It sounds like I may be missing something here. Is it not "cool" to have a gun on a hog hunt? I suppose for me it's all part of what I call being prepared....same reason I use two catchdogs when 99% of the time one will work. Maybe next time I'll leave it behind and see if my ego will swell a little.
X2 I burried a good dog because we did not have a gun one night. Now that is one night out of many but I would still rather have it close by for that one in a 1000 hunts when you really really need it.