Should it be legal to carry a handgun while bow hunting?

[dave]

I feel like it should be OK to carry a handgun while bow hunting.

The State of GA required me to waste a day going to a probate court and the GBI office, sent the FBI 2 sets of my prints, did a background check, and took some more of my money so I could be trusted to carry a handgun in GA.

If I'm OK carrying it in a shopping mall or grocery store, how am I a risk in a wooded area??? :

 

[Toliver]

I wholeheartedly agree that you should be able to carry in the woods. It's not that they don't trust you with the gun, it's that they don't trust you not to shoot the deer with the gun and then stick an arrow in it to make it look like you killed it legally.

 

[stumpman]

Ahhh but the metal detector does not lie!!!

 

[Toliver]

I know a lot of people here are scared of or just don't like snakes and kill them any chance they get. It's DANG hard to kill a snake with an arrow!!

 

[BROWNING7WSM]

Yes..

...and I do..

 

[huntnnut]

Dave,

I agree, that is a regulation that needs to be looked at and possibly changed.

I voted yes, however there are some some possible safety concerns ie. hunters or should I say poachers shooting hunters w/o orange on. Most anyone can tell the difference between a gun shot and a bow shot deer, though rest assured the day they legalize firearms carry during bow season some jerk would injure or kill someone accidently with a firearm while shooting at a deer.

 

[Al33]

Yes!

I do not not believe it would take a pathologist to determine if a deer was killed with an arrow or a gun shot.

I like having one with me if the circumstances call for it. You never know what you are going to run into in the woods or returning to your vehicle.

I think the law is silly.

Al

 

[Toliver]

I voted yes, however there are some some possible safety concerns ie. hunters or should I say poachers shooting hunters w/o orange on.

These people are going to be in the woods with guns during bowseason anyway most likely. They don't let pesky little things like laws get in their way.

 

[cowboyron]

I feel a feller should be able to carry a side arm while bow hunting. I guess they have their reasons.

 

[Clint-06]

There would be three less feral dogs on my hunting lease if this silly law wasn't on the books.

I am sure they were pretty confused though, me standing there in head to toe camo holding an arrow in each hand! LOL
You can be sure I will have a little "something" for them next time!

Clint-06

 

[Buzz]

I think it's a dumb rule. Guys are going to "poach" deer regardless of what the law states. All this law does is make a lot of guys who have problems with dogs and are scared of snakes into game law violators.

 

[Toliver]

Oh do what I do. Take it with you and when the game warden walks up, hide it behind your back..... :speechles

 

[Skipper]

That's why I primarily bow hunt on my own private property or other private property where I stand little chance of getting checked. It's illegal in Kentucky as well.

I see no reason for this law other than to make someone feel good. On the farm, I pack if I'm there just to go cut down a fence row. Snakes that slither and walk on 2 feet are everywhere especially the woods during early bow season. That guy guarding 150 pot plants is probably packing, and although I'd try every way in the world to walk away from him without pulling iron, I would feel more comfortable packing


Skipper

 

[GeauxLSU]

I've made my feelings clear on this. DUMB LAW! It's also illegal during black powder season. How stupid is that? I carry one ALWAYS when I'm in the woods. Even if it's 'no season' at all. Too many unknowns....
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil

 

[ufg8r93]

Me too...

The only time I do not carry in the woods is during bow/primative weapons season. I may not have it on me at all times, but it's close at hand. I'd carry during bow and muzzleloader seasons if it was legal. And it's not the snakes. I'm not crazy about the idea of staring down a big hog or a rabid coyote with my bow. Call me a sissy if you will, but the idea of wrestling with 4" cutters or getting a series of painful shots in my belly doesn't sound like much fun...

 

[leo]

Should it be legal in GA to carry a handgun while bow hunting?

I took "carry" to refer to the handgun gun I normally carry, not any of my hunting revolvers.

I voted that we should be allowed to carry them the same as we are allowed at other times.

To me the rational for this law is no different than the rational the anti-gun group uses to try and take our guns away from us.

If we always made "laws" because of what a few may/might do then, IMO there would be no reason for this questions as we would not be allowed to own guns anyway



leo

 

[Mechanicaldawg]

2nd amendment says it all.

 

[Skipper]

I came an ace of getting in trouble once on a boat ramp.

Anytime I'm going to be coming in at dark off the lake, you can bet that there is a heater in the boat or on me somewhere. Boat ramps are just notorious places for menacing individuals, and I ain't going nekkid.

My wife and I had went to Lake Cumberland with our daughter one afternoon. We were about 40 miles from the ramp I put in at, and about the time I was headed back to the ramp it started pouring the rain. I slipped the boat into a slip at another dock on down the lake and waited out the summer thunder boomer. When it was over (about 15 minutes till dark with us about 30 miles from the ramp) we started on up the lake. The darker it got, the foggier it got thanks to the rain, and the trip that normally takes me about 25 minutes took almost 2 hours as I basically had to idle the whole distance. When I got to the dark ramp (not even a street light) I told my wife to take the boat out in the middle of the lake and wait for me to back the truck in, and if anything happened, for her to drive back down to London Dock to get help.

I walked up the dark ramp with pistol in one hand and flashlight in the other. Of all things, at the top sat a US Forest Service Truck. He asked how the fishing was and such and why I was coming in so late, just a lot of **. I opened my truck door and sat the flashlight and pistol in the cab and he got excited. I figured he'd already seen the pistol in my hand. He went into "Super Cop" mode and asked me if I was carrying a concealed weapon. I said, "No, there's nothing concealed about it. When I walked up the ramp, it was in one hand and the flashlight in the other." Then he went into some ** about how it was illegal to have one in a boat at the ramp. I figured he was going to arest me or fine me or something, so I just said what I thinking. I said, "It would take a elmo fool to walk up this ramp of y'alls that doesn't even have a street light on it without some sort of protection." He left, finally, but didn't say anything else about having the pistol with me.

The only place I do not carry one at night on the water is Dale Hollow simply because the Tennessee Officer on that lake is very strict and loves to go through a boat looking for what most CO's figure probably is in the glove box and they'd rather not really know about it. Most CO's I've asked about it agree, that when on the lake at night, it's probably a good idea to have some protection with you and they wouldn't look for it as a primary offense.

Skipper

 

[Toliver]

Yet another reason why I'm glad I can carry a concealed weapon anywhere, anytime I want to. I'm scared of the dark. :speechles

 

[Slug-Gunner]

Honestly....

I have a Ga CCW Permit and carry almost daily. If I desired to carry a handgun with me while hunting, I would. I have several different means of concealed carry, including Small-of-Back (S-O-B), inside waist-band, fanny-pack, and a shoulder holster rig. I have had my "background check" and authorized to carry in all locations except those NAMED LOCATIONS in the code.... and it doesn't say anything about the woods or hunting areas being one of them. This might be an interesting "point of law" for some of our LAWYER MEMBERS to look into as there is a "conflict" in the interpretation to me.

The "key" here is CONCEALED CARRY.... if they CAN'T SEE IT, how do they know you've got it. That's the main thing in the GA CCW law, the weapon MUST BE CONCEALED in an approved carry device. If you don't ADVERTISE the fact that you carry a pistol, who else will know about it? For me, my shoulder holster rig would be ideal for this when worn under my hunting shirt - it is TOTALLY CONCEALED, yet easily accessed by simply unbuttoning a couple of buttons.

I've never heard of a GA Game Warden "searching" a person's body unless they were being stopped for an "obvious violation" and being placed under arrest.

Again, if YOU INSIST ON CARRYING A PISTOL when hunting, then KEEP IT OUT OF SIGHT!

: