Spuds, do you know what to do if someone grabs your stick during the course of the attack? Or what if he grabs your hand? How about he grabs around you in a bear hug from behind? The stick is a blunt weapon. You'll need to know how to grapple with it, to retain your stick against someone trying to take it away.

Can you strike/jab accurately? Do you know where to or not to strike/jab? Where did you get this knowledge from? Most people, even after some training, aren't that accurate. How will you prepare for the implication of this (i.e., adapting to a failed defense)?

I'm with the people who point out that striking with a stick would/could be regarded as lethal in the eye of the law. Along the same line, you can't carry a stick with the intention of "scaring them away." The people who get a gun and think, "I'll never shoot it -- I'll just scare the bad guys away," are the ones who get their guns taken away by the bad guys. You have to have the ability and the mindset to backup the threat, and you have to project your confidence and courage. And this has to be real confidence and real courage. The usual way to get this is through training.

I'm relieved that you're going to look into the legal aspects of self-defense.

Please ignore advice that you should keep hitting until there is only one side of the story.