So my brother was in town today, hadn't seen him in a bit and I figured we could go do a little shooting since the weather seemed cooperative enough. We head for Salmonberry Rd and after pulling into that first shooting spot start plinking away with my .22 pistol but before long a car pulls up with 4 people in it. I wave at them, as I do with just about every vehicle that passes by.
Then the car pulls in right beside mine and the occupants climb out. I say hey and ask them if they're here to do some shooting. A guy answers in the affirmative, I ask if he really thinks there's enough room there for so many people doing their own thing in such a small area. The guy sneers at my concern and says something like "We're safe, we've got a cop with us." At first I was inclined to go with it, but they were taking quite some time getting set up and from the way the guy addressed me I got the vibe from them that they just wanted us gone, even though there are at least 3 great shooting spots only a little further down the same road. I don't like confrontation and I certainly would never have imposed on someone like that... so I bagged up all the plastic bottles that I'd brought to chase around and drove further down the road, sure enough, the next spot was available.
I guess I don't get it. Every time I see that a shooting spot is taken, I don't try to push other people out and always respect the fact that other folks got there first. If it's one of the bigger spots, one that's truly big enough for everyone, even then I would ask for permission from the people already there. I've done that before, and the people were very cool about it, I've got to fire new guns I've not tried before and allowed them to fire mine and all was well. Very rarely have I gone to that road and found that every last spot was taken, so if the first is taken I have no trouble moving on to the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th... if they are all taken, I've never encountered a situation where the folks at the bigger spots weren't totally cool if I joined once I asked permission.
Am I genuinely under the impression that 6 shooters at that spot would either have to slow everything down (everyone's gotta wait for their turn) or become a safety hazard, neither of which was particularly desirable to me. There are spots on that road FAR better suited to lots of people. So am I just totally off-base and it really is just totally cool to invite yourself to shoot with folks you encounter no matter how small the space and so forth? Cast some light.
Then the car pulls in right beside mine and the occupants climb out. I say hey and ask them if they're here to do some shooting. A guy answers in the affirmative, I ask if he really thinks there's enough room there for so many people doing their own thing in such a small area. The guy sneers at my concern and says something like "We're safe, we've got a cop with us." At first I was inclined to go with it, but they were taking quite some time getting set up and from the way the guy addressed me I got the vibe from them that they just wanted us gone, even though there are at least 3 great shooting spots only a little further down the same road. I don't like confrontation and I certainly would never have imposed on someone like that... so I bagged up all the plastic bottles that I'd brought to chase around and drove further down the road, sure enough, the next spot was available.
I guess I don't get it. Every time I see that a shooting spot is taken, I don't try to push other people out and always respect the fact that other folks got there first. If it's one of the bigger spots, one that's truly big enough for everyone, even then I would ask for permission from the people already there. I've done that before, and the people were very cool about