Each to his or her own, but I always have either a rifle or shotgun with us when camping, exploring, whateveryouwannacalliting while here in British Columbia. I generally take a short shotgun with me when hiking in the back country as well. I'm not going to judge those that have no interest in firearms or taking them along, it is just my personal preference to have one around. Both my Wife and I are licensed, and we enjoy going out target shooting and plinking and stuff. We've actually decided we would like to get proficient and trained in handgun shooting and plan to take some courses here to do so.
I have only had one possible scary incident, and I was in Washington state at the time , so I was camping "sans-firearm". I had found a very nice remote spot at the end of a trail, far, far up a logging road near Skykomish. I was literally in the middle of nowhere, at a dead-end single vehicle space only spot, camped beside a beautiful stream. At 10pm I noticed lights coming my way. The truck pulled up , shined it's brights on my truck and camper, then backed into the bushes directly across from me and sat their for a good 10 minutes with it's light on. I was backed into my spot (I always back into a spot to make sure I have egress if needed), so I first flipped all the exterior camper lights on, then I got dressed, put my shoes on, grabbed my keys, phone, inReach, and my machete , and slowly got out of the camper, ready to run if need be. I crept up to the passenger side after making sure their was no one coming towards me from the other truck, opened the door and flipped on all my headlights, and spot lights and led light bar. It lit up the forest, and the truck parked across from me. I stood there for a minute waiting to see what would happen and then this old scruffy guy got out and came over very slowly, hands in front of him and aid "holy cow you scared the life out of me with those lights". After a quick chat at a safe distance, he said he lived on the road full time and had stayed at this little spot many times before. He mentioned a few landmarks in the area (old mines) so I knew he was familiar with the area. He apologized for interrupting me, said he was just going to crash in his truck canopy, wished me a good night and went back to his vehicle.
This particular instance turned out well, but I will be totally honest here. When the truck pulled up, then backed up with it's lights on me I would have felt a little better if I had one of my firearms with me.
Thier was also that one time (not in band camp) where we had a cougar sniffing around our Xterra late at night. We were tucked into the rooftop tent and had no idea he came by, until I noticed his muddy paw prints on the quarter panel above the wheel well on the Xterra the next morning.
