic slugs that is very fast handling and much more accurate than a pistol. Anyone know if this is legal for me to carry for the one in a million chance in a bad bear encounter?

**Got a call in to the local warden to verify, I just wanted the Roksliders opinion as well

"There is nothing illegal about hiking around with a rifle or shotgun in Wyoming." - Wyoming Game and Fish.

This is Wyoming, you can carry a gun wherever you want except Government buildings.

I did get that verbatim answer from G&F when I asked before I was a resident. I'd still call and check for myself though.
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[wytx]

Yes you van carry that shotgun in Wyoming, no restrictions on carrying a gun during seasons even if you have no license.
Resident or not, carry what you want.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I would bet there are 5x or more of those attacks....and the vast majority we never hear about.

55 bear attacks in the USA each year. On the relative risk scale, that's insignificant.

How many that insist on carrying a gun in bear country:

Boat without wearing a life jacket?
Allow themselves to drive distracted?
Speed while driving?
Use a tree stand without a harness?


That's just a few.

 

[ThunderJack49]

55 bear attacks in the USA each year. On the relative risk scale, that's insignificant.

How many that insist on carrying a gun in bear country:

Boat without wearing a life jacket?
Allow themselves to drive distracted?
Speed while driving?
Use a tree stand without a harness?


That's just a few.

statistics are irrelevant to the man who has been struck by lightning.
What is the relative risk scale of spending all of your time in the area where these attacks are happening like the OP is hunting?
Risk and safety are relative emotions, and it's on the individual to decide what risks are acceptable.
Bears and sidearms are part of the mystic of the mountain west and folks just like talking about it.
Stats show that several of the folks commenting on here about carrying always will probably die of heart disease instead of a violent encounter, but, who cares?
Hedge your bets however you'd like, because we are all going to go one day.

 

[grfox92]

55 bear attacks in the USA each year. On the relative risk scale, that's insignificant.

How many that insist on carrying a gun in bear country:

Boat without wearing a life jacket?
Allow themselves to drive distracted?
Speed while driving?
Use a tree stand without a harness?


That's just a few.

Interesting logic.

Take your family to Souix Falls South Dakota, park near the falls and go for a leisurely stroll around town.

Then hop in the car drive 2000 miles east and park on the corner of Fordham and Jermone in the south Bronx and take your family for a leisurely stroll around town.

I'm willing to bet any amount of money that you would be comfortable in one if those places and wish you had 5 buddies with AR15s in the other.

Where are you are, changes the probability of becoming the statistic.

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[J_shearin22]

With wolves, lions, moose and bears out in the wilderness here should I carry a firearm for protection or am I just overthinking situations out here. Could always just kick em really hard if they get to close. What's your thoughts?

Better to have it than to wish you did.