- Joined
- Jun 5, 2012
- Messages
- 28,218
I can't believe you just said seeing a big knife on someone who's in the woods is borderline brandishing.Before letting my kids "test" knives, I taught them how to handle them. I started them both off with Opinels because they lacked springs of any sort so less chance of accidental closure due to weak fingers and clumsiness. I then moved them both to slip joints of various sorts and later, to lock backs. They've also been taught how to handle knives in the kitchen regularly. We also keep a fire pit in the back yard, so they get regular practice with making kindling in support to the various camping trips we take. I also think whittling and small wood working skills are useful and I taught my kids the basics using back yard sticks. If we had no access to sticks, small wood working projects in the kitchen would have worked just fine.
I think there are several things going on here. Top of the list is that large knives aren't necessary for hiking and backpacking because fires aren't necessary. Seeing big knives hanging off of somebody's pack isn't uncommon because of law enforcement issues so much as it is simply not needed. In teaching my kids outdoor skills, I've taught them how to light and manage camping stoves. My daughter can light pretty much any white gas stove - my son most. Both know their way around canister stoves and both are comfortable with alcohol stoves. IMO, its a critical outdoor skill, just as tent/tarp craft is and just like managing modern clothing systems in foul weather. My kids both carry knives in the woods and both know how to light fires should the need arise, but as a matter of course, they don't rely on knives for fires because they don't rely on fires.
I'm a big knife fan and a fan of big knives. I'm also a big fan of firearms. But when on hiking trails on public lands, I see the open carry of large fixed blades in the same way as I see the open carry of firearms. It's massively unusual and, to my eyes, it's just a half-step away from provocation and brandishing. On maintained trails, there's just no need for having quick and regular access to a big knife, so my interpretation is that its there to send a message to me and other people. Obviously, if the trail is not maintained and there is a need for access to a cutting tool as a part of moving around, that's another story all together.
IME, the ecology of public lands varies dramatically across the country, as do the rates of usage. I give a lot of credence to the local regulations of a public land based on localized management goals of local managers. What works in west Texas and in central Maine will be different. A lot of public lands I've been to get so much use that land managers often discourage open fires and harvesting of wood. If you've ever seen a backcountry campsite stripped of undergrowth and pock-marked with poorly maintained and trashed fire rings, you can understand how and why these restrictions come into being. But I've also been to places that can sustain and allow for fires.
This isn't my experience at all. I always carry a knife in pubic forests. It's usually in my fanny pack or in my backpack. Size and type varies depending on trip ranging from a 3" folder to a 7" fixed blade. Once in camp or a rest stop, so long a my knife use fits within what is expected and legal in that area, nobody says boo about it. I regularly use fixed blades for making fires on public lands and it's easily tolerated. But hiking down the trail with Buck Reaper hanging from my pack straps -- there's just no need for that and people would have the right to be suspicious of me if I did.
Just because you use alcohol stoves doesn't mean everyone has to or should. It's people like you that cause ridiculous laws
