Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I may have over reacted

We have a 35 acre farm/camp in SW Arkansas. Last Sunday morning I am sitting on the front porch overlooking the orchard, pasture and river bottom. The.260 is in the varmint rest waiting for deer or varmint to present itself. Modern gun deer season is open till December 3 as is most varmint and predator seasons.

6:35 am I'm glassing two doe and a fawn at the edge of my neighbors open field maybe 70 yards to the west when I here a gunshot from my neighbor's property, maybe 100 yard to the west, followed by a thwack. The deer don't flinch and I continue to glass them and they walk back into the woods toward where the gunshot came from.
Few minutes later my Dad comes over from his place which is unusual as he seldom gets out of bed before 8:30 am. He seemed a little upset and anxious. He ask if I have seen any deer and I tell him about the deer I had been glassing. He then say,"come see I have something to show you".

We walk over to his trailer which is on the backside of my trailer and about 30' east from my back porch. He points to a bullet hole about 5 1/2' from the ground. When he sleeps his head rest about a foot below the bullet hole. The impact woke him and his dog which sleeps beside his bed. Thankfully the bullet did not hit him, the dog, his truck or, my new shop.

As Boudreaux says "I bout los my mind".

I thought I had cooled down enough to talk calmly to him but I lost it when I got up to his place. I belittled his intelligence, used words I thought I had forgot, over all just cussed him out. I finally had to walk away as I was not thinking straight and shaking uncontrollably at the thought that he could have ruined two families with his stupidity. His excuse "that bullet should have went into the ground". He knew the deer was between him and our trailers and he knew we were there.

I am very safety conscious about where I shoot. I spoke to the neighbor last year when he moved in about gun safety, where it is safe to shoot, and gave him the lay of the land on all sides of him.

What would you have done?

Would have done is irrelevant. Do now? Call the warden and the cops; should have done that then, too.

Called the cops, it is a crime to shoot into an occupied dwelling. He would not be doing any shooting for some time.

Shooting into an occupied structure is generally a felony.

Let him explain to a jury how the bullet "should have went into the ground".

I would of called the game warden.

The guy would of got a good sized ticket, maybe more.

Agreed. The conversation you had does not mean you can't call the cops. Do it.

Tom

That area needs to be designated bow only. Obviously too populated for firearms.

Same's what all the others have said.

Quit fooling around and deal with this.

GTC

Call the sheriff's office and the game warden. Sometimes it takes that for some folks to learn how to behave.

I'd probably have been up on murder charges.

Brick house next time? Call the Sheriff.

If he denies it now, how will you prove it was him who fired the shot?

Some people have a tendency to lie when the popo drives up in the yard.

Just curious...

This "story" is weak, and very sketchy, as far as any real details go.

We got a "Bullet hole 5 1/2' above the ground",....

OK,...THAN what ?

I dunno.
The guy knows he phuqqed up bad....you made sure he understands that.

If you bring in the law you will have a feud forever with the guy and you may be good with that.
He could have killed the ol' man after all.

You could invite him over and have a beer.
Then show him the bullet hole and how lucky it was that the ol' man wasn't hit.
Then remind him that if you report him, it might change his life....like no more gun ownership, a fine and who knows what else.

Then you have him by the nutsack.

Take some pictures and see if you can find the bullet for backup just in case.

I had a similar situation several years ago...
I had finished doing a brake job for my 79 y/o neighbor.
We were gabbing in my driveway when bullets whizzed overhead missing us by mere feet. You guys may know what I mean, that whump, whump whump of a tumbling bullet.

He and I quickly headed to my back property where we found a Native American guy and his clan dragging a ivory-tipped bull elk down my back hill to the road.
They already had a large bull moose in the pickup bed.

I came back and called the local cops and they came out, only the Native cops could legally do anything. They showed up as well.
The guy admitted to after-hours hunting, but the dangerous silhouette/skyline shooting scenario was never addressed.
The guy was reprimanded by tribal police and as punishment instructed to kill more elk for the elders...true story.

Last I heard he was actually serving time for shooting a bald eagle.

I have a neighbor who likes to shoot a semi-auto of some kind fast and often, Seems to like to do it more in late evening on weekends. I suspect he doesn't want me shooting any pretty little deer, is purposely trying to spook them.

Last Friday night after a lot of shots from him, a had a game cam pic of a little buck at my water trough no far from where the shooting took place, same thing happened Friday night, except my pic was of a really nice 8 point.

I didn't see a deer either morning after the shooting, but it really seems like he may be wasting his efforts - and ammo, because it doesn't seem to scare them very far. First bullet comes over to my place, though, were are going to have real trouble. I met the guy soon after I bought the property, told him I shoot and hunt, and that if he heard me shoot he could be sure it would NOT be in his direction. He said he understood, and there would be no problems.

Call the cops ASAP.

Getting reamed by a neighbor won't stick long. The goal is never having it happen again. The Big Dog is the best way to get the point across.





P

Does the sock puppet volunteer to have a neighbor firing rifle rounds through his bedroom wall next?

Doubtful.

The first words out of my mouth to him were "did you shoot a few minutes ago" his answer "yes I did" that is when I lost my mind and went off on him.

mark shubert: that is why I did not carry a firearm with me when I walked up to speak to him

watch4bear; if he shoots west to northwest he is ok nothing but woods and pasture no structures for miles.

direct drive; I am not ready for a feud or to have beer with him

4ager: he has not, too my knowledge

I will admit to not being the most outgoing of neighbor but before the season opened for safety sake I invited him and his young son to hunt at my place. He did not responded to my invitation with a smirky grin.

Agreed. Got the same kind of knuckle head on one property line. Used it to my advantage last year to tag a fat doe for the freezer. Still hunting toward the shooting in dry grass/leaves mid afternoon. When he was shooting, I was walking/moving. When he stopped to reload, I stopped and scanned. About 20 minutes into it, my doe came walking out of the brush about 30 yards in front of me...