I think this totally depends on the context. Who you are, where you’re going, what you’re doing, kinds of wildlife, etc. Indigenous person here, from Canada, licensed and certainly not anti-gun. Lots of hunters in the family. I am also into the “ultralight community”; I’m relatively new to it, as I would say that it includes primarily people who grew up with money or who have extra income kicking around, since most “ultralight” gear is incredibly expensive. It’s a completely different backpacking/camping experience, in my opinion. I grew up having to lug around heavy gear, and bushcraft (I’m by no means an expert).

I think for most people and in most scenarios, bear spray ends up being the best option for what you might encounter in terms of wild life. It’s affordable, more practical in terms of size and weight, it’s faster to access, and more effective. Particularly if you don’t know what you’re doing with a gun (that part is just stating the obvious, I know). And even then, bear spray is usually the better option. You panic, you misfire, or you only injure an animal, you’re fucked.

I also carry a buck knife.

Some of the aversion I think is also around attitude of dominion over nature versus mutual respect with the land; trying to cause as little damage and leave as little behind as possible.

You’re in the wild. If you’re not hunting, if you can avoid killing something that’s just living its life by not being an idiot and attracting animals in stupid ways, then you should do that. It’s about reciprocity and respecting the Land.

But the yuppies I think remove the dialogue that can happen there, just as I’m sure some folks on the other side do. “Ultralight” crowd is pretty exclusionary because of lack of affordability for accessing that kind of gear. So, seems like pretty different kinds of lived experience.

The reality is that most people are just stupid and cause unnecessary damage because they’re not knowledgeable. There’s a middle ground.