Confronted on my property?

[Fred Fuller]

A little more light and a little less heat would go nicely here about now.

Otherwise this one isn't long for the world...

A while back I was a member in a local private range/gun club. It happened there was a church nearby - the same church I attended, since I lived in the community, but that's neither here nor there.

Range rules were that there was no shooting on the range until after 1PM on Sundays. The archery range, sure. Firearms, no.

It takes more than sharing a property line to be neighbors ...

 

[MtnCreek]

Wow, the second page went to crap. It does not matter if it's hunting season or if the op is a bad, bad person for shooting on his land.

IMO, things that do matter:
How did the op handle the situation?
How would I have handled it? I don't know, but I can ponder it.
What could have gone wrong? Could he have reacted differently to reduce the chance of a fight and/or future problems?
Assuming the guy's still around and still a jerk, how can the op better protect himself if something happens again? IMO, situational awareness is greatly lacking when I'm focused on a target down range. Would it be a good idea to take a friend when going back to shoot?

I'm sure there's other things that matter and some of what I listed may not, but whether he should have been shooting during hunting season does not matter.

 

[Mike1234567]

OK, this probably won't make me popular but...

When you have a 10 acre plot you do have all the rights of ownership. Let me ask you this though, what if you were sitting in a tree stand on your ten acres and the guy that owned the next ten over started cutting loose with a handgun? Would you take the attitude his land, his rules or that his use of his land prevents you from the enjoyment of yours?

Here is just another little thought that struck me as I read this thread. I have to wonder if the hunter may have leased the adjoining land for hunting. If he had your unneighborly behavior was taking money out of his pocket.

I'll be the first to say that your rights on your ten acres should be absolute. But the reality is there are 640 acres in a section and you need to consider the rights of the owners of the other 630 in the meanwhile. Sorry, but while the hunter was wrong, so was the OP. Your rights end at the property line and the noise from the handgun crossed it.

Basically the point I was trying to make... try to see both sides. But you put it more eloquently. Being "in the right" doesn't always make us "good neighbors".

 

[Mike1234567]

Personally... I was taught as a kid not to go shooting during hunting season as a simple and easy courtesy to others, who wait a year to enjoy a short period of activity that cannot be duplicated "next week". It's just common courtesy. Guys spend an entire year sighting in, handloading, putting together their kits and rigs, and the culmination of all of that planning is perhaps a week, perhaps less, actually hunting. It's the right thing to do to leave things quiet during that time.

With that said, (sing the following to the tune of "this land is our land") is the law of the land *with exceptions*:

"This land is my land, it is not your land, from that tree over, to the redwood forest. I have a shotgun, and it is loaded. This land was made just for me"

Some of the exceptions are things like playing your stereo loudly enough at 3:00AM that your neighbors can't sleep. Your right to enjoy your property is not absolute, if your actions cause others to not be able to enjoy theirs.

Lots of this depends on the size of your plot, etc. Our farm when I was a kid was just 160 acres, hardly enough to shoot on near the edges without impacting folks who paid adjoining farmers leases for hunting. It was just socially bad citizenship to go shoot tin cans during deer season.

Trespassing armed... well... in hunting season we were "a bit" relaxed about it, offering unrestricted fair chase of a wounded animal and all that. But the odd City-Nimrod found in our pasture was given a lecture about property use and shown the fenceline, with encouragemnt to avail himself of the opportunity to escape before we let Elmer outta his stall. Elmer was a mean bull, and the offer was generally accepted with alacrity....

Social Norms are expected on both sides. Belligerance from a trespasser would not be accepted if expressed without provocation. Shooting near edges of property during season... well... that's provocation.

Folks DO get shot over this stuff. Sometimes it's best just to walk off and preserve your life.



Willie

.

IMHO... what he said. What's the big bad harm to ourselves if we stop shooting for a couple weeks so others can put food on their family's table? Really... can't we get off our high-horses and think about others for just a little while? Who cares so much about being right if we're also being rude and selfish in the process?

 

[Mike1234567]

"Playing your stereo at 3 Am falls under ILLEGAL use of your property, as it is considered disturbing the peace. The same cannot be said for target shooting on your own property during daylight hours"


And there's a difference between being a wise man and a smart ass.

Wise men show each other respect. Smart asses put their finger a half-inch from your nose and say "I'm not touching you...".

There's a difference between legal and smart. Take yer choice, and expect the anticipated result. Just 'cause it's legal don't make it smart. Don't be surprised when the police come and hassle you for "legal open carry" of an AR-15 'round town, don't be surprised when you get punched in the nose for pokin' your index finger a half inch in front of another feller's nose while sayin' "I ain't touching you", and don't expect to be called a hero for shootin' tin cans on your 10 acres of out-of-town paradise when it nestles up to 600 acres of other folks huntin' woods durin' season. You can... but If I did that I'd 'spect to accept the social consequences. Which in the neck of the woods I grew up in would mean a serious lack of willing hired labor at hay balin' time at best, and sometimes mysterious barn fires do happen with all of those old wires and such in such a dry spot. Just sayin.

