To each there own.....in the 70's while camping with family in nor cal. The hells angels rode into the camp ground and killed 2 people, we were 100ft away. My dad let me know then, while camping your responsible for your family and there's nobody around to help you, always be prepared. Myself and wife boondock, usual out in middle of nowhere. I'm responsible for her safety. I'm trained in firearm safety and the gun is legal and transported to camping site legally.

I have never had that type of experience, but when tent camping in an empty campground in Oregon, I had gone fishing and my wife was by herself. A group of riders came into the campground, which did scare the heck out of my wife. She had grabbed an ice pick and retreated to the tent. Fortunately nothing happened but it did give her a big scare. I didn't mean to make you think I was critical of your gun.

kern river certain times of the year is very dangerous. I have not fished it yet, but did fish the Sacramento river and rogue river last year and got my 1st steelhead in the Sacramento. wow what a fish and the rainbow trout up there are beast

In 1984 my son and ex father-in law dry camped (two tents)for 2 weeks on the Tikchik River in southwestern Alaska. What a great trip with all the salmon caught and released the first part of the trip and then kept for the return home. We did have a double barrel shotgun with one shell to scatter the brush and a slug for bears. Did not have any encounters with the bears on that trip. Spent a heck of a lot of time boiling water for consumption and cooking.

Great pics