Caribou Gear

Where or How Do You Carry?

J

JMG

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 1, 2011
Messages
894
Location
MONTANA
Where and how do you carry your can of bear spray or a handgun while you are bow or rifle hunting? Over the years ... I seem to attach or carry more and more stuff to myself as I hunt. Do you attach the can of bear spray/handgun to your waist belt or your shoulder strap or some place else ... without it interfering with your natural movement or shot?

What product?

Do you have pictures?

Thanks in advance.
 
Marsupial has a canister attachment for their bino harness various pack companies do as well. I think the bino harness idea is awesome. So manny times I've set my pack down with it attached to my hip belt and go glass off a different nob or take a leak. One of these days yogi is gonna be right there and my spray will be up on my hip belt attached to my pack.........
 
Last edited:
Spray Attached to the waist belt of my main pack so it sits kind of on the back side of my hip.
I have had enough accidental discharges that I don't want it anywhere near my face or in front of me.
Pistol on a separate belt on the other side. Not ideal, but the best I have found to work so far.
Can reach either one in good order.
If I drop the pack I still have the pistol on. If I sit down to glass for a while I take the pistol out
and set it across my lap to it's easy to grab if I get surprised while sitting.
 
EYJONAS! said:
Marsupial has a canister attachment for their vino harness various pack companies do as well. I think the bino harness idea is awesome. So manny times I've set my pack down with it attached to my hip belt and go glass off a different nob or take a leak. One of these days yogi is gonna be right there and my spray will be up on my hip belt attached to my pack.........
Click to expand...
+1
FF.jpg
 
mountain monster said:
While bow hunting I have bear spray on the belt of my pack, and a 10mm attached to my bino harness. So if I drop my pack, I still have a gun with me.
Click to expand...

How are you attaching to your bino harness?

I've used a holster that attaches to the waste belt on my pack. Works good but when pack is off then so is pistol. Not a big deal but just thinking about other options.
 
Spray on hip belt of pack. 10mm or 44 mag on drop leg holster that way if I don’t have pack I still have defense. I have not found a great drop leg holster yet but better than nothing.
 
Tradewind said:
Spray Attached to the waist belt of my main pack so it sits kind of on the back side of my hip.
I have had enough accidental discharges that I don't want it anywhere near my face or in front of me.
Pistol on a separate belt on the other side. Not ideal, but the best I have found to work so far.
Can reach either one in good order.
If I drop the pack I still have the pistol on. If I sit down to glass for a while I take the pistol out
and set it across my lap to it's easy to grab if I get surprised while sitting.
Click to expand...

Yep. This. 44 on the left hip, spray on the right.
 
44 mag on my right side waist belt of Exo.
When pack off holster onto my belt
 
jerm8352 said:
Spray on hip belt of pack. 10mm or 44 mag on drop leg holster that way if I don’t have pack I still have defense. I have not found a great drop leg holster yet but better than nothing.
Click to expand...

I 2nd the leg holster and have been using one for the last 4 years. It has really opened my eyes to how flawed carrying a pistol on a pack hip belt was. When you set you pack down you no long have a pistol on you. I do know that drop leg holsters come with some issues for "some" people. Primarily hiking with one. Some say they chafe and I am sure this has much to do with the holster and the body type. I personally put about 70 miles on my legs during Sept. Mule deer and Elk season and have never had a problem. Love a leg holster! won't go back.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Took an interesting class last summer, "surviving a griz attack". They had a bear head posted on a target on rails that came at you for about 30 feet, and you had to get your bear spray out and hit the target before it got to you. I think only 1 person out of the 20 or so students was successful. Then the instructor gave us the best way to use bear spray on a charging bear, shoot from the hip (which is about the right height for the bears head), and don't try to get it out of the holster! Once we did that we were all able to hit the bear before it got to us. (Side note, take the cover strap off the spray while hunting in bear country to save time). With this in mind, having it on the hip makes more sense to me. If its on my chest, I would worry about the spray getting on my face. Also, in an active charge you supposedly only have 3-6 seconds before the bear gets to you. We met with a grizzly trainer and he said that grizzlies had been time at 2.9 to 3.3 seconds in covering 50 yards! We also received a presentation from a person who had been charged by a grizzly and mauled twice in the same day by the same bear. I carry spray on my right hip and a .44 on my left.
 
ntodwild said:
I 2nd the leg holster and have been using one for the last 4 years. It has really opened my eyes to how flawed carrying a pistol on a pack hip belt was. When you set you pack down you no long have a pistol on you. I do know that drop leg holsters come with some issues for "some" people. Primarily hiking with one. Some say they chafe and I am sure this has much to do with the holster and the body type. I personally put about 70 miles on my legs during Sept. Mule deer and Elk season and have never had a problem. Love a leg holster! won't go back.
Click to expand...

Which brand of holster do you use? Mine is a condor I think and it just slips done sometimes while hiking which of course brings my pants with it. Not bad especially after I got a proper gun belt but still enough to be annoying at times.
 
I like the quick clip system from UDAP Bear Spray...
UDAP_BearSpray.JPG
I have a .44 magnum and shoot hundreds of practice shots each year,
but I don't think I am a quick enough or good enough shot and fear a hole in a bear's ear would only piss him off.
My hunting mentor had killed 8 grizzlies, each 1 shot kills from his 300 magnum.
Then the 9th bear he got within 50 yards, and click..no bullet in the chamber,
long story short, it took 13 shots to finally kill that bear....
 
The only time I carry anything is for archery bear hunting, I hunt alone in a pretty remote area so I bring a small light shotgun (can't carry pistols in Canada) and can of bear spray.

Every year I seem to have at least one bear climb up my stand while I'm in it, every time I'm reminded why I haul an extra 7lb boom stick strapped to my pack...
 
I just got a mystery ranch pistol holster that I attach to my bino harness. The only thing I don't like about it is trying to make sure I'm always standing to the left of whoever I'm with... It's very comfortable there.
 
I have never hunted elk in grizzly country so...very seldom do I carry my handgun in the woods while hunting. It’s just extra weight to me. However, when hiking and in general...always on my hip. I have been in LE for ever 2 decades and have always trained for a “duty carry”. Muscle memory is too far ingrained for me to try and change now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

TexAg09
Weather Advice - Not Sure How to Interpret Forecast
Replies
7
Views
298
TexAg09
TexAg09
wyoelkfan15
Why do you hunt - Kids?
2
Replies
32
Views
719
EastTNHunter
EastTNHunter
W
Horseback hunting - gear packing
2 3
Replies
50
Views
2K
406dn
406dn
Ben Lamb
Stoking the fire
5 6 7
Replies
121
Views
8K
hank4elk
H
seeth07
  • Poll
Looking for help - What would you potentially pay for a VRBO/airBnB type hunt
2
Replies
20
Views
2K
popeyoung12
P

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
113,671
Messages
2,029,178
Members
36,278
Latest member
votzemt

Share this page

Back
Top