I'm a firm believer in redundancy and Murphy's law "whatever can go wrong will go wrong". I want a backup whenever possible. People write policy from behind a desk, I ignore it when it has to do with *MY* survival. Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
If it ever does get tooth and nail, I want a backup and a pistol can be handy in close.
I had a frisky young Bull Red Deer play hide and seek with me in a Pine forest for around three quarters of an hour. Best guess was he had just lost a fight with a bigger Bull, he was frothy at the mouth and decided to take it out on me. All I had was a pistol with me, I didn't have to use it, but it was nice to know it was there if I had to use it.
A pistol isn't the tool of choice, but it is better than nothing and "beats the heck out of grabbing your crotch (paraphrase) and yelling bang, bang, bang" (quote from SSG. McKinney Drill Sergeant U.S. Army).
Quote. "In Ohio it would be illegal to carry multiple "Hunting Instruments"... So, you have to choose one or the other." IMO some fat arsed bureaucrat sitting behind a desk wrote that one. I wonder if he would rethink it if he was libel if my rifle jammed or miss fired, I didn't have any backup with me and got savaged by some wild animal? Bureaucrats write nonsense laws all the time, like no rifles with bayonet lugs or flash suppressors.
I was walking a fishing trail through thick brush near a pond, going back to my truck after a fruitless morning of hunting and came face to face with a young Buck (under six feet). That Buck could have done many things, he decided to put his head down and come in crotch high with his antlers. I was walking with my rifle un-slung and using the barrel to part the branches in the brush. I used my rifle barrel to push him back twice and the third time, with the Adrenalin going, I beat him half to death with my rifle barrel. He eventually staggered and went to his knees and I shot him through the neck. I found out later I had fractured his skull with my rifle barrel. Stuff happens, pistols can be handy. Pure instinct saved my testicles that day.