I'm glad you posted what you did. I wish they'd get rid of them, but that's easier said than done.
Yes, it was stupid to have the firearm unavailable and the caliber was too small as well. I stand convicted but both have been fixed. I was more concerned of the two legged predators than the four legged kind.
I hung my pack in the garage after a hike one day and left a snickers wrapper in the belt mesh pocket. As it turned out the mice incisions fit perfectly for my IWB carry rig. However, I have since bought a sewing machine an have made custom holsters for several of the pistols I might want to carry. They are concealed and instantly available.
You are thousands of times more likely to be bitten by a venomous snake than attacked by a pig.
You forgot...pigs eat snakes.Originally Posted by 10-K
The trouble I have with campfires are the folks that carry a bottle in one hand and a Bible in the other.
You never know which one is talking.
To the OP, I understand your dilemma, and am glad to know that you were able to get some feedback directly from the top. Just to expand on the issue a bit. I live not far from the GSMNP and also the Cherokee NF. Just in the last week alone I know of 5 hogs that were killed around the mountains, 2 of which were pregnant. The sows had both charged the people, who were, in fact, out hunting them. The hogs have become more widespread lately it seems, and I have heard of more farmers and friends who enjoy the outdoors having encounters with them. So, to end quickly, be careful around these feral hogs. As someone said, I would rather have a bear after me than a feral hog.
Can't Never Did.
Where the heck is the "like" button?
When I was growing up we killed many a hog with a .22 head shot. Mostly those hogs had their face buried in a bucket of slop when they were shot and our shot placement was pretty precise. Shooting a charging hog while hiking...I probably would still aim at the head and fire with my little pocket pistol and hope I hit an eye or the brain. Still, that would be better than standing there doing nothing. I carry my tiny pistol mainly for humans anyway. I'd rather face a hog with a .308 or similar rifle cartridge.
"You're a nearsighted, bitter old fool."
I live in pa and luckily we only have a little problem with the critters...for now....but I agree that they are a huge problem that I am afraid can not be stopped untill they run out of food and dye off. But by that point they would have eaten the whole continent clean of anything the grows. I say protect yourself by any means necessary...I cary the Judge with me on all my hikes...well I guess I cary it everywhere I go....but anyway even the judge would have a hard time stoping a hog with its 410 buck shot rounds and long 45s. The best bet is to drop the pack, climb a tree and wait them out I guess.
I'm glad you're still here.
The hogs are such a persistent problem in the rest of the state (Tennessee) out side of the park there is an open season on them. I believe it went into effect this year. Landowners are allow to bring 10 of their best friends on the land to hunt. It is worded funny to keep people from importing more of them and set up a hunting camp.
Accessibility
Here is how I solved the accessibility issue.
First pic is the mice damage going after a candy wrapper.
Second my normal IWB method. worked great, but no retention and exposed. I hiked this way once and put my scarf on the pistol as I passed people.
The last three are of the holster I made. The holster slides over the hip belt with two loops and I attach the top right corner to the pack frame so it will not slide off the hip belt.
I think I will make another to attach a can of bear spray, just for more options.
This is one of the pitfalls of owning a sewing machine. I'll try anything once. I have made 5 or 6 for different calibers and using different materials. I think this holster minus pistol weights about 3 ozs. I would not use the lattice seen in one of the pics again. It is much to hard to sew; however, it prevents the pistol silhouette from showing thru.
Looks a lot like a safepacker
"That's the thing about possum innards - they's just as good the second day." - Jed Clampett
This is what I use, I use it to keep all my daily essentials and to keep the Judge. It is very comfortable and if for any reason you would have to drop your pack and run it is still with you and has everything you need to survive for a day or two.
In the past Florida has had an ass-backwards way of hog management. State parks paid to have them trapped and removed, the trappers would take them to state wildlife management hunting areas (also where a lot of our trails are) or private hunting lands.
There were quotas and limits on the amount that could be harvested, they would over populate and move back into state parks and private property. This was always supported by hunters and private hunt land owners.
The population explosion finally got to much when they started tearing up the gated communities and nice golf courses. Hunters finally saw the destruction they were doing to deer and wild turkey habitat (including eating turkey eggs). Ranchers and tree farms that use to welcome the extra income have become overwhelmed and want them gone.
So finally..... new hunting regulations. During season on management lands, no bag or size limit. On private property, no limits year round..and to stop the shoot them in a barrel hunt camps for tourists... no transportation of live hogs.
Waiting to see if it puts a dent in the population.
The trouble I have with campfires are the folks that carry a bottle in one hand and a Bible in the other.
You never know which one is talking.
Never said it was an original idea. My son has a Safepacker and really likes it.. But mine is smaller, lighter, and I made it for less than $2. It can be accessed a bit faster as well.
Mmmmmmm........bacon!
Becoming more of a problem and they sure do a lot of damage. I have hiked the Smokies but did not see any, heard them, and saw the effects of them but never came across one.
Just like bears on the East Coast (notably New Jersey), the hog population will continue to grow until confrontation become unavoidable. To point back to the number of incidents over the last twenty years and suggest there isn't a problem is like steering the ship by watching the wake.
there might not be millions of hikers but there easily could be millions of miles hiked each year, without a hiker being violated by a hog, the hogs are timid and harmless. i don't mind guns generally but really don't see the use in toting one around in the pack. unless you might sleep with it in your tent or something.
There is no way of knowing this information - I day hike in the GSMNP a lot, There are no logs to register in, so no way of tracking numbers. I have seen the hogs on many occasions, they are pretty shy of people, they know they are hunted (by the rangers) so they stay clear of people.
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