Outside Magazine is forever poking the bear with one-sided articles about people carrying firearms in the outdoors. Recently, they reposted an article from a couple of years ago, on a slow news day, to bring up their likes and comments on Facebook.

No, I won’t link to it.

No, they’re not talking about people who carry rifles for hunting – but people who carry a handgun when they go out and explore the outdoors.

Their claim is that those people pose more of a threat than anyone else hiking, camping, etc.

They’re also the same people who think bear spray is going to stop a determined grizzly bear.

Deep sigh…

I am out in the woods quite a bit.

I don’t frequent the frequented trails and there’s a lot of places I end up in that I don’t have cell service.

I’m out in places where my voice – even at its loudest scream – will only travel to the next tree because the woods are so dense.

I go out in the outdoors without a net because the purpose of going out in the outdoors is to escape and explore.

I’ve been doing this since I was a kid, and I really don’t see that changing. I don’t want it to change. I thrive in that environment and those situations.

But it was in one of these situations where I realized that it would only benefit me to carry a firearm. I would change a part my overall life, to balance out a fraction of it.

Wild, right?

It was about ten years ago, after a weird and wicked snowstorm ripped through Connecticut in October. Looking back, it feels like it was over before it began but the days after were long and disrupted as crews worked to clear roads and restore power throughout the state.

On one of those days, I decided to take a hike to one of my favorite spots – a place I had been frequenting weekly for years as it was remote and led me to a part of the forest that had some really unique and long-forgotten trails.

As I came over a ridge, I saw something that instantly turned my stomach – turned the whole vibe sour – it was a massive camp with multiple, family-sized tents and tons of belongings – plastic books cases filled with books, storage bins filled with DVD’s and electronics, clotheslines full of clothes, a couple of tables, etc. It was as if, overnight, a neighborhood had sprouted up from the earth and people had claimed the area as their own.

What made this even more ominous is that this area was remote. A couple miles from any road in any direction – meaning that all of this stuff, all of which was brand new, was carried in – and by a lot of people. I even checked for tracks from a quad or a dirtbike – something that made this all rational, and nothing existed. Nothing had been covered up. It was all hoofed in.

These were people, in a large number, that came out here for one reason or another and completely changed the atmosphere.

Over the course of a couple of days, news spread around town about this camp. About people from out of town, coming and moving out into the woods. There was talk about how crime was up and drugs were more prevalent. How people that nobody recognized had been seen lurking around.

Sounded like pure paranoia, is what it sounded like, to me – but I too had seen it and it made me feel… Off.. Like I didn’t want to go out there anymore; like I shouldn’t go out there anymore.

Now, look – there were people already living on that mountain. Folks who didn’t gel with the locals and society and went into those woods and built themselves a life. I had stayed with them. I had eaten dinner and played music with them. These were good people. And yeah, there was element of drugs and a little bit of danger – but they were accessible people and welcoming.

This new camp was not that. Not at all. Not even a little.
And those other folks living up there felt it too. It put them on high alert – made them uneasy in the place they came to, to feel easy.

So, one day, I went back to the woods because I wanted to see what this really was. I didn’t want to be the guy running to the police because good people fell on the outs and ran to the woods to live. I wasn’t going to blow the whistle on them with just a yucking feeling in my stomach.

I was struggling with it, but not enough to make those people struggle.

I was almost at the camp when a dirty little barefoot boy in an oversized t-shirt crossed my path. Crying the blues about being hungry and not knowing where he was – but me knowing that there was no way he left his house without pants and shoes on.

Or that he was alone.

And that’s when an older, shirtless, gentleman with a rifle emerged from the bramble – trying to sing me a sweet song about poverty, all while keeping his hands keenly positioned on that rifle. He wasn’t pointing at me, but it would only take a fraction of a second for that to change.

The kid was bait.

He was sent out to stop someone coming down the trail so that this older guy could freak them out and get a little cash or food out of them, at minimum.

The same older guy who totally helped carry all the new gear, and collection of DVD’s into the deep of the woods.

This was a bad scene – these people were the bad scene. These people were everything that everyone was whispering about in town. Were they just trying to survive out there? Completely. Were they going about it the wrong way? Completely.

It was very obvious that there was some ill-intention in this conversation.

I talked my way out of that situation and got back to the trailhead. And then back down to the main trail and out to my truck where I sat and gathered my shit for a minute.

And decided that I would become a gun owner.

In a rural setting, the first place people go when they don’t want to be found is the woods. It doesn’t matter the reason, but they are out there because they want to be left alone. It’s why people go hiking, but in the case of these more destitute folks – it’s a little more edgy, not as bountiful, and it’s not so they can post pictures on their favorite outdoor Facebook group page.

Are they a threat? Depends. But why put yourself in a situation where you’re unprepared? The gift of gab got me out of that situation with that old man and his pint-sized accomplice. But if it didn’t? What if there were more folks there? What if there were more guns there?

When we head out in the woods, most of us make sure to bring water, a compass, a knife, cellphone – what’s so different about a handgun? Because they carry a negative connotation in modern civiliazation?

Cool. The woods – the mountains – the forest – the river – caves and root huts – they aren’t modern civilization. They are an escape and, as much as we would like to believe the law extends out, under the canopy, in the middle of nowhere – it doesn’t.

People are in the mindset of escaping, and the tendrils of modern society are a big trigger for that escape.

So, here’s some reality.

For the last ten years, I have carried a handgun with me when I’ve gone hiking and camping – and I have yet to shoot anyone. Hundreds of miles in the woods – and I’ve yet to feel the need to squeeze that trigger and send someone on their way.

I don’t feel cool and courageous when I have it on me and I rarely pay it any more attention than my knife or hatchet. In fact, it’s concealed, unlike my knife or hatchet.

It’s not a toy, it’s a tool – and yes, I have been in a few other situations in the woods where I was happy I had it – but I never pulled it or alluded to it. I am a responsible gun owner.

A handgun – just like a shirtless old man with a hunting rifle – will escalate the situation – as long as you understand that it’s a last resort, and not a first response then it’s not even part of the conversation.

If Outside Magazine, whom I love and adore, wants to keep publishing one-sided articles that just create fear, maybe they can add something like this to their copy:

There are a lot of people who carry handguns and there are a lot of people who are uneasy around them. Both sides need to respect one another – because that dichotomy isn’t going to change. If you choose to carry, then be responsible. If you choose to be worried, then I recommend you educate yourself on handguns, handgun owners, and maybe even head down to a range and fire off a few rounds.

I would also also recommend to expand into the weeds and add something witty, like:

If you’re worried about someone carrying a handgun then you should REALLY be worried about someone carrying a rifle – as those suckers can clip you from far distances with a greater accuracy.

But that would allude to their being a cadre of a murderous rogues living in the woods, hellbent on bloodshed, and we’re just not there yet. Not on a large scale. Maybe in little nooks and crannies somewhere. Which, again – a handgun would come handy in.

All in all, I would just like to see them create awareness instead of fear.

Anyway.

I could go on. I could get into the animal aspect – and how bear spray really doesn’t work. But I won’t – because it’ll just be a tangent at that point.

Be safe.
Be responsible.
Be prepared.

Be yourself..