Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

"Sheila A. Walsh" <tondi313@xxxxxxx> wrote:

As for riding, I figure my horse can run fast enough, if I have to get away.  When I hear shooting in the woods, I like to ride the other way.  If I have to pass I make lots of noise and if I get close enough to target shooters, I ask them to let me pass for 5 minutes before they resume shooting.  I have not had any problems, lately.

 

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My experiences have led me to the belief that most shooters wear hearing protection, so can't hear you until you're practically on them.

 

Last month on a ride, I could hear someone target shooting a heavy caliber something off in the distance. I hoped they'd be done by the time I got that way, but they weren't.  I figured anyone with a lick of sense would be shooting into a bank out in cattle country, and I headed up high and around to avoid them, and go around the tank I figured they were shooting at.  Unfortunately, the rancher had strung up new lines of hot wire I didn't know about, so I got stuck following it down to the tank, and approached very cautiously. As soon as I could see the shooters, I called out. Couldn't be heard. They continued to shoot, but luckily were shooting away from my angle of approach. I continued yelling until they finally heard me, and looked thru the trees behind them to see who was shouting. I asked if they could quit shooting until I came thru the gates. They agreed, but were pretty snarky about it. As I got close enough, I could see they had a rifle on a tripod, aimed at a target about 100 ft away, but trajectory continued straight down a valley, not into a bank. It was the valley I had originally planned on riding up, and I made the comment to them that I was sure glad I hadn't ridden up that valley like I usually do. The old dude said "Oh, don't worry, we would have seen you coming." I asked how far the bullet would travel, and he proudly said "Way beyond that bend in the trail." I just replied "Yep," with a slight touch of sarcasm in my voice, and realized he never even had an awareness that there might have been something "beyond the bend in the trail" that they might have hit.

 

I asked if they'd give me a few minutes to get out of the area, they gave me about 600 feet, and started shooting again. I'm glad my horses weren't too scared of the noise, or it could have been Yee Haw time.

 

 

I

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