Us country folks have long memories for others with a lack of neighborly behaviour and you can't guard your property 24/7/365. Often just best to use common sense rather than lawyers to sort things out. Staying out of the woods during deer season with all of those other folks you don't know wandering around with rifles seems like common sense to old Willie.


"have neighbors who see things as I do....what happens on my side is my concern, on their side, their concern. We get along just fine with this arrangement. I, in a million years, cannot fathom telling them not to shoot because it might interrupt my hunting though".


And because they are good neighbors, you don't likely need to nor do they. That's the entire point...


"Part of being a good neighbor is knowing when to mind your own business"

Part of which is not setting up your M-1919A1 belt fed and blastin' a belt down the wash between 10 and 11 on Sundays when the preacher a half mile away is having his chance to talk (there's a funny story there, but time for that later), nor to annoy your tree-stand huntin' neighbors during the dawn and dusk hours in season. You don't need to speak to send a message.

So much of this is contextual to the area you are in, so... sadly the common use of common sense ain't that common. And the closer men are stuck towards each other, the less neighborly they seem to get. Sort of like caging too many rats together. Three is plenty for both neighbors and rats.


Pop used to tell me that you need to be a good neighbor in order to have a good neighbor. With that said, bein' one is no guarantee that you're gonna have one. Do your part and hope that others reciprocate is all you can do. If they don't, then.. well.... you need to do what you need to do.



Willie

.

Agree with this too...

 

[Hangingrock]

We live adjacent to a recreation area that has an extensive trail system. people come out of the woods. A repel all boarders drill is not conducted. The simple reason is they are usually lost and mean no harm. We offer them advice, direction, and a drink of water. We've found a horse that was lost over an extended period of time also.

I had to close the property to hunting for a period of time. Now allow hunting by permission only and we don't charge hunting lease fee either. I have a shooting range on the property. We don't shoot on Saturday or Sunday.

In eighteen plus years we've on had one or two incidents that require the sheriff's department to be notified. It is of no benefit to be confrontational. Simply defuse the situation and contact law enforcement if required.

 

[jrdolall]

Originally Posted by jrdolall View Post
But he had a gun which makes him a gun owner and therefore a 2A supporter
Wrong.

Wrong.

Apparently sarcasm is lost on some.

People castigating the OP for doing something perfectly legal and reasonable are confusing me. He is on his land, has good relations with his neighbors and is practicing with his gun. I imagine he has done this before. While pursuing this hobby he is illegally confronted by a belligerent man that comes onto his property and demands that he stop doing what he has every legal and moral right to do Please explain to me why he should alter his behavior because someone he doesn't even know is not happy with him?

I don't know where he lives. It could be Eastern time or Pacific time. I live on Eastern time so 3 PM would be a little before MOST people get in the woods. We have almost 4 months of GUN season for deer where I live so should I stop shooting for 4 months? I have some fine neighbors but I don't think I would be overly accommodating if one of them came over and asked me to stop pulling peanuts because they are deer hunting or stop disking because they are turkey hunting and I don't care if it is property that butts up right against theirs. It seems to me that the "visitor" must have been bumping right up against the OPs property which is never a good idea.

Now if this area has a two week season I think it would be somewhat reasonable to slack off on your shooting. We try to sight in rifles and do any practicing between noon and 2 on weekends around here.

 

[Warp]

Q
Apparently sarcasm flies right by some people.

Voice inflection and non-verbal cues in real life are a given. Using italics in type is widely understood to = sarcasm. Some people put /sarcasm or

Just typing it out without those kinds of clues, and being read by people who don't know you or anything about you, it can be nearly impossible to know what is and is not sarcasm.

 

[horsemen61]

Guys for the record I understand that it was deer season but not bow youth rifle or even muzzleloader it is just antlerless season which is much smaller and less often hunted. Now having said that if this gentleman would have A shut the gate after going through it B not tried to sneak up on me C had some manners of i would have probably packed up and left I was just wanting to function test my Glock, But he didn't he acted like a jerk so I responded like a jerk. To those who have said I wasn't being neighborly last I checked I own that piece of ground was as far away as I could get from him on my property. But NO man shall run me off MY property for doing something completely Legal so thank you to all who have answered the question as to all who question how neighborly I am why are you trying to derail my thread :banghead:

 

[Kleanbore]

That'll do 'er.