The Real Wyatt
Member
I had one occasion mid-spring of this year where I stood around and BSed with six state troopers whilst carrying openly.
It was one of those spectacularly beautiful spring days with the birds all atwitter and the bees all abuzz, each doing their birds 'n' bees thing, when I decided to go for a walk in the woods.
I drove to a very remote section of our county in the mid afternoon, parked my car in a "Scenic View" parking area and headed off into the woods. I spent a very enjoyable several hours communing with nature and just generally enjoying life and all Gods little critters. And giving thanks that I have the privilege of living in such a fantastic place where you can still drop to your knees and get a cool drink from a spring or stream. Ah, life is good.
Well it was just edging up on dark when I got back to the parking area. I saw that there were three State Police cruisers parked in the area and they had set up a roadblock and were checking for DUI, license and insurance. Now picture this. I'm a fairly big man, 6'3" and 205 lbs., shoulder length silvery white hair and a chest length pure white beard, plus I'm still fairly muscular after many years in the USMC. I'm wearing my clodhopper boots, levis, t-shirt and a very weathered black felt sweatstained hat. Strapped to my side is a beaten up leather holster with mid-thigh tie straps holding my Taurus 44-Ten, my woods walking gun. It's a big gun, 'bout the same overall as a 7.5" Blackhawk but looks much bigger 'cause of the elongated cylinder. Matter of fact the thing looks, at first glance, like maybe an .88 Super Magnum.
You may be certain that the troopers noticed me. I could see them tense up. So as I approached 'em I greeted them. "Howdy boys, been doing much business?". They immediately relaxed and one of 'em said "business was pretty good up till about a half hour ago." "Soon as it gets dark, traffic just about disappears on this road" "we're about to close up shop".
We stood around at the side of the now deserted two-lane road and told stories for the next half hour or so, each trying to outdo the other with tales of past deeds. They were curious about my big pistol and wanted to see it. It passed from man to man with each opening the cylinder and making comments such as "Dayum boy, this sucker is loaded with double-aught buck. Whew! I wouldn't want some sumbitch to draw down on me with that thang." after 'bout a half hour the Troopers decided to head back to their Post and I turned to go home.
I'm walking along the shoulder of the road toward my car when a 5 liter Mustang comes roaring across the bridge, sees me and starts to slow down as if to ask directions or something. As it gets closer I notice it has out of state plates. I'm thinkin' these boys must be lost or sumpthin' to be way out here this time of day. The driver slows down some more and begins to roll down his window. Now I'm on the other side of the street and turn to walk across the street to see what he wants. I can see two others in the car, but can't make out if they're boys or girls or one of each.
The driver has almost come to a complete stop by now and I make eye contact. I can tell that he isn't aggressive and means no harm, probably just lost as I had originally assumed. He breaks eye contact and looks me over, spotting the big 'ol gun strapped to my side. Well, lemme tell you the look on his face turned from one of hope to abject fear. He hit the gas pedal plumb to the floor, smoked the rear wheels and fishtailed right on outta Dodge.
I couldn't see the State Police guys, it was too dark, but I could hear them slapping each other on the back and laughing with huge guffaws coming from deep down. I walked back over to where they were still standing (they had opted to not give chase to the obviously speeding Mustang for fear that the driver was so scared he'd probably crash the car) and we chatted for a few more minutes. We were all certain that those folks immediately got out of this part of the country and went home and told everyone they knew about how they had just narrowly avoided being made to "Squeal like a pig."
It was one of those spectacularly beautiful spring days with the birds all atwitter and the bees all abuzz, each doing their birds 'n' bees thing, when I decided to go for a walk in the woods.
I drove to a very remote section of our county in the mid afternoon, parked my car in a "Scenic View" parking area and headed off into the woods. I spent a very enjoyable several hours communing with nature and just generally enjoying life and all Gods little critters. And giving thanks that I have the privilege of living in such a fantastic place where you can still drop to your knees and get a cool drink from a spring or stream. Ah, life is good.
Well it was just edging up on dark when I got back to the parking area. I saw that there were three State Police cruisers parked in the area and they had set up a roadblock and were checking for DUI, license and insurance. Now picture this. I'm a fairly big man, 6'3" and 205 lbs., shoulder length silvery white hair and a chest length pure white beard, plus I'm still fairly muscular after many years in the USMC. I'm wearing my clodhopper boots, levis, t-shirt and a very weathered black felt sweatstained hat. Strapped to my side is a beaten up leather holster with mid-thigh tie straps holding my Taurus 44-Ten, my woods walking gun. It's a big gun, 'bout the same overall as a 7.5" Blackhawk but looks much bigger 'cause of the elongated cylinder. Matter of fact the thing looks, at first glance, like maybe an .88 Super Magnum.
You may be certain that the troopers noticed me. I could see them tense up. So as I approached 'em I greeted them. "Howdy boys, been doing much business?". They immediately relaxed and one of 'em said "business was pretty good up till about a half hour ago." "Soon as it gets dark, traffic just about disappears on this road" "we're about to close up shop".
We stood around at the side of the now deserted two-lane road and told stories for the next half hour or so, each trying to outdo the other with tales of past deeds. They were curious about my big pistol and wanted to see it. It passed from man to man with each opening the cylinder and making comments such as "Dayum boy, this sucker is loaded with double-aught buck. Whew! I wouldn't want some sumbitch to draw down on me with that thang." after 'bout a half hour the Troopers decided to head back to their Post and I turned to go home.
I'm walking along the shoulder of the road toward my car when a 5 liter Mustang comes roaring across the bridge, sees me and starts to slow down as if to ask directions or something. As it gets closer I notice it has out of state plates. I'm thinkin' these boys must be lost or sumpthin' to be way out here this time of day. The driver slows down some more and begins to roll down his window. Now I'm on the other side of the street and turn to walk across the street to see what he wants. I can see two others in the car, but can't make out if they're boys or girls or one of each.
The driver has almost come to a complete stop by now and I make eye contact. I can tell that he isn't aggressive and means no harm, probably just lost as I had originally assumed. He breaks eye contact and looks me over, spotting the big 'ol gun strapped to my side. Well, lemme tell you the look on his face turned from one of hope to abject fear. He hit the gas pedal plumb to the floor, smoked the rear wheels and fishtailed right on outta Dodge.
I couldn't see the State Police guys, it was too dark, but I could hear them slapping each other on the back and laughing with huge guffaws coming from deep down. I walked back over to where they were still standing (they had opted to not give chase to the obviously speeding Mustang for fear that the driver was so scared he'd probably crash the car) and we chatted for a few more minutes. We were all certain that those folks immediately got out of this part of the country and went home and told everyone they knew about how they had just narrowly avoided being made to "Squeal like a pig."
