if it's illegal it isn't even worth carrying because if you do use the gun you may be looking at prison time and a record. i've never had an issue, i've had a run in or two with some dip who thinks he owns all of the public hunting land himself, but it never escalated to the point where i thought i would need a gun although i thought we would go to blows. where i liveblack bears are your biggest predator and they're typically not aggressive, i've seen black bears on hikes a few times, i do keep bear mace on me when bow hunting though.