”But in the end all of these ideas just manufacture new criminals when the problem isn't a lack of criminals.” -JRB
When we traveled and slept in cabins with two small boys, I carried a Browning Hi-Power with intact magazine disconnect. I stored the pistol in condition 2 on a high shelf and kept the magazine on my person. I slept in shorts with the mag holder attached to the belt. I had only one magazine.
Roof tents FTW! In the PNW it’s nice not to have to worry about a flat dry campsite. Here’s my rig:
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
I want to clarify something about my earlier post. The guns are not locked up, but they are not going to be easily accessed in the dark, in a tent, by my children. The sleeping arrangements are such that the kids would have to crawl over me to gain access to the semi-secure firearms. I'm on the outside of the tent, they are in the middle. I don't doubt that they could, theoretically, wake up and gain access to them without my knowledge. But in my experience, kids are unlikely to leave their warm cozy sleeping bags for the dark cold mountain air, and seek adventure in the middle of the night. It helps if you tell spooky stories, or big bad bear stories before bedtime.
I understand that safety and security with firearms and children has came a long way since I was a kid, and present day thinking about such things is steered to the "better safe than sorry" end of the spectrum, but I personally feel the trade offs of having a gun available nearly immediately are worth it, vs the compulsion to compartmentalize and "super-safe" every aspect of our lives at every moment. I don't unload and lockbox my carry gun when walking in the door at home, and I won't be doing that in an even less secure campsite. That said, I'm not going to leave an unsecured and hot Ar-15 in the tent with my 6 year old girl unsupervised and alone, with the assumption that she wont touch it "because daddy said so"... I know how kids work.
I too, hunted, often alone, when I was young. But I was exceptionally responsible and mature for my age. At home, the guns still were locked up.
My bear camp
Last year I actually slept close to my car which was weird.