Canadian trappers.......

.......I have a question. Years ago (1980) I was bear hunting near Bruce Mines, Ontario. The guide, an older fella named Elmer "Sandy" Mathieson, had an old J framed revolver hanging off his gun rack in his lodge. He told me he could get a permit to carry that gun on his trapline. Was he pulling my leg, or was that a thing then/now?????

Still a thing. Wilderness pistol course. Most don't bother.