How to handle idiots on your property?

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Boogershooter

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Let me first fill in a couple facts. I live on a 88acre tract of land that is undivided. I own 1/4 interest in this. My aunt lives next door but is currently in a rehabilitation center after having a stroke. I'm in the process of buying 2 other family members out of their shares.
Ok now the fun begins. I am asleep when a vehicle pulls into my driveway. My wife walks out to greet them but they back out of the driveway. They then proceed to my aunts house who is not home. They pull around behind her house, ( driveway stops in the front) and sit there long enough for my wife to come inside grab a gun, then get in her vehicle and drive down to my aunts house. As she pulls up the vehicle decides to leave. She tries waving and talking to the driver but he doesn't stop or roll his window down. My wife jumps back in her vehicle and blocks the driveway, gets out with her pistol at her side but very visible and demands him to stop. By this time I'm on the phone with her. I immediately run the 500 yards to my aunts house. He finally rolls his window down, states his name and says he's there to do an appraisal of the land.
I go home and get my SxS to take him around the property. As we are riding he proceeds to tell me how stupid my wife is for getting out of her vehicle with a drawn pistol, and that he could have shot her in self defense. This is while we are driving thru my 3 gun course. I try explaining to him that we are not a normal backwoods hillbilly family. We are big into the shooting sports and average 1000 rounds a weekend. He then tells me he served two tours overseas doing land surveys for the military and is very well trained.

At this point I text my wife and tell her to set up the 5 pop up targets in the back yard. As we pull back into my yard she is waiting with her favorite two 1911's, one on each hip. She hands me the timer so I start it. After 3 seconds it beeps for her to start. 5 shots 5 hits with the first, she holsters it and draws the second, 5 shots 5 hits with the second and I stop the timer. She puts in a fresh mag and asks him what he thought. He was speechless. So she then pulls the first pistol back out and tells him to watch closely. She never took her eyes off of him and put all 8 on the silhouette. I politely ask him if it was still stupid of her or maybe it was foolish to pull onto somebody's property unannounced. He shook our hands and left.

How would you have handled the situation?
 
If the property is all family owned, who was he there to appraise for? Is another family member trying to buy also?

I have a similar problem. Live on ten acres at the end of a quarter mile driveway. Gps says it goes through to the next road. Have a sign that says private drive and several NT signs. Seems snowbirds don't see the signs as having meaning until my dogs greet them.
 
Confronting someone is not usually the best option. Observe and report will keep you safer... Especially compared to confronting an unknown number of people in a vehicle.

...Sounds like nice shooting though.
 
Why did an appraiser avoid you and then try to hide behind your aunt's house?

Why was wife the first to respond?

Did he have credentials?

Why did this guy literally show up to n the only portion that isn't changing hands? (If I understand your story correctly)

If this guy is an appraiser he should be familiar with his job and not
A.) hiding

B.) telling you he was within HIS rights to engage when in someone else's private property , especially if former military.

----------------------------

Maybe I am too suspicious anymore but I don't trust hardly anyone and that goes double when I'm on my property out in the sticks.

Oh, and your wife sounds like an amazing shot
 
bs said:
He finally rolls his window down, states his name and says he's there to do an appraisal of the land.

I'd have asked him who his employer is and at whose request he had entered onto your land to preform an appraisal. If the request came from an owner within your family, you may have a family communication problem. My experience is that few families have excellent and completely functional channels of communication.

Whether you and your wife shoot a lot doesn't bear on the prudence of approaching a vehicle on foot with gun drawn.

Glad no one was hurt.
 
Personally, my first response to a trespasser would not be a drawn weapon. Not wanting to get out of your car or open a window in an unknown area.

Granted, seems he had business there, but could have just been lost.

I, personally, would have stayed holstered or concealed until I had more cause for concern than just an unknown person somewhere he may not have belonged.
 
Your wife's skill with a firearm is irrelevant.
The appraiser's skill with a firearm is irrelevant.

The proper course of action would have been to dial 911.
 
She tries waving and talking to the driver but he doesn't stop or roll his window down. My wife jumps back in her vehicle and blocks the driveway, gets out with her pistol at her side but very visible and demands him to stop.
Why on earth did she do that?

As we are riding he proceeds to tell me... that he could have shot her in self defense.
He most certainly could have tried to shoot her.

And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that had he done so, he would have succeeded in his defense of justification.
 
Umm, maybe:
  • Call 911
  • Videotape (be sure to get license plate if possible) from safe distance
  • If they come after you...retreat as far as safely possible; then respond appropriately to any threat if forced to do so
 
How fast is the wife, how capable is her 9mm and ammo if this guy were some kind of psycho or convict or both and elected to simply run her over with his car?

I think all of it was poorly executed and I also wouldn't give a stranger the information that "we own lots of guns!"

I'm glad it ended safely but it sounds like muscle-flexing and it's extremely fortunate that this guy turned out to be (and hopefully is) a decent guy and not some unknown potential psycho. Who might return to flex his own muscles.
 
I'd say that situation sounds a lot like a backwoods hillbilly operation.

If you and your wife go looking for a fight, you'll eventually find one. If you are both as good as you write you are, then keep your gun holstered until it's time to shoot. Otherwise you are likely to provoke someone into drawing down on you.

What if the idiot who had yet to identify himself, but did feel threatened enough to shoot at your wife? So she shoots him and wounds him, or kills him- then what? You bury him somewhere on the property?

Backwoods indeed.
 
Seems very unwise. maybe park a car in the driveway so he can't leave, call 911 and film until the cops get there. Glad all turned out OK but I think very unwise.
 
Id agree with the others who said that it was handled poorly on your part. There was no need to draw weapons, no need to block the driveway and no need to try to intimidate him with your wife's skill.
I probably wouldnt have rolled the window down or stopped either if I saw someone coming at me with a gun.
There was also no need to have your wife demonstrate her skill to him. That could be seen as a threat and was posturing, at best.
What if when he saw her with her gun, he pulled out his gun and shot her, saying that he saw a gun, that she was acting aggressively and he felt that his life was in danger? All over a simple misunderstanding.
 
Shooting skills are obviously a major requirement to surviving a confrontation when guns are drawn.
But there's so much more to know besides the shooting part.
From the description of the situation, depending on a 911 call will probably be too little and too late to be of much help.
It sounds like defensive training, designed to deal with your circumstances could be real life saver.
 
Something isn't adding up.
I'm with Loosedhorse an JWT.

Call the cops
Get license plate number and descriptions
Wait for the calvary

Didn't see your state listed. If California, the response is very different than in AZ, ID or TX.
 
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