For the people that carry while paddling…
How /where do you stow your gun while paddling?
On overnight trips I usually carry a gun that if it got lost or found its way to the river/creek bottom it wouldn’t be as devastating.
My main carry is a LCP in a pocket holster. I’ve never tried a OWB holster while paddling… Probably wouldn’t be very comfortable.
Since I paddle a canoe and not a kayak, maybe something in an ankle holster could work
I have a duluth pack for all the big stuff and a small WP bag for the little, more important stuff that I wind around one of the thwarts. The duluth pack is a big, open pack, so I put a WP bag in there, then fill it. The smaller one I can just unhook and carry it on my back when I go ashore to check out something like a good place to camp. That way the important stuff is always with me…unless my canoe dumps me and runs away.
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That sounds like a PITA as you’ll step out of the canoe or just be dumped and now your gun is in the water/muck/mud. Or take it off, put it back on, take it off, etc.
I have stowed a pistol in a small waterproof Watershed duffel secured to the canoe. No not immediately accessible but safe from loss, muck, or mud, unless I lose the entire canoe.
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I usually use a dry bag. I have considered using a case, but I think that might be a bit bulky… Is your duffel permanently attached or just use some straps?
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I usually step in once and out once. Doesn’t seem like it would be hard to pocket it for those two instances.
What I do is have a small WP bag that has a carrying strap on it, so I just wrap the strap around the thwart.
Not me, part of the fun is taking time to explore something of interest on land, take a lunch break, or scout out some rapids I hear if I’m unfamiliar with it. I guess this is why I solo most of the time–if something seems interesting from shore, I wanna go see it.
Dry box, It comes along for the camping portion of the trip. With the current entitlement ownership attitude of 5 year olds that many people display in all things,
Unless there is a war canoe after me, I can get some distance on the water which is the preferred method anyway.
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Sorry I’m late to this thread. Yer all amateurs!
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Shut up and take my money
I’ve never carried a gun in the woods or on the water except while hunting. I’ve hiked/backpacked with bear spray in grizzly territory. East of the Rockies, I rely solely on good camp hygiene in the back country and locked car doors while sleeping at rest stops etc.
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Be careful with those guns…
What’s More Dangerous Than a Bear? A Bear With a Gun. | Backpacker
Richard
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Bullshit.
No point in getting riled up… Yes, it is a somewhat silly article. But, the point made near the end is that: if you are going to carry a gun, be careful with it.
I would like to think we can all agree with that.
Richard
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I do. I have a few stainless revolvers, a S&W 3" J Farms 357 mag (M60) I also have a 44 mag M629 and 45 M625 so I have all the bases covered for handguns But I also carry a Walther PPX or a Kahr 45 at times. The Walther has the military grade finish and a plastic frame and the Kahr is stainless and plastic. In my dry-box I have Toilet Paper and a small vial of oi, so basic maintenance is something I m used to doing since my days as a Marine. It’s just part of the daily routine for me. I prefer the smaller and lighter handguns because they stow well in the hatches and if I actually carry one on my person I have to use a chest rig or shoulder holster which can be a bother for paddling all day long the straps can chafe. For short trips up to about 4 hours I simply carry them on my hip, but I do like the Kydex Holsters so I don’t soak my good leather ones.
The times I want to have a long arm along I grab an AR 15, AR10 or AK47. The AK is particularly well suited for such trips because of it’s extreme reliability and shortness.
I live and hunt, hike and visit areas that are crawling with Grizzlies many times each year, but there are not any waters there that I can paddle (so far) so my bigger and more powerful rifles stay home when I am in my kayak. In my time with the Military I came face to face with AKs (wrong end) and I can assure you all, they are formidable weapons and powerful enough for about anything up to about 300 pounds.
The AK I use has a side folding stock and I prefer the 20 round mags. Sometimes I use the plastic Tapco 10 round mags. It’s compact and with it’s jutting mag, pistol grip as well as the high front sight, they hold onto the deck rigging very well. They stay centered on the deck so you don’t get a 9-10 pound weight on one side of your balance line.
Do they get wet? Yes. So what? I’d bet about 1,000,000 of them never saw many days of mollycoddling in Vietnam, and yet they were the king of the jungle. Same in Nicaragua, Afganistan and South/Central Africa
I wipe my rifles down with oil inside and out every evening and call it goods enough for the period of the trip All my guns get used including the fancy ones. But if I know the use is going to be close to abuse, I take a military grade rifles.
If you have a Mosin/Nagant, Mauser, Lee/Enfield or any such old bolt action, they served well enough to go years in the most horrid of conditions and works well and well still work today. Just clean them as you should and they are as good today as they were in WW1or WW2 and many of them are better (more reliable) then a lot of modern guns you can buy today.
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Make ccw training mandatory for all bears
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Man you must paddle in a rough neighborhood if you need an AK47 with you. 
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Naaaa, I am in one of the very best “neighborhood” in the USA if you look at the crime rates.
But my point is that the AK is very rugged, reliable and not easily harmed, and it’s ugly enough at some water spotting or rust is not noticed. I didn’t make an AK because I cared about it’s looks. Yet, if ever I were to need a long arm on a paddling trip (in Wyoming, so far at least) for any reason from filling a stew pot to defending myself, the AK is one you can rely on and with 90% of the power of the old 30-30, it’s an extremely formidable weapon.
Sure, it is one used by communist forces and now many non-communist forces all over the world, but it’s a “thing”, not an agenda. Many custom Mausers that are perfectly beautiful are thought of as recreational guns today, but they were developed in Germany around the turn of the century to be the best war tool that could be given to a soldier. The gun itself has no mind and no agenda. Same with the AK. Having a top rated and universally accepted battle tool when you DON’T need it beats the heck out of having a sub-standard and unreliable tool when you DO need it.
But gun owners are enthusiasts (myself included) and they often focus more on the things then the skills. That’s the wrong way to approach things. As a former US Marine and Instructor for DOD as well as teaching in the private sector for 45 years, that is a subject I know well. That’s a picture of me and my fellow workers all dressed up for a day at the office. I am the one in the rear, standing, 2nd from the right. I was younger then. (How’d that change so fast!!??)
Waiting for the Green Light by Steve Zihn, on Flickr
With hunting, shooting and if need be, fighting the person is 98% of the equation and the tool he has is 2%. I am very new to the world of Kayaking, and yet I have found the same thing is true here too. I am a fanatic about learning the skills, (Training) and I believe inside a few years, even if my boat or my paddle is not “top of the line” I will be able to make a good example of how things should be done. That’s my goal anyway. (Pray for me please) A few years will prove me right or prove me wrong. However all the really dedicated paddlers I have corresponded with have told me the basically the same thing.
Skills trump equipment 98 times out of 100
I and my wife Anna are not wealthy enough to buy 6-10 boats and try them out as we develop. So I bought a used one that got a LOT of praise form those who know, and told me the Chatham 16 and 17 are worthy of what I want to do, and I will not likely grow my skills past it’s abilities. It’s solid and reliable. Do I know this to be true? No, but I trust those that have told me it’s true, and I am going to dedicate myself to developing my skills and see. When I taught classes for the Marines and the Navy as well as Allied personal in other places, I was someone with a LOT actual experience and so my students trusted me and what I told them. I would be a fool if I also didn’t trust those out there that have lived in kayaks longer then I was aware of Kayaks. MY Chatham is way “above my head” for now, but I can gain skills easier and faster then I can earn money. So I took the step and we’ll just have to see how I do over the coming months and years.
Same with how I look at guns.
The ones that are KNOWN to have the track record of utter reliability are always dependable and if you start with them you never outgrown them. You can (probably will) add to the collection and get other guns that do one thing or another better, but for the solid example of a gun to have along on a trip “IN CASE YOU NEED ONE” the AKs ARs, G-3s, FALs Mausers, Lee/Enfields and many military weapons are about as good as you can get, regardless of price. And their prices can be as low as $300 and as much as $2500. But most people can afford a rifle that will serve them well on paddling trips and have something that will only minimal care will last longer then it;'s owner.
If you want something you need not baby or worry about, and KNOW it will work when and if you NEED it, such military issue rifles can’t be beat
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I think people who go into the woods without a gun are idiots. Depending on where you are at, one might be a good idea for animals. I’ve had bears and wolves in my camp and outside my tent when I was in it. But the real problem isn’t wolves, bears, or rabid skunks. The real problem is the two legged predators. I have found stuff in the woods that I brought cops to. I have also had some one open my tent when I was camping on an island no one else was on in the middle of the night. Bring a gun camping with you, or you might not go camping again.
This might not apply to like state parks or busy campgrounds like that, with a lot of people around. But when you get out in the sticks there can be some weird people.
Also of you have kids with you, you owe it to them to be able to keep them safe whether you believe in guns or not. It’s not about politics, it’s about your responsibility to protect yourself and the people around you.
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