There is stupidity on both sides of this story. Ours is that we assumed we were safe, theirs is that they were shooting on the wrong side. Both is that we all thought we were alone.
My father-in-law and I routinely go shooting once a week at a burm in the middle of nowhere. We like it there, it is far away from traffic, at least 5 miles from a paved road, nice and quiet, and a fun place to shoot. We have scoped this burm before, which is about 15 feet high and 100 yards long,and there is only one road leading to it, and desert behind it. There is junk there and signs that other people shoot there as well. ON THIS SIDE!
We took his daughter today (14) so she can catch up on her shooting. We all get there, set up the clay pigeons on the bank of the burm, and drive back to where we measured 100 yards. We parked our trucks parallel to the burm so we could shoot off of our hoods. My truck was about eight feet behind the rear of his truck. We get all set up and start shooting. About ten minutes later we hear gunshots. Dan and I took off our earplugs so we can tell where it is coming from. Sure enough, the other side of the burm. We cussed to each other about how stupid people are to set up on the other side while others are already shooting. We put down our rifles, getting ready to go and tell the others that we are over here. Not one minute had passed since we heard the first shot when I noticed two puffs of dirt between the trucks puff up. I yelled at Dan to get behind his truck because there are ricochets heading at us. There were about eight more shots whining and whirring between the trucks, at least that is what is sounded like. What are the odds that nobody got hurt(thank God) and the trucks didnt get hit? When there was a pause Dan shot the ground in front of us with his .38 so they can hear us, and we all started yelling "stop shooting, there are people here!!" I was steamed, got in my truck and headed to the side of the burm where I could loop around. When I turn the corner, I see this guy throw his rifle in the backseat of his truck, jump in and take off. Apparently, the guy drove across the desert from somewhere else (another dirt road maybe), saw the burm and decided it was a good place to shoot.
I get back and tell Dan and Lisa the guy took off. We all nervously laughed to each other about what happened, made jokes that this is the closest thing to combat we will be, etc. We continued our day after a few moments to gather ourselves.
Now what gets me is that we were shooting quite a while before we heard their gunshots. It is our fault we didn`t make sure nobody was there but c`mon, there is no road, nothing to shoot at on that side,(the guy set up a target), and no signs that people go on that side. But how stupid do you have to be to set up on the other side, when there are people ALREADY shooting, and then you commence to shoot? There are a lot of "if`s and`s, or but`s" going through my head but I just wanted to lay it down on the forums for now. All in all, this situation could have been avoided.
My father-in-law and I routinely go shooting once a week at a burm in the middle of nowhere. We like it there, it is far away from traffic, at least 5 miles from a paved road, nice and quiet, and a fun place to shoot. We have scoped this burm before, which is about 15 feet high and 100 yards long,and there is only one road leading to it, and desert behind it. There is junk there and signs that other people shoot there as well. ON THIS SIDE!
We took his daughter today (14) so she can catch up on her shooting. We all get there, set up the clay pigeons on the bank of the burm, and drive back to where we measured 100 yards. We parked our trucks parallel to the burm so we could shoot off of our hoods. My truck was about eight feet behind the rear of his truck. We get all set up and start shooting. About ten minutes later we hear gunshots. Dan and I took off our earplugs so we can tell where it is coming from. Sure enough, the other side of the burm. We cussed to each other about how stupid people are to set up on the other side while others are already shooting. We put down our rifles, getting ready to go and tell the others that we are over here. Not one minute had passed since we heard the first shot when I noticed two puffs of dirt between the trucks puff up. I yelled at Dan to get behind his truck because there are ricochets heading at us. There were about eight more shots whining and whirring between the trucks, at least that is what is sounded like. What are the odds that nobody got hurt(thank God) and the trucks didnt get hit? When there was a pause Dan shot the ground in front of us with his .38 so they can hear us, and we all started yelling "stop shooting, there are people here!!" I was steamed, got in my truck and headed to the side of the burm where I could loop around. When I turn the corner, I see this guy throw his rifle in the backseat of his truck, jump in and take off. Apparently, the guy drove across the desert from somewhere else (another dirt road maybe), saw the burm and decided it was a good place to shoot.
I get back and tell Dan and Lisa the guy took off. We all nervously laughed to each other about what happened, made jokes that this is the closest thing to combat we will be, etc. We continued our day after a few moments to gather ourselves.
Now what gets me is that we were shooting quite a while before we heard their gunshots. It is our fault we didn`t make sure nobody was there but c`mon, there is no road, nothing to shoot at on that side,(the guy set up a target), and no signs that people go on that side. But how stupid do you have to be to set up on the other side, when there are people ALREADY shooting, and then you commence to shoot? There are a lot of "if`s and`s, or but`s" going through my head but I just wanted to lay it down on the forums for now. All in all, this situation could have been avoided.
