Some for hunting, most for recreational shooting.

When I engage in outdoor activities I always carry an SD firearm. No reason to take chances IMHO.

I've heard too many success stories about snakeshot to not appreciate the option.

gotta have the pork and beans and the staff

Post does indicate one thing, those attached to their guns will always find some reason to carry one or two.

An overly-restrictive policy can harm people who live in (or work in, or travel through, or visit) rural and wilderness areas, the same way an overly-permissive policy might harm city-dwellers packed in like sardines with lunatics thrown in.

that big cities do not have problems with wild animals.

on a dead end block. There are deer that come into my front yard every now and again but what worries me a bit more is the wolves that have been seen in front of my house. I don't carry but if wolves are outside my front door I can only imagine what it's like in an actual rural city.

Wow. Where do you live? Where I grew up, deer and pronghorn would graze on lawns that managed to stay alive under the snow. Never saw or knew of any predators going near them. Domestic dog on the other hand.........

My sister's partner's parents live in the Beaches in Toronto's urban core. One reason my sister did not leave her cats with them when on vacation last month was that she was afraid they would not keep them from getting out of the little fenced rear courtyard. Both a coyote and a fox have been seen on the block.

Neighbourhood looks vaguely like this:



Urban wildlife doesn't really present much of a danger to humans. Those critters would be happy to take a cat, but would go the other way from a human. In more rural areas, bears might be problematic.

Permits to carry firearms are available in Canada for people whose work takes them into wilderness areas where there are predators. People who live in areas where there are predators around (not the urban wildlife kind) are smart to keep firearms in their homes for use on their own property if needed, to protect themselves or livestock. People who choose to wander off their property to other places where there are dangerous predators, and who have no need to do that, should really consider staying home.

Last edited Mon Apr 30, 2012, 09:59 PM - Edit history (1)

I have foxes and coyotes where I live. Have an occasional black bear. He likes to munch on the pine cones. Had to shoot at a couple of coyotes attacking one of my animals once. Coyotes don't bother with humans or large dogs.

Lesson on Canada? Ummm hard to believe the province that gave us Rush (the band) also brought us Justin Bieber.

Edit to add, that is why I think the Rick Perry "I shot a coyote" was ummm a bit of a tall tale shall we say. A human and a black lab together. A 35 pound coyote is not really going for that. Plus, I never heard of a coyote hanging out to be in range of a small pistol.

...are only going to really attack if threatened. Don't want bears snooping around, lock your food up!

Bears are also territorial. Brown and polar bears will munch on an occasional human. I rarely happens, but has happened.

...but if you're just at the campground at Yellowstone. Not so much...

They really can be a problem in small-town and rural areas, especially in some recent years when climate conditions have meant scarce food. They go to where human food garbage is. Mother bears with cubs in spring, especially, can be very dangerous.

Obviously, killing a mother bear is not the right answer to the problem.

I'm not really up on the fine points of black bear population problems / hunting disputes, but this is an interesting personal view of the problems:

http://www.ontarioblackbears.com/

We watched an absolutely fascinating documentary on the evolution of bears a few months ago ... I think this is it:

http://ww3.tvo.org/video/162714/evolutions-bear-necessities

If you're in a populated area, and find yourself coming face to face with a bear, you're probably being negligent.

Protecting your trash or food isn't worth disturbing a bear.

It only takes one or two morons to turn a perfectly normal bear, into something dangerous to everyone.

My .45 will do the job just fine with any species that lives around here.

People living in houses do not store their food in outdoor food storage bins.

We're talking populated areas in Ontario, where towns co-exist with bears. And you can be as careful as you like with your own garbage, but you can't control your neighbours -- and the town dumps aren't usually indoor affairs.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2002/10/27/bear_hunt021027.html

The hunt was cancelled in 2002. Judging from all the pictures at google images of people posing with dead bears, it seems to be on these days. Trophy hunting, killing for the sake of killing. Population control may be needed in this case, but I don't care to associate with the people in question myself.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Photos+Bear+downtown+Vancouver/5848732/story.html

http://www.theprovince.com/news/5848782.bin?size=620x400s
Bear in downtown Vancouver
A bear was spotted atop a garbage container near Georgia and Cambie Streets Monday afternoon.
-- damn, the photo won't copy -- check it here:
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Photos+Bear+downtown+Vancouver/5848732/story.html

And sometimes they do just attack in the wild:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/05/26/second-encounter-sparks-rogue-bear-worries-in-ontario-town/


It isn't just us invading their habitat; they have adjusted quite well to ours.

Fortunately, I only have massive noxious raccoons in my neighbourhood. But they did get into the rafters above the storage room attached to my garage (where I broke my leg) and destroy a large chunk of the ceiling drywall to get down into the room and poop all over it. Not as bad as this, though:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/offbeat/story/2012/05/03/toronto-raccoons.html


CityNews reports the raccoons won't face charges. They're lucky they don't live in Florida ...

...they need to change their procedure. What are they going to do? Kill all the bears? I mean really, there are better solutions than bear hunts in most situations.

Also, that guy is lucky he only was injured. Black bears are great tree climbers.

I'll carry the .45-70, and if all goes well, neither of us will need either.

The first-person thing I linked to earlier explains some of it. Bears are top of the food chain. Black bear overpopulation in Ontario depletes the bears' food supply, of all varieties. They go to town to find food. Look for food: it's what they do.

We got off on a tangent about urban wildlife. Ooobbbviously, I am not saying people should wander around the streets with guns because they might meet a bear. But if you live in the country and have poultry or livestock and depend on them for your living, you might want to be able to meet food-seeking bear with firepower.

... Another fascinating first-person account: guardian dogs vs. bears when doing forestation and sheep-herding in the back of beyond in BC:

http://www.great-pyrenees-club-of-southern-ontario.com/livestock-guardian-dogs.html

The things you don't learn in the Guns forum ...

so I wouldn't extend them the benefit of the doubt, so to speak.

I think Augusta is that big.

neighborhoods in the city ALL THE TIME. That and deer, rattlesnakes and skunks. Not everyone lives in a concrete jungle.

I don't know where you live, but as we have moved in on the animals habitats they are moving in on ours. In areas such as Miami-Dade County, Florida there are ready snakes and alligators which come into the back yard. Alligators also are common in Baldwin and Mobile Counties, Alabama.

But I understood the original post stating a difference between the big cities and rural but they are getting closer to the big cities.

As does most wildlife...and especially mammals.

You can't see the forest because you walked into a tree, Hoyt.

good one.

...you're going to claim that the shark and the raptor switch places for on-shore attacks?

?w=627

...I heard of Santa Jaws, the great white shark who ate tiny reindeer.

First, to spite their friendly look they are wild animals. They are common to carry rabies and will attack when cornered. As to in a building? Yes, that very well may be where they would go to find warmth and food. While I don't live in downtown Birmingham, Alabama I do live in a suburb of Birmingham in which you would at first glance not suspect would have any wild animals. Yet, opossums and raccoons are quite common, go places you would not think, and will and do attack. Dogs and cats are more an attraction than a deterrent. They smell the food and go looking. This pass winter I was awaken by my Shorthaired Chow barking. She is kept in a strong 6" tall kennel so she can't escape. I turned the light on to see what she was barking at and there was a raccoon searching for food. The raccoon knew the the dog couldn't get to it so it was totally ignoring the dog.