All guns are always loaded at all times. I don't handle a gun without first determining that it is empty. Once I determine it is empty, it is handled as if it is loaded. If I determine it is hot, I then go about emptying it, and then treat it as if it were loaded. There is no other way to look at it. I used to hunt with some others that looked at it differently. I don't hunt with them anymore.
When I was 16 there was a 19 year old kid that used to go in to help and learn at my grandfather's gunsmith shop. At home one evening he accidentally shot himself with a 44. mag. He was cleaning an "empty" gun when it discharged, nicked his neck....just enough to cause life-long paralysis from the neck down. My grandfather was shaken up cause he really liked the kid and it was such a tragic and avoidable error, but the damage was done....... That left a lasting impression on me. All guns are always loaded at all times.