On Saturday, I was 'adjusting' the population of starlings around the PM colony which consists of 4 poles and 88 gourds which is located in a business park in a semi-rural area in East Tennessee. A fairly busy secondary road curves around the property and there's always a few cars traveling by. The starlings were feeding on the grass under the poles and, after 'adjusting' four starlings, they seemed to get skittish and left. During this time, there were several cars that drove by but I didn't give it much thought.
I went back in the office and put away the Gamo 1000 with scope, figuring I'd get some more starling action in the afternoon. About a half hour later, I heard a helicopter overhead--not too unusual but it circled back and then circled again. When I went out to look, I saw a police car drive by slowly. I figured they must be looking for some miscreant or maybe they were zeroing in on some illicit agricultural crop spotted in local woods or farm land.
When I came out with binoculars to look at the helicopter, I noticed the police car in the parking lot next door. He approached and wanted to know what I had in my hand and did I have any weapons, to which I responded 'binoculars and no.' He said they'd gotten a report of a fellow in a green shirt (guess what color my shirt was?) shooting at cars with a high powered rifle.
He inquired if I owned a high powered rifle and I replied 'only if you consider a 800 fps, break-action air gun a high powered rifle (though I admit, I bet some of those starlings do).' After inspecting the air gun he said everyone was kind of edgy because the prior week, a pair of brothers in E. Tennessee had ambushed a police cruiser and shot the officers 43 times.
He had no problem with my plinking the starlings and I assured him that I would be more discreet in use of the air gun to minimizing visibility to passing motorists, which he thought was a good idea.
So, be careful out there...not just of what you're shooting at but who might see you and what they might think. And for Pete's-sake, don't Cheney anybody.
SWAT Team to the rescue
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Mary Wilson-SW Ont
- Posts: 218
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 6:24 pm
- Location: Leamington Ontario
Wow, that's quite a story .... funny, but seriously, I'm glad they didn't whisk you away in handcuffs 
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Guest
Of course you could see the episode unfolding , it sure was funny but not to be taken lightly as you say.
dick
dick
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CUL Lou~Mich
I've heard similiar episodes, so I'm always careful to carry my Pellet Rifle against my inside (away from traffic) leg. I often go out to the garage to protect my Flicker house from Starlings. I also live on a very busy road, and I've often envisioned this scenario here. ha ha. So far, I'm clean though. (No busts yet.) Thanks for the smile and snicker this morning. I needed it. ha ha. CUL Lou
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
I would think that the higher crime rate (it seems to contantly go up) and people shooting other people has the average population very afraid of guns. To them, it scares the heck out of them. When I grew up on the farm, everyone had a few guns, now about 50% of the people do not have a gun in the house because they are afraid of them.
I love to shoot, hunt, and have several guns. My feeling is that the problem of people being afraid of guns will get worse because of criminals, and banning guns is now the aim of many people. I sure want to keep my guns.
I love to shoot, hunt, and have several guns. My feeling is that the problem of people being afraid of guns will get worse because of criminals, and banning guns is now the aim of many people. I sure want to keep my guns.
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Guest
Actually, I wasn't as afraid as one would think....even if they had started shooting.
A little over a year ago, a man was in the parking lot with a knife threatening to kill himself. He was surrounded by the local police (none whose name is Barney, as far as I know). After an extended standoff, the distraught individual made one of those, by now, famous 'threatening moves' and the police open fire from 30 yards (must have been a long knife!). In the official report, a total of 28 shots were fired.
Bad news for the distraught individual? Not really, he was winged once in the leg!!!
It's a little unsettling if you feel safe--even when the police are shooting at you.
Oops, I think I hear helicopters again!
A little over a year ago, a man was in the parking lot with a knife threatening to kill himself. He was surrounded by the local police (none whose name is Barney, as far as I know). After an extended standoff, the distraught individual made one of those, by now, famous 'threatening moves' and the police open fire from 30 yards (must have been a long knife!). In the official report, a total of 28 shots were fired.
Bad news for the distraught individual? Not really, he was winged once in the leg!!!
It's a little unsettling if you feel safe--even when the police are shooting at you.
Oops, I think I hear helicopters again!
Emil, You say you want to keep your guns, I also have a good assortment of guns and believe you me they can have them when they pry them from my cold dead hands. How aboth HA!Ha