Did someone fire his gun too close to me yesterday?

[airgunaut]

Yesterday I was walking along on a public road like I’ve done hundreds of times there. I suddenly heard a POP noise that was probably from an air gun. Big deal. EXCEPT that a split second later, a whizzing PTEW! noise passed to my right.

That made me look into the field I was passing, and lo, a man stood outside his OHV with a passenger inside—and he was holding a black rifle with the AR15-style body. He quickly pretended to be looking down on the ground as if checking for prairie dog holes. I kept staring at him. That land belongs to an older couple who’ve lived there forever, and AFAIK they’ve never done anything crazy.

I don’t know if he is just a horrible aimer, or maybe a pellet ricocheted and whizzed by me. Or maybe it wasn’t that close. It did appear he was pointing too close to the road. I’ve heard similar whizzies when my own shot passed through a single layer of cardboard (way back before I used a pellet trap), or when it missed completely and kept speeding along.

How far away can you hear a pellet passing by? Not the actual POP of the gun firing itself.

My husband said I should call LE and report it as unsafe shooting. I hate to call attention to what sure sounded like an air rifle and what was probably the guy’s incompetence. I will be watching him in the future, though. In the past week to ten days he has driven by our house several times, which rarely happened before. It’s as if somebody new and iffy moved in.

[avator]

Tough call.. if he's being stupid or if his actions are in any way intentional then, by all means, report him. On the other hand, you might draw unwanted attention to your own air gun related activities.
I'm not at all suggesting you are doing anything wrong.

[farrlarr]

If you have information that would allow specific identification, it seems to me that it would be a good idea for LE to at least be aware of the situation.  If something happens in the future, it might not be under circumstances where there is an eye witness but there would at least be some indication of an individual to be considered.

[avator]

Maybe try to get his tag number for future reference.

[airgunaut]

If I see the owners of that property out again, I might just ask them what he was trying to shoot. We don’t have any “history” with them, so it’s worth being straightforward. At the very least, they know that I didn’t buy his looking-at-the-ground act.

[lefteyeshot]

When I was in the Army we shot on an old range one day. Platoon Sargent made sure everyone worked behind the bern raising and lowering the target and marking and patching. You heard the rounds cracking going over head but the actual reports of the M16's was a hard to hear popping in the distance. He said that's what it sounded like being shot at. Not like on TV.

[19Sheridan57]

   It does sound like you were almost hit. I know the sound of being shot at, but not by an air rifle. It may have been a ricochet, or he may have been just careless, or stupid. I would have yelled at him. Since, the incident is over , I would just be cautious of him . Stay safe .

[Roadworthy]

In the past week or ten days they've driven by your house several times where they'd not done it much before.  I think you're already on their radar.  You might ask the property owners if these people had permission to be on the property hunting or shooting.  How big is the property, a city lot or acreage?

[Insanity]

When I was in the Army we shot on an old range one day. Platoon Sargent made sure everyone worked behind the bern raising and lowering the target and marking and patching. You heard the rounds cracking going over head but the actual reports of the M16's was a hard to hear popping in the distance. He said that's what it sounded like being shot at. Not like on TV.

Did the same thing had M4 and M249 shooting over us. We were around 10 feet below berm level. The pop from the gun sounded like popcorn and the wizz of the projectile was loud and sounded close despite being at least 5 feet above my head.

[mikeyb]

If they were NOT the land owners I'd try to talk to the ACTUAL land owners about the incident. Could be trespassers/poachers. If so then getting LEOs involved ASAP would be my goal.

If they ARE the property owners I suggest you be VERY careful around your "new?" neighbors. Could have been a one-time-lapse in judgement (it happens) or part of a pattern of stupid reckless behavior. Hopefully NOT the latter.

I live in a city where ANY type of projectile launcher outside is a BIG RED FLAG to neighbors and LEOs. I NEVER shoot outside and ALWAYS transport an air rifle inside a plain brown box to minimize the risk of encountering a nosy neighbor or an overly zealous LEO.

Was out cutting my front lawn one day (quiet electric lawnmower for postage stamp sized yards) and heard a "buzzing" sound a couple houses away followed by "rain?" on my roof from a clear blue sky. Peeked around back and one of my neighbors was SPRAYING his back yard with a full auto BB rifle. BBs flying/ricocheting everywhere with some raining down on my roof.

NO property damage to my house but what an IDIOT! My first thought was NO EYE PROTECTION? Then I thought his yard backs up to OTHER yards where children PLAY! Is he CRAZY?

I never saw it happen again or "I" would have called it in myself. Having children injured by careless adults with BB guns is unacceptable and certainly NOT a headline any of us wants to see!

His reckless behavior is one of the reasons all projectile launching devices are verboten within city limits. Never underestimate how STUPID some people can be.

[19Sheridan57]

  I agree.

[HunterWhite]

Pat, yes never underestimate how stupid people can be.
Pat, I think that the round was supersonic if you heard the bullet whizzing by. I doubt that was an airgun. Perhaps they cruised by intending to apologize but didn't have the courage.
Definitely talk to your neighbors.  Bring a cake and say hello.
Hunter

[airgunaut]

In the past week or ten days they've driven by your house several times where they'd not done it much before.  I think you're already on their radar.  You might ask the property owners if these people had permission to be on the property hunting or shooting.  How big is the property, a city lot or acreage?

I, too, wondered if the shooter was the owner. The property in question is a pasture fenced off from the house with a gate (open) between them, and the day this happened the door to the building was also open. So whoever it was either had permission or authority to be there, or he was a trespasser. The property is several acres and the one next to it belongs to their relative, though that house is unoccupied most of the time. Rural acreage.

The owners of the occupied property are usually indoors, and nothing strange has happened the few times they drove by me or my home in past years. I met the wife once but otherwise have never spoken with them.

The road has long been a favored place for sketchy people to dump things or animals, crash their vehicles driving drunk or high, deal drugs, and other such illegal activities. The day in question I had walked by a pile of items less than a quarter mile south. There was a stuffed, tightly zipped daypack on the roadside, next to a new pair of sneakers, and a blue Walmart bag filled with another pair of sneakers and a rolled bag inside that. I didn’t touch any of it and called LE when I got home. Someone else reported it, too. Only a few days earlier a man had been busted in town with fentanyl pills and meth-related items in his truck. It also turned out that LE also had found a drug house; a “family mixed up with” some bad other occupants were discovered with their starving litter of puppies, which were taken away. I have to wonder if all three finds were related. The guy who got busted had a quantity of drugs and cash that LE considered consistent with that of drug distribution.

Only a little farther south of the pasture on the same road is a well-known druggie house. Convicted felon(s) and all, plus a revolving assortment of scummy others. Neighbors call it the Shxx Shacks, Meth Manor, etc. The owner hasn’t lived there in ages and the place had been occupied by a pair of creepy squatters for years. They, too, were known by LE to be involved in dealing drugs and stealing, breaking into a cabin, etc. The chief felon living there now undoubtedly is watching me and my husband (because we are among the people who DO report suspicious activity), but that was not him with the gun in the pasture, and I have no reason to think the owners want anything to do with him.

Most likely the shooter was careless, expecting to hear vehicle noise instead of a silent walker. Where he and the OHV were sits downhill from road level. I’ll always look around there when approaching, but odds are it was a ricochet rather than intentional. If he continues to shoot so carelessly, I will call it in for sure.

[HunterWhite]

Oh wow. Never mind me.

[airgunaut]

Oh wow. Never mind me.

I do think it was an airgun, based on the mild pop (not a crack) sound and the fact that he was less than 200’ away. The whizzy PTEW sound had a descending “whirly” sound to it, as if the pellet was spiraling down.

It was still what I’d call unsafe shooting, but probably due to carelessness rather than intention.