RE: You carry a handgun with your while hunting?
 

Rarely. The only time I would do that is if I have to make more than one trip to get a deer out. Let's say I'm a mile into the thick stuff, using a climber. Iget a good sizeddeer. I mark the spot where the deer lays then haul my climber and rifle back to the truck. I strip off my coveralls and add more orange. Then I add my six-inch.357 magnum in a shoulder holster and go back in for the deer. I also whistle "Happy Birthday" or "Jingle Bells" 'cause I've never heard a deer whistle. Anything brave, crazy or stupidenough to approach a man whistling in the woods is going to have a bad day.

RE: You carry a handgun with your while hunting?
 

I carried a 6" 357 for awhile I now carry a 7 1/2 " 45 Colts when hunting deer . In the years before I bought the 357 I had several oppertunities in this 200+ yrd region that a shot was lost to "nothing but hair" in the 4x scope . The chance that I've had since .............. yep left the pistol at home .

No firearms period in our bow season .No centerfires period in the ML season .

Not sure about CCWwith the bow and ML as we are allowed to carry conceled during all other hunts . Never thought much about that till I just wrote it down . Just 1 more oddity of the far west .

RE: You carry a handgun with your while hunting?
 

I have a CCW permit, and always at least have my Kel Tec 380 on me, if I go into back country area's, then the 357 goes with 180 gr or 200 grain cast core. I have no doubt that I will only need it if I surprise a bear, as the Mountain Lions dont bother to many folks here in Montana, but the 380 comes in handy no matter where I am, in town, or hunting.
JW

Handgun while deer hunting
 

I always carry a 4" 357 revolver while deer hunting. It does qualify as the minimum habdgun allowed for deer hunting in IN but I wouldn't recomend it as your primary gun. If the deer is down but not out, I prefer to finish it quickly with the pistol. Any shot from a slug gun or BP rifle at close range is overkill and messy. Straight down between the ears with the handgun is quick and doesn't make a mess.

.357 Ruger revolver, particularly when I'm calling coyotes/bobcats in tight cover - because we have mountain lions !!!

You can't carry a pistol while hunting in IL?
Wasn't sure if you could or couldn't just asking? ie what if hunting private property, ie yours?

I thought you could hunt with a semi-auto for that late deer season...? use to be the case anyway I thought I remember reading...as long as it met the min. energy and caliber size?
Guess not, I thought you use to be able to use a semi auto for that late doe season, perhaps not, either way you can't any longer...

Yes! Always! You never know when you'll need it. That's why it's called a side arm!! You can't always quickly get to your rifle (or maybe it's unloaded because you're dragging a deer), and I usually only carry 5 rounds of rifle ammo with me.

Plus, if I'm in a situation where a deer comes close to me on my right side and I'm hunting from the ground, that's a VERY awkward shot that requires a LOT of movement in order to square the rifle. My pistol is always on my right side, so I can just raise the thing and fire.

Not sure what your understanding of terminal ballistics is, but you don't need to carry a 6-inch 44mag to get the job done. Even a 9mm landing square between the eyes of a bear will take care of it. Are rifles more accurate? Sure. Can you be deadly accurate with a pistol? Absolutely. It's up to the user.

Well, when I'm hiking miles and miles into the wilderness my rifle is often slung on my shoulder and not carried in the at-ready position in my hands. That would be completely impractical. It is much faster to get to the pistol on my belt and if the charge came from the side it is doubtful I could get the rifle around and get the safety off in time. I have no doubt I would react instinctively and not sit there figuring out which gun to go for.

As for "not enough gun", there are plenty of stories of relatively small handguns working on bear. Sure, the .40SW I carry (as it's what I have, rather use a .44) in grizzly country is unlikely to drop one dead on the spot, but it the bear is not fully committed to the attack dumping half a clip into him may be enough to either stop the attack or let me or a hunting partner get a rifle around onto him. It's better than trying to scratch their eyes out.

I carry in Montana for grizzlies and in Indiana for meth cookers.

Do I have to get any permits to carry while hunting in NJ? Is it legal for me to carry on public land?

Mauser06, it has been legal to carry a handgun while archery hunting for a long time in PA, I believe the law was amended to allow it in 2006, section 2525 of the Code.