Carrying In State Parks!

[Montana250]

My nature loving sister and I have been battling over this topic for years. I enjoy hiking with the family in the Smoky Mountains. However, I realize crossing a female and her cubs could be extremely hazardous to my and my family's health. Cherokee National Parks strictly forbid the carrying of concealed weapons in their forests. And like my tree huggin' sis, park rangers must believe throwing yourself on the ground and praying the bear doesn't eat you is actually the best thing for you and your family....I don't. Pulling out my .454 Casull and yelling "freeze Bear" would be my idea of keeping my family safe. Now, it looks as if Tenn. has passed a law enabling CCW in their state parks beginning in Sept of this year. If you listen very closely, you just may be able to hear my vegan sis weeping all the way in California!!!!

 

[Cooter]

Sometimes avoiding life threatening risks (like walking through bear country unarmed) outweighs the chance of getting caught breaking a bad law. I know I don't want to turn into the next Suzanna Hupp, and regret obeying a bad law for the rest of my life. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6!

 

[HK4U]

Sometimes avoiding life threatening risks (like walking through bear country unarmed) outweighs the chance of getting caught breaking a bad law. I know I don't want to turn into the next Suzanna Hupp, and regret obeying a bad law for the rest of my life. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6!

Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6!

+1. I also believe in the saying, "It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.:biggrin:

 

[chudak25]

lol I was in Yellowstone National Park a few months ago and of course brought my gun with me. Once I entered the park I took the slide off and put it in two separate places. I was in the vehicle most of the time so not a problem there. If I was out hiking with the family, I would definitely have the gun on me concealed. They would have to see it on me before they could do anything about it, so if it's well hidden, well no harm there. I would rather have the gun on me and not need it, than need it and not have it there. As for the rangers, that is a chance I'm willing to take. If you ever do get pinched, you can always tell them that the last you heard it was allowed in Feb. 2009. Play dumb and no need to let them know that you actually do know the law was overturned. It probably will not work, but that is a good excuse you can use in front of the jury if you find yourself there. Also don't forget about the whole my family and its safety comes first deal as well.

 

[Invisible_Dave]

My nature loving sister and I have been battling over this topic for years. I enjoy hiking with the family in the Smoky Mountains. However, I realize crossing a female and her cubs could be extremely hazardous to my and my family's health. Cherokee National Parks strictly forbid the carrying of concealed weapons in their forests. And like my tree huggin' sis, park rangers must believe throwing yourself on the ground and praying the bear doesn't eat you is actually the best thing for you and your family....I don't. Pulling out my .454 Casull and yelling "freeze Bear" would be my idea of keeping my family safe. Now, it looks as if Tenn. has passed a law enabling CCW in their state parks beginning in Sept of this year. If you listen very closely, you just may be able to hear my vegan sis weeping all the way in California!!!!

May I respectfully ask you to keep her please? We have enough here already. :hang3:

 

[L1D3N]

I do alot of deep woods back country camping/hiking in State Parks where predators abound. I have had a close calls with Bear, Moose etc. chemical spray and making alot of noise just does not cut it. I always carry my PLR-16, I refuse to be killed/eaten because of some stupid law that doesn't care about your well being/life.

I had a friend that was trampled by a moose that had a young one and he lived to talk about it but his knee was hamburger and will forever walk with a cane, lucky to have survived. He made noise while hiking, did all the safety things your supposed to do while in the wild but thats why they call it THE WILD!

Bear mace.. LOL! What a joke.

 

[Montana250]

I refuse to be killed/eaten because of some stupid law that doesn't care about your well being/life.

Amen!

 

[come-and-take-it-FL]

I know it's probably different if you are a tourist and visiting an area... but, my folks have a spread backed up to a large wilderness area/state park and we carried every time we ventured into those lands. It may have been against park policies, but rangers on numerous occasions warned us to take precautions when traveling into the back country.

I would suggest that carrying a weapon for self-defense (both from the animal AND human kind) would fall into the category of “taking precautions!” We were just following good advice!

We also used to move cattle up into the grass lands of the high Uinta Mountains every summer and always had rifles in the saddle and pistols in the packs.