So, I decided to make a trip to my favorite public land spot for some archery deer hunting. Public's really my only choice now that I'm living in the city for college, and I was looking forward to a nice, relaxing day in the ground blind. Anyways, the deer on this place always cross a county road that separates the public land, so I have my blind built about 15yds away from the road back by some trees. Now, there are some pretty bad hunters that show up. Guys that walk in/out at sunset, guys that smoke cigarettes and then spray themselves with scent-away, all that and I take it without complaint. After all, it is public.
But today, my breaking point was reached. A guy drove by a few times real slow (maybe you've seen that before), and stopped and got out the 3rd time he drove by. About 40 yards from me, but my blind's good enough he hadn't any idea I was there. He gets his semi-auto rifle out and pops a few shots out there for fun
. He made a few mistakes. For one, target shooting is illegal on this wildlife management area. For another, he shot from the road which is also illegal. And the worst one-- he did it all right in front of me--ruining my evening, costing me fuel for nothing, etc.
I put my bow down, got out of my blind and walked up to him. Asked what he was doing. He said he was just trying out his gun to see if it worked. I asked if he knew it was illegal to target shoot on this property. He tells me there was a sign that said target shooting was allowed. This is my FAVORITE part--he was standing not 5 yards away from a sign that said target shooting was prohibited (which I proudly pointed out). I think he knew he was caught right there.
I told him that I also caught him shooting from the road, and that was strike 2. I got his plate numbers, told him he would be getting a visit from the warden, and started to walk off. He drove up and asked if there was any other way to settle it, but in all honesty I've dealt with too much **** to give in easy over the deal. Even if he doesn't have to go to court, he got the **** scared out of him. I felt bad, he was a younger guy about 20 something. But I'm 18 and you don't see me playing dumb about the law.
I just needed to blow off some steam
