metalhd9034
Member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2006
- Messages
- 48
Hello All,
Just wanted to relate my experience this afternoon to the folks @ THR and see if I was justified in being upset. I apologize to the Mods in advance because I know I've seen a "Stupid things seen at the range" thread here before but everytime I run the search it doesn't seem to work. If my post needs to be moved, so be it, I won't be offended.
What happened: A buddy and I decided to get out the shotgun, and make a trip up to the local unsupervised shotgun range and get some long needed trigger time hitting clay targets. It is normally a really nice place to shoot, with pleasant people and it is maintained by the fine people from the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources. It was a little busier than usual, but being a nice day on a weekend, that is pretty much par. There were at least 5 groups out on the line shooting, with our group being the furthest to the right, and the group in question on the furthest left, with the rest of the shooters in the middle. About halfway through, we noticed a man from the far left group just walk out into the field, and start picking up unbroken clay targets and then start working his way to the right ACROSS THE FIELD IN FRONT OF THE OTHER SHOOTERS. He didn't ask for a ceasefire, he just walked out there bold as brass, without a care in the world. Everyone stopped firing and basically stood around while this guy took his good ol' time picking up everyone's unbroken targets. Eventually people got tired of waiting for this lunatic and RESUMED SHOOTING OVER HIM! (not directly, but he was still down range from everyone's fire) After this, quite a few groups left as they either didn't feel safe, or got tired of this guy's antics. Eventually this guy and his Son, and my group were the only ones left. We were almost done with our targets, and this guy decided to start all over and collect MORE targets from downrange, without asking us for a ceasefire. So we waited for a few minutes while he walked around picking up targets. After giving him a suitable amount of time, we wanted to resume our shooting. I walked down to the Son and asked him politely if he could get his Dad to come back to the line and allow us to finish shooting. I was not going to shoot "over" anyone no matter how "comfortable" they were with people shooting over them. The Son was visibly upset at his Dad's actions but seemed like there was nothing he could do to get his Dad to listen. So in no uncertain terms I let it be known that I thought his Dad's actions were extremely unsafe, and futher, I didn't appreciate driving 30 minutes to watch him pick up clay targets all afternoon, and not be able to shoot my own targets. During this discussion my Buddy noticed an open cooler with beer etc next to some chairs that they had set out. Are people really this stupid?! The Dad said some rude things about us talking to his Son, and overall was a huge waste of oxygen.
We left immediately, and reported the incident to the Park Rangers that operate the O.D.N.R range down the road. I doubt I'll ever find out what happened, but after this incident I really don't know if I'll make a repeat visit. Was I justified in reporting this or should I have just left and let it go? I know I was definitely glad to have my CCW since we had exhausted all our shotgun ammuniton. I don't think he would have done anything to us with his Son there, but it's been my experience that people who are drunk, don't exactly use common sense. (obviously) Let me know what you think, as I have learned alot from THR over the years and would like to know how it possibly could have been handled, or if you have encountered similar situations. Thanks!!
Just wanted to relate my experience this afternoon to the folks @ THR and see if I was justified in being upset. I apologize to the Mods in advance because I know I've seen a "Stupid things seen at the range" thread here before but everytime I run the search it doesn't seem to work. If my post needs to be moved, so be it, I won't be offended.
What happened: A buddy and I decided to get out the shotgun, and make a trip up to the local unsupervised shotgun range and get some long needed trigger time hitting clay targets. It is normally a really nice place to shoot, with pleasant people and it is maintained by the fine people from the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources. It was a little busier than usual, but being a nice day on a weekend, that is pretty much par. There were at least 5 groups out on the line shooting, with our group being the furthest to the right, and the group in question on the furthest left, with the rest of the shooters in the middle. About halfway through, we noticed a man from the far left group just walk out into the field, and start picking up unbroken clay targets and then start working his way to the right ACROSS THE FIELD IN FRONT OF THE OTHER SHOOTERS. He didn't ask for a ceasefire, he just walked out there bold as brass, without a care in the world. Everyone stopped firing and basically stood around while this guy took his good ol' time picking up everyone's unbroken targets. Eventually people got tired of waiting for this lunatic and RESUMED SHOOTING OVER HIM! (not directly, but he was still down range from everyone's fire) After this, quite a few groups left as they either didn't feel safe, or got tired of this guy's antics. Eventually this guy and his Son, and my group were the only ones left. We were almost done with our targets, and this guy decided to start all over and collect MORE targets from downrange, without asking us for a ceasefire. So we waited for a few minutes while he walked around picking up targets. After giving him a suitable amount of time, we wanted to resume our shooting. I walked down to the Son and asked him politely if he could get his Dad to come back to the line and allow us to finish shooting. I was not going to shoot "over" anyone no matter how "comfortable" they were with people shooting over them. The Son was visibly upset at his Dad's actions but seemed like there was nothing he could do to get his Dad to listen. So in no uncertain terms I let it be known that I thought his Dad's actions were extremely unsafe, and futher, I didn't appreciate driving 30 minutes to watch him pick up clay targets all afternoon, and not be able to shoot my own targets. During this discussion my Buddy noticed an open cooler with beer etc next to some chairs that they had set out. Are people really this stupid?! The Dad said some rude things about us talking to his Son, and overall was a huge waste of oxygen.
We left immediately, and reported the incident to the Park Rangers that operate the O.D.N.R range down the road. I doubt I'll ever find out what happened, but after this incident I really don't know if I'll make a repeat visit. Was I justified in reporting this or should I have just left and let it go? I know I was definitely glad to have my CCW since we had exhausted all our shotgun ammuniton. I don't think he would have done anything to us with his Son there, but it's been my experience that people who are drunk, don't exactly use common sense. (obviously) Let me know what you think, as I have learned alot from THR over the years and would like to know how it possibly could have been handled, or if you have encountered similar situations. Thanks!!
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