Foxer: You make a good argument, but I must question what those in such situations do about it now? They don’t pull out a hand gun, so one must assume they are prepared before they “ring that dinner bell”, or at least they should be.
You try - we've taken to making a point of not gutting the animal till there's at least two people handy, one can keep an eye out and keep the gun close. But sometimes that can be a real challenge.
And still every year there are incidents. sure, there are ways to deal with it. But it's hard to argue having a gun strapped to you that you don't have to put down is probably one of the best last ditch deterrents going. Obviously you're still going to take the usual precautions, especially when approaching an animal that's down if you go away from it for a while.
you’d be a fool to set your rifle down at anything further than arms length.
C'mon - you MUST have had an animal run into a wet bog or area where setting your gun down beside you is tough without making a mess of it. Or on the side of a hill where you have to put it somewhere a little out of reach just to be sure it didn't fall down. And when you're working around an animal to get the guts out (especially a larger one) then as you're working you're going to be closer to or farther from your gun from time to time. It's just the way it goes.
But even if you are only a few feet away - if you see a bear, then you've got to dive for your gun, rack a round in, and hopefully find it in your scope before it's too late. Often the bear will have gotten to you long before then. At least if the bear hits you or grabs you if you've got a pistol you still have a gun with you.
And the multi-class hunting thing…I don’t like it and won’t hunt with anyone who does it.
whooo - ok, i'm going to assume you didn't MEAN to be as arrogant and insulting as you were. But you really need to think about what you just offered as a 'reason' handgun hunting shouldn't be allowed.
I know a couple of guys who don't believe women should hunt. They won't hunt with 'em either. They have all kinds of good reasons. Should we ban women from hunting, because of how THEY feel about it? Would you appreciate that?
Why on earth would you even bring your personal preferences up as a reason? It's in very poor taste to suggest that because you don't like something, it should be illegal for others.
I don't like baiting for bears. But i'd never suggest that people from ontario should be banned from doing it just because -I- disapprove.
As for your 'tastes' - every single hunter i know keeps a 22 rifle handy going into and out of the area to get a grouse if they happen to see one, along with their big game rifle just in case they see one. The only reason they don't keep one with them walking is because two guns is a pain. So - i guess you're not 'fit' to hunt with the vast majority of hunters in this province. What an insulting thing to say.
I have a difficult time responding to your amazing arrogance and disrespect of literally a century of hunting tradition in many parts of the country without being insulting. So i'll just say - your 'opinion' of how you prefer to hunt is a TERRIBLE reason to inflict that on others. There is only one question we ask as hunters - is it ethical. And there is certainly nothing unethical about shooting a grouse for supper while you're out after deer. Maybe you're one of those 'i don't hunt too far from my shower, comfy bed and nail polish' types - but some of us actually go out in the woods overnight for several days and it's nice to have a fresh grouse or the like at the end of the day if opportunity presents. Hell, i know one guy who keeps a small fishing rod with him for when there's not a lot of animal movement at the lake.
You seem not only to be slightly anti-gun, you seem to be anti-hunting too apperently.
Now - several VALID reasons have been offered for the use of handguns in the woods. (sorry - you 'not likeing it' simply doesn't make something invalid).
Those include:
- animal defense in hunting areas that have hostile animals like bears, especially if you're hunting single.
- back country and rough terrain hunting.
- multi-class hunting or hunting casually while doing something else (i'm fishing, but i might see a rabbit on the way back to camp.)
Those are all situations where a handgun is a BETTER choice
Aside from some nebulous concept that somehow handguns might inspire hunters to wear more trench coats I haven't heard a lot of good reasons from you as to why there should be a problem with it.
Are you afraid of what YOU might do if you had a handgun? Is there something you're not telling us? Do you feel if i gave you a handgun to hunt with, you'd suddenly become more reckless than you are with a rifle?
Paint me a picture here - today, handgun hunting becomes legal. What SPECIFICALLY do you see happening tomorrow that would be so horrible? Describe to me the scenario where suddenly something happens that wouldn't have happened if we'd never let handguns into the woods.
Having a handgun lets you foot-hunt for more than one class of animal - small and large game, duck and predator, whatever. It's hard to pack two rifles - but a rifle and a pistol isn't a big deal. 
