Thanks for your excellent data.
Our older son has become an excellent bowhunter and prefers to bowhunt except for waterfowl and dove hunting.
A couple of years ago he was drawn for a deer tag in the Northern part of the state for deer hunting. When he scouted the area he saw more bear tracks versus tracks, and he got a bear tag as well as his deer tag. The area he planned to hunt was in a National Forest. He ran into a ranger on a scouting trip and was told he couldn’t bring in his open side arm while bow hunting. He got bs for even having an open pistol while scouting in the NF.
So, when he went bow hunting, he left his pistol at home. He had a very close/scary encounter with a very aggressive brown bear and a couple of more encounters with aggressive brown bears. He has hunted big game in Ca, Or, Wa, Nv,Id, Mn, NM and other states and never had scary moments with brown bears.
So what is the status if he bowhunts re carrying an open sidearm?
Thanks again.
Not quite sure what the Federal law is. Federal Parks are under the jurisdiction of the Feds. I may indeed have it backwards and sure don’t want to give bad advise. I just did a quick search and it may be that federal parks are allowed guns but state parks not (sorry) without a permit. BUT even in fed parks it has to be unloaded and you can not enter any building with the weapon (e.g. don’t go visit the federal latrine, the park ranger office or any building operated by the fedgov).
I suggest you go to CalGuns.net. That is a site dedicated to california gun owners and it is also where most of the people involved in the recent lawsuits congregate. The forums are quite active and there are plenty of more knowledgeable people there.
To help I found the following search results:
STATE PARK THREAD SEARCH
http://www.google.com/search?q=state+park+site%3Acalguns.net&hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images
FEDERAL PARK THREAD SEARCH
http://www.google.com/search?q=federal+park+site%3Acalguns.net&hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images
Or search using the CalGuns.net search feature.
If you do have a CCW, I think it is permitted to carry concealed in state parks as well as anywhere else in the state except placed such as state buildings, federal buildings, schools, and the secured areas of an airport, or if posted “no guns allowed”.