I carry My 45 or My 9mm for self protection every where I go. You never know.
A friend of mine had his decoys attacked by a pack of 3 coyotes , he busted one with his shotgun and the all ran off. It scared the crap out of him.
I have run across some wild characters in the woods. I saw a story a few years ago where a guy was hunting down around Atlanta. He came out after dark and was either loading his bow or his unloaded gun into his truck when a guy came out of the bushes and robbed him at gunpoint. That story has always stuck in my head. Also I had a friend came out of the woods after hunting some national forest and had unloaded his gun to stay legal as he approached his truck. When he came up on his truck he noticed that another vehicle had pulled up beside his. Two guys were smoking dope. Best I remember he just acted like he didn't see them, but it could have went differently