Run in with a nice LEO

[12 Volt Man]

My brother in law and I tried to go shoot pistols at our normal range on Thursday night. The range was closed for an unknown reason, so we headed up the canyon. It was Farmington canyon if any of you are in Utah. We were on forest service land, and we were not sure of the legalities of being able to shoot there. We just figured we were in the mountians on a dirt road, so it must be ok. We set up and had 4 or 5 pistols laying on the hood of the truck. We were shooting into the side of the mountian, so we had a good backstop. Soon we see a county sheriff driving our way. We just put the guns down and stepped back and waited for him to get to us. He drove up and unrolled his window and then motioned for me to go over to him. He said, "You guys aren't shooting here are you?" I could not deny it as we had targets with holes in them on the side of the hill. I just said, "Yes we were." I suddenly got flashes of tickets, losing my guns etc........ Then all he said was, "You need to be at least 300 feet off the road", then drove away. We were actually on the road. it was a dirt road and no traffic. So we just packed it up and went home. I was very glad that the LEO chose to be cool about it. Kudos to the Davis County Sheriff Dept, and Officer Friendly

 

[J Miller]

Cool Deputy. Lots of areas have laws about shooting from the roads. In your case I would have found a place 300 yards off the road and kept shooting.

 

[TheOtherOne]

www.wahsatchshooters.com ?

The range is always closed Thursday nights. They aren't opened nearly enough.


Tuesday
5 P.M. to Sundown / 9:00 P.M.
All calibers allowed

Friday
9 A.M.- to Sundown / 9:00 P.M.
All calibers allowed

Saturday
9 A.M. - 5 P.M.
All calibers allowed

Sunday
11 A.M. - 3 P.M.
.22 Rimfire only


I'm getting sick of shooting there though. I need to find a good isolated place where I can blow up pumpkins and shoot up my TV that started going out.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Utah is a lot more level-headed than many states.

 

[P95Carry]

Nice, measured and polite response. Kudos.

Certainly ..... pretty much anywhere, does seem a good notion to keep some ways off the road/track.

Ain't it a pity tho ..... them damned expanding gasses .. always some dude somewhere hears what we are up to!

 

[12 Volt Man]

I'm getting sick of shooting there though. I need to find a good isolated place where I can blow up pumpkins and shoot up my TV that started going out.

We shoot out West of Lehi quite often or out west of Tooelle when we want to shoot pumkins, bowling pins etc.... Both of those places we can get to within about an hour from Bountiful where I live.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Yeah, I'll probably just head out towards Wendover sometime and find a nice isolated place in the salt flats. I guess as long as there are no signs saying it's private property and you are a good ways off the road then it's an okay place to shoot.

 

[Erik]

I've had more than a few pleasant encounters with a variety of LEOs over the years. Pleasant enough to make me think I'd give their job a shot, which I'm doing now.

 

[George Hill]

Just PLEASE pack up the remains of the TV.

Last time at my shooting spot I found the remains of 4 19" Sony Trinitrons, and 2 VCR's.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Oh yeah, if you're going to go out into the boonies and shoot junk, ALWAYS bring a garbage back and police up the area when you're done.

 

[12 Volt Man]

Just PLEASE pack up the remains of the TV.

That is the part that sucks. I usually end up hauling back someone elses pile of TV/Computer/Whatever because I fired a few rounds in to them and feel guilty. I wish everyone could act responsibly when shooting.

 

[TheOtherOne]

Just PLEASE pack up the remains of the TV.

Yeah, when it comes to littering I think the worst thing I've ever done is not search hard enough through the sagebrush for every last .22 casing after shooting off about 500 rounds.

 

[DrPsycho]

All you Utahns, were you or have you ever been required to show ID when purchasing rifles/longarms?

 

[TheOtherOne]

All you Utahns, were you or have you ever been required to show ID when purchasing rifles/longarms?

Yep. Everytime you buy a rifle from a store you have to show ID, fill out the yellow form, BCI check, etc... just like a handgun.

It must be a federal law or I don't think they would do it.

 

[Mauserlady]

Just PLEASE pack up the remains of the TV.

Boy did you just touch a sore subject with me George...

We have a GREAT place out in the desert that we shoot at... We ALWAYS pick up our trash when we are done, even driving up the mountain to get stuff which is generally no more than cans and milk jugs...

Then there's the idiots that bring out washers, dryers, t.v's, lawn mowers and anything else you can think of... Shoot the heck outta everything and then leave...

One of these days WE are going to have to rent a trailer and clean the place up so that none of us loose the ability to keep coming there...

CLEAN UP YOUR OWN DAMN MESS! ! ! ! !

 

[twoblink]

Well, you met a cool one.

The last few run-ins I had with LEO's, they all ended up "testing my guns" (especially my M1A) just to make sure it was functioning

Trust me, I don't have a problem with people trying out my guns, they don't have to resort to those comments..

Finally, I always ask "Wanna try the 10/22?" And the grin's on their faces and the yell of "OHHHH This brings back memories!!" is always great to watch..