How many guns on a hunting trip?

[Col. Batguano]

Companion question to the range question.

I always bring 2 to camp, but 1 with me at a time in the field. I want a back up just in case something breaks on the primary. It never has, (to the point I couldn't fix it, or have had to access my secondary gun) but better to be prepared just in case.

 

[Alden]

I don't go to a real REENACTMENT without more than one gun...

 

[longcruise]

Always two!

 

[tenngun]

From bunnies to bears a 20 gage smoothy will do them all. In near 40 years I have never had a problem with a gun in the field that I coulntn't fix in the field.

 

[flintlock75]

Having done many hunts in remote areas accessible only by plane. I always bring two long guns capable of taking whatever game I am hunting. Two much money invested to loose the use of a primary gun. I had a bad river crossing experience that made me choose to drown or loose the gun. it was an easy choice, I survived and the next day at low tide I was able to find it again, but I did have a backup just in case. Being prepared is better than sitting in camp crying over a lost or broken gun.

 

[Vaino]

When we were elk hunting, there never was an "extra gun" in camp.....and an "extra" was never needed. Of course some spare parts and req'd tools were in camp....especially stirrups and springs.....Fred

 

[BrownBear]

Having done many hunts in remote areas accessible only by plane. I always bring two long guns capable of taking whatever game I am hunting.

Ayup. It only makes sense. Not everyone in camp brings a spare, but between us we always make sure there's at least one in camp. It's saved many a hunt for someone in our party.

Doesn't have to be fancy, but it has to go bang. Mostly it's something generic like a TC Hawken 54 or a Lyman GPR 54. With a fully equipped bag of course. Truth be told, things from that bag have rescued more hunts than the spare gun. Come to think of it, I was the rescuee on our last hunt. I got there with no patches, but recovered the situation with a reach into the spare bag. :redface:

 

[Bob J]

When hunting out-of-town, I always carry a backup ML to camp, just in case. Haven't needed it yet, but one never knows.

 

[Patocazador]

Of course some spare parts and req'd tools were in camp....especially stirrups and springs.....Fred

If you're not going to bring an extra then you gotta do like Fred and bring the things for fixing them.

I always carry my muzzleloading tool box even on a day trip.

 

[longcruise]

With many years of hunts with two guns, there was only one time that I needed it. This was due to a cracked stock wrist. It was a one day trip so a repair on the spot was not practical. Pulled out the back up gun and killed my deer several hours later.

 

[larry wv]

A spare gun for the hunting party is a good idea.

Larry

 

[BrownBear]

...spare gun for the hunting party....

Had the funniest thing happen on my last boat hunt a couple of years back. We get together and charter a sleep-aboard boat for a week-long trip to remote coastal areas- a floating cabin, if you want to call it that.

I hunted with my GRRW 58 cal Hawken, but also brought along my 54 cal Lyman GPR capper and a complete shooting bag just in case, and it was the only spare gun on the boat.

As luck would have it, another in the party was the unlucky victim of a rifle breakdown. Never fired a muzzleloader before, so I put him through a quick handling school and sent him off for the day.

He's a fine hunter who enjoys close work in the first place, and he was the first to punch out all his tags (3 here), and all of them were better than any other bucks on the boat.

Darned near had to go ten rounds with him to get back my GPR at the end of the trip. He's since bought his own GPR and is on a mission to convert everyone he knows. Couldn't write a better script than that! :thumbsup:

 

[William O.]

I bring two as my .54 caplock has proven too accurate and dependable to leave at home.

 

[necchi]

Always two!

:thumbsup:
Sometimes the smoothy with too, if there's a chance for grousing.

 

[Alden]

I presume everyone was carrying a large frame handgun (I do there), so, does that effect people's decision-making as backup in any way in your clique?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

It depends on the distance for me... I live on the cusp of suburb to agriculture, so my hunting area is only two miles from my house... I can go back if there is a mechanical problem.

Now when I go any farther, I take two rifles. When I went to Canada the backup rifle was a caplock in the same caliber.

LD

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Only have two. Pistol and rifle.

Have no need for any more