ORIGINAL: burbaust99
I personally don't, but my father does almost anytime we're in the woods. There's a lot of crazy people hunting the public land where we hunt, and you can never be too careful.
wasn't to far from you where that hmong hunter got in someone elses stand killed that guy (intentionally) about 2-3yrs back... sometimes its not the animals in the woods that you worry about... sometimes it is just common sense...... folks that hunt areas where there are other dangerous game like bear, mt lion/panther, etc. have good reason to pack... after all, its pretty easy to get caught up concentrating on your prey that you may not notice the other predators looking at you as their prey...
related story, a few years back when i was snowmobiling the northwood of WI my sled broke down around 7pm about a mile or so from the trail head so I walked out to the last road crossing and when I got there a small pack of about 3 wolves had been following me out around 30yds behind, lucky for me there was a light pole at the crossing and the wolves stayed right on the edge of the light circle... i had no weapon or means to protect myself... after about 15 minutes i was able to flag down some other riders and they gave me a ride to the next town so I could get back with my riding buds (i was bringin up the rear of the pack)... how much longer would it have taken for the wolves to make a move??? it made me paranoid ever since...