Jeesh WG - I can't believe that incident - and even more unbelievable is your restraint. Not sure what I would have done in your position...lucky one of the kids had a gun to help ease your anger. That plain sux...I know my turn is coming someday - I hope to resolve it peacefully.
TJ - I had my farm pistol with me (almost always do out there), but of course would never pull that on a couple of kids... yikes! It was an accident (the shooting at me part) I'm sure, but I was certainly angry at the time. We've had our issues with trespassers for sure, adult and kid alike. In fact, we've posted signs only to see them torn down a few days later, found fishing tackle that wasn't ours stuck to stumps, bobbers that got cut off with catfish still stuck to them, tire tracks from strange cars/utv's/etc... One time we even had a guy drive up with a boat he intended to put in the pond! I have been doing random visits to the property just to make sure no one is there (sometimes there is)... and in hopes they see that I'm there regularly so just avoid trespassing all together. New, bigger signs are going up soon, and so is a large perimeter fence. Sometimes it just doesn't matter though. So, we are also planning to go to the expense of putting in some cameras to monitor things when we aren't/can't be there.
Do you think they were shooting at you intentionally or just be idiots and randomly shooting and some of the pellets came down near you? Did you call the local law enforcement agency? If so, what did they do(or not do)?
CJBS2003 - I believe they were shooting at pigeons and doves that are always sitting on top of the 40 foot (private) steel water tower on our property. They definately weren't aiming for me on purpose (they couldn't see me from their position), but none the less, they really could have hurt someone or themselves for that matter. Not a safe thing to shoot at a giant metal thing just a few feet from you, and NEVER a safe thing to shoot in a direction where people and equipment could be. I gave the kids a firm talking to and sent them on their way. No law enforcement needed to be bothered, and I figured their parents could handle any punishment they felt was appropriate. My wife knew who one of the kids parents was through a friend of hers, so she gave them a call as a follow up. They were quite nice and understood the seriousness of the situation. Their son had aparently told them before we had called, which assuming he was honest about what had happenned, was a mature way to own up to the situation.
I just hope they learned something from the whole thing. A lot of folks in the country would be far less forgiving than I am about such things, and they just need to be safer, for their own sake as well as others.
You know, when I was a kid, I fished a LOT of farm ponds and explored a LOT of other people's property, but I always got permission first. In fact, I usually offered to do some work for them if they'd give me access. Some said "no", but most said "no problem, just make sure to let me know when you would like to come out first" or "sure, but only if I am around." I knew just about all the farmers in the area because of that, which I thought was pretty cool.
![[Linked Image from i1261.photobucket.com]](http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/ii582/teehjaeh57/I_subscribe_zps69249d43.gif)
