Originally Posted by
Big Lew
If you are dead, you can't pay the fine!
I've not had a bear situation, but have had a cougar try to launch off a cutbank onto my horse and me....even with my saddle gun loaded but on safety, it took what seemed forever to get it out of the scabbard and the safety off....if I had to load it as well, triple the time. second incident, a large doberman attacked my horse, trying to grab it by the throat. I kept spinning the horse around while trying to get the same rifle out of the scabbard and reload it. I was only able to get one shell into the breach within a minute. By this time my horse had received several nasty scratches on it's neck. The owner finally called the dog off when he saw me take aim. To this day I wish I had left that gun loaded because I sure would have had the time to shoot that menace....I keep thinking if it had been a youngster riding along, what would have happened.
Illegal or not, your personal safety comes first, in my opinion, as I first stated...If you're dead, you can't pay the fine!