Quote:
Originally Posted by whiskeywillow
Absolutely should-be a backcountry/outdoorsmen carry permit for those who are licensed & wish to do so.. remote fishermen, hikers, mountaineers, canoe & kayaker's, pasture riders tending stock, packers working with horse & mule strings, even to hunters as an emergency piece at their side... individuals of those sorts anyway, and for reasons far beyond just wildlife defence too.
One example: pasture riders.. doctoring cattle for example... a rifle tied to your horse and a rope dallied onto cows or a bull yankin on the end of that rope is recipe for trouble. Tangling, a broken gun, hurt rider or horse (or both!) is just'about guaranteed. A sixgun though on that persons belt is already out of the way and always present should he/she need it. They may not need it for the animal tied on getting doctored, but for the odd one found that's beyond help while rifles are non-logistical and amiss
Another: packers.. once again with loads, leads & ties all over and 3-4 or 15 head of stock in tow, if things go south and one falls lame in the middle of nowhere, a bullet is quicker more humane dispatch than your leatherman is.. and I know I'd personally prefer using a bullet to a knife if I ever had to put down my own horse for some reason or other in the middle of nowhere. Sidearm adds virtually nil for weight to you, your horse or any animal in your string and is always at hand out of the way for emergency's.
More..? How 'bout a case like those canoer's near Yellowknife just last month who had their camp & canoe smashed up by a bear, then remained tormented by that bear until their SOS call finally arrived just-barely short of too late!? (good thing they had THAT at least, and had someone respond. I know and have met many who take nothing, as well am aware of numerous SOS calls that did get left on def ears leaving individuals on their own anyhow until the ones in distress could be moved someplace with easier access!!) ... I've personally been on fly-in canoe trips myself where space was limited and any long gun would have been completely non-logistical to bring. But a sidearm surely would have been handy enough, would have served well in those Yellowknife canoer's case too.
And for the record, any sidearm that a person takes the time to become proficient with is damn sure plenty for close-quarter defence on anything including bears. Somebody arguing otherwise has NOT done their due dilligence on the subject... 357's, 41's, 44's even the lowly 40s&w has reportedly served successful in wildlife defence cases outside of canada & within canada as well, by those who do rightly have permitting to bring theirs.
Canada very-well SHOULD have an "outdoorsmans" version of carry permit written into the firearms act, then made available to any restricted-licence holder with proper qualification in hand. It truly is ridiculous that (currently) no such thing exists. And in mine & many's opinions, such a permit would be the simplest most rightful amendment of great significance to the outdoorsman that any Federal government could make to the Firearms act as we know it. It really should be done.
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I actually live in Yellowknife and I agree that it should be allowed to carry for purposes of camping, hiking, and these other pursuits. While I was in high school here two kids from the catholic high school here were out at one of the provincial campgrounds and the young man was killed by a black bear in front of his gf, she was also injured but got away.
And we actually do have a provision here because of our history of mineral exploration and mining, for people with a prospectors license(only costs $75, and takes a course) to be able to legally carry a sidearm for that purpose.
I worked on the diamond drills on and off for a while and have done surveying up at Hope Bay on the arctic coast and Barren Ground grizzlies are everywhere. Last summer we had a Sow with two cubs walk right onto our 16x16 drill shack at around 3 am with our drill running full bore as I was putting samples in a box. Just at the Ekati Diamond Mine alone I was told by the Enviro Dept that there was over 130 bears within a 40km or so radius of the camp. Been stalked by wolves while doing the helicopter moves for the drill up there too, although bear banger's worked on them good.