Thread: Backpacking Essentials

Originally Posted by Shinysides

I guess I understand what you mean, but to me that is borderline paranoia. I'm not saying it's impossible, I just think maybe some of you have watched Deliverance one too many times. Most of the times I've gone backpacking, I've gone days without seeing another person. It really just isn't something that I worry about.

Yeah, I have generally had the same experiences while backpacking. I've certainly never been in a situation that could have been dangerous. But let me reiterate that people don't generally carry while hiking because they are specifically worried about being mugged while hiking; they generally carry while hiking because they're the kind of person who carries when they're NOT camping too, and they see no particular reason to deliberately discard their ability to defend themselves under certain circumstances (such as when going into the woods). It's not about whether you think you're in particular danger in the woods, it's about whether you are the type of person who is just always cautious about that kind of thing no matter where you are, woods or otherwise.

I would respectfully disagree with your assessment of it as "borderline paranoia". I think that's an example of the double standards and emotional thinking that many people use when it comes to guns. People often view other safety precautions (like wearing your seat belt in a car, keeping a fire extinguisher and smoke alarms in the house, etc.) as normal, but keeping a gun around is "paranoia" and gets met with suggestions that the person has been watching certain movies (Dirty Harry and Die Hard are common examples) "a few too many times". I'm not accusing you of having some kind of anti-gun bias, but the things you said do suggest to me that your view of carrying a gun has been influenced, consciously or no, by the unreasonable attitudes towards guns that exist in our society. I think a wholly objective assessment of the issue would lead to the conclusion that there is absolutely nothing paranoid about carrying a gun for self-defense (or at least, that it's no more paranoid than any other safety precaution that people commonly take). It is certainly true, for instance, that violent crime is far more common than house fires in America; yet no-one gets called paranoid for having smoke alarms in their house.

EDIT: I do also sometimes set snares (though I particularly like snake, which obviously has to be shot rather than snared). I wouldn't worry too much about "attracting attention" with gunshots; I don't think that the occasional "pop" of a .22-caliber round attracts a lot of attention in the woods, especially in Virginia where I live and am usually camping or hiking. I'm also usually somewhere down in the GW or TJ National Forests; unlike National Parks, you can hunt in National Forests.