[charleskieffner]

as mentioned i wouldnt be loading any hot loads. just federal jacketed hollowpoints. or their equal. slap some nail polish around the primer, and a lil dab a do yah around case meets bullet(very thin or tends to not slide in cylinder) and the bullets waterproof. thats what we do for the underwater bang sticks.

the last hunter safety class i went to with my older son, the instructor pulled a super red hawk that the cylinder exploded as well as broke the backstrap. stainless steel! yikes! guy double loaded his hot loads by accident. was pretty ugly.

i have a host of pistoles to choose from to do what im doing. but 9mm are out, .45's are questionable but better than nothing, and i already have a 6" .44 mag. thats really heavy. really looking at the weight angle only. sure 2" and 4" barrels are going to be a hand full, but just like shooting on the bench it will hurt alot. in the field under a stress situation w/a pissed off bear coming at you..............well your hand hurting when it goes bang is the last thing your gonna worry about. saving yer bacon at that moment is job numero uno.

after our last bear experience on the san carlos rez, and the wolves while hunting up by alpine, girlfriend and i are seriously thinking of renting a cruise america motorhome this summer if we do wyoming and idaho. im sick and tired of not sleeping fer shi!, with critters that can seriously ruin my day, circling the campsite night after night. after about 3 days of no sleep, and sleeping on a cold steel pistol frame LOADED, you tend to kind of get CRABBY about bears!

shooting a bear or wolf here , you may as well find a damn good lawyer if you zap a wolf. on the out of season bear angle, your going to spend a fair amount of time explaining to game and fish WHY! and your food better be strung in a tree! and ice chests locked up in vehicle, and no garbage evident around camp site. having to shoot a bear on the rez............lord knows what hell yer gonna go through with the indians.........i can only imagine its not fun.

the advantage of truck camping IS you can carry everything including (4) kitchen sinks and washer and dryer and big mongo heavy caliber bear rifle vaporizer. when backpacking your really limited to a big caliber pistol, that has to be instant "condition red!" humping a rifle with scope for 3-7-10 days does not really sound like fun, along with a 60-70# pack. and i have hiked enough that getting weight down is really tough, despite titanium this and alum. thats and minimilist tents and all the other space age techno gear offered now a days. its not like im stupid and bringing spare hiking boots, spare jackets pants books etc.. we are only packing what is absolutely needed. no canned crap, all dehydrated food.water, spare fuel,camping gaz burner,water purfier, rain jacket, pants, down jacket,tent(north face mtn 25), down bag(north face ibex).............the basics and it still adds up to 60-70#'s. so weight is the real consideration all around.

the guy we lease a hanger to for his pilatus aeroplane, was telling me about his and his wifes elk hunt in wyoming this year. horsey back hunt with a full blown base camp with chimney sticking out of base tent. not anything like ive ever done. our camps are.....well just picture 4 guys crammed into 2 axle enclosed trailer with mr. heat going and snow up to our keesters. anyway from the moment they downed their elk they had to deal with silverbacks.........REALLY REALLY BIG SILVERBACKS! ie mr. grizzly. blood scent wafted thru the air and got the damn bears attention each time and they came a running for din din!

their drill their is to grab back straps, rack...............AND SPLIT! basically leaving ASAP and leaving meat for grizzlies to devour instead of grizzlies following them all the way back to camp. sounds good on paper............but guess what? grizzlies followed them back to camp. he and his wife damn near crapped themslves silly with so much bear fun he seriously doubts ever doing it again there in wyoming. and its not like this was his first elk hunt or visit by a bear. this guy and his wife have been hunting for years. he said the bear populations are just exploding due to no trapping and limited number hunts. ie. in the old days bears were trapped and shot year around when seen by ranchers.

soooooooo.......... the same is happening here with the predator populations, due to stringent trapping laws and limited predator hunts. sooooooooo its a very distinct possibility if your hunting/camping/fishing/hiking being a bear statistic. and im not planning on becoming a MEAL for any juan!