Im thinking about safety since I do hunt solo on National forest land and Im usually a mile or 2 from the nearest road. I have a dedicated rifle Ive set up for this type of hunting in an AR platform. I havent really seen a reason to carry my 45 since I have a bad [censored] AR in my hands already. Should I rethink this? Typically it is just extra weight and something else to deal with when trudging through thick cover so I havent carried a pistol. What say the THF crowd? Who carries and who doesn't?

I never carry a pistol on private land when stalking hogs and not allowed to on Ft Hood even when bow hunting.

I also carry a pistol when hunting. Don't expect to drop them in their tracks unless you shoot them in the head.

A couple years back, I was taking a hunter and his buddy to the stand and had a big hog present a shot on the way there. He knocked the hog down and the two guys started to high five each other and before you knew it, the "dead" hog was coming full steam our way. The California hunter took off running with the only rifle away from the hog with his buddy close behind, and I was able to draw and shoot before it got in my lap but it was close. I happened to just throw that pistol on as a last minute decision that morning and glad I did! I never go out without one now.

Also, one of the guides was tracking a wounded deer several years ago and crossed paths with a sow with little piglets. The sow charged him and he was able to draw and fire from less than a yard. The dead sow's nose was literally touching his boot when it was over. He still carries a pistol in the brush to this day too lol.

I recommend a Blackhawk Serpa type of holster that has nice retaining features. You would be surprised how often your pistol gets stuck on brush when dragging game out. I switched to this and love it, but it does rub the pistol a little but I don't mind that, here is a link to some that Academy carries. Link https://www.academy.com/shop/browse/SearchDisplay?searchTerm=blackhawk%20serpa%20holster

Always with a pistol. Happened to win a shotgun in a raffle last night and am going to sell it and up my sidearm to a Sig P220 Hunter 10mm.

Im about to sight my thermal in on my crossbow in the next few days. Gonna try to stalk a hog and get within 20 yds or less before shooting. Wont have a sidearm though. Will post a video if it works out.

I always carry a pistol whether I'm hunting or not.

Carry and when pig hunting pistol has a light on it

Sometimes I carry pistol and sometimes I don't

I always carry a side arm when hunting anything; as a matter of fact, I always carry a side arm, period!

If stalking, my 1911 is on my hip.
If stand hunting, same 1911 is in backpack until pigs go down, then the pistol straps on before I hit the ground to check on downed pigs.

I would like to but I'm a school teacher and so guns are not allowed on school grounds. In fact you will loose your job if one is found in your car by the drug sniffing dogs. So, I carry when I get home after work and on weekends. I so wish they would change the law because cowards know that we are all unarmed and defenseless while in school.

Same here. Gun is on my hip where ever legal to do so.

Last year I had a nice size boar come up to the feeder, was using my sons .300 BO with the ATN X-sight on it. Took a shot at the pig and the sight turned off, didn't have the battery cap tight enough, and I hadn't checked his zero, it was about 2 feet off. I was in an elevated stand, there was a nice bright moon and the boar was nice enough to come across the field towards me. My Glock 23 has night sights, I hit him twice as he came across the field.

When I hunt during the week Im usually by myself. I usually put my pigsticker on my hip instead of my pistol.
I've been charged several times and have been lucky. I know I should carry and plan to start. soon

carry a .40 with a light on it - helps when in thick brush where headlamp doesn't work too well.

Y’all act like hogs are charging people left and right and are out for blood haha

I typically carry a .22 in case I need to polish off a wounded hog or take on an angry snake.

As far as charging hogs, I've never had that happen. If it does, there's no way I'm throwing down my rifle so I can grapple with getting a pistol out of a holster!

I don't see the point. I can finish off a wounded hog just fine with the carbine in my hand. A side arm is just one more thing to carry. I'm wanting to lighten my load, not increase it.

As far as getting "charged", good grief.

In the extremely unlikely event that it were to happen, I sure as heck ain't dropping my carbine and going for a handgun.

The only sure way to stop a hog from charging, is take away her credit card.

Now, using a handgun as a primary weapon and leaving the rifle at home, that's very cool

Yup.....40 with a light and night sights.

I typically do, just because I don't have a big place to walk around on and so carrying a little more gear isn't a big deal. Will say one morning my feeder didn't throw and so I walked down to it to tinker. Set my rifle down and stepped a few feet away to fix it. Screw driver in one hand and timer cover in the other hand. I hear something get up behind me and there was a pig probably 15 yards from me. Luckily he turned around and we parted amicably, but I had a single shot 7mm-08 and it was a couple steps away. Odds of me making it to the rifle in time, much less sending my one shot accurately would have been pretty slim. Pistol was sitting on a chair in the blind. Pig was bedded down in some thick brush at the tree line and just didn't see him or expect him to be there. I tend to carry one with me from now on.

I don't carry a sidearm when hunting but if I'm mowing, spraying fence lines etc. I'll carry my .40

Make a better first shot......

I like to carry a pistol just in case of rifle jamming.

Dropping a functioning carbine and drawing a pistol is just silly if a hog is charging you. The carbine is much more effective and as long is it is still running and has ammo in it should be what you use to shoot a charging pig.

But I have twice had optics fail me on hunting trips. Having a handgun gives me an option to keep hunting. Using a handgun as a primary is fun, It's also fun to be set up with a high powered rifle overlooking a feeder 100 yards away and have a small boar come walking almost underneath your tripod stand and be able to think "I wonder if my Glock .40 will kill a pig" then slowly draw and pop him.

For many years my primary deer hunting gun was a TC Contender single shot pistol in .44 mag. I would also carry a Ruger Blackhawk or a S&W 29 as a second gun. I can recall 3 occasions where I shot at the deer with the Contender and instead of reloading it drew the revolver and finished off the deer. Two of those the deer was probably dead anyway and the extra holes were unnecessary.

So I would say in all my years of deer and hog hunting twice having a handgun allowed me to kill an animal that I would not have if I had not been carrying a 2nd gun. (counting the hog I mentioned in a previous thread) Neither of those were to stop a charging animal.

Does that make it worth carrying a 2nd gun? For me, yes. If you don't think so, that's fine

I carry my Glock 23 or Glock 26 wherever it is legal to do so, I'm used to having a pistol on my hip on a daily basis. So having one more thing to carry doesn't bother me.

But again if you don't want to carry the weight, have a reliable rifle or carbine with quality optics and mounts there isn't really need for you to carry a handgun.

I always carry my pistol when hunting (private land). Many a pig got an earful when I finally found them in the brush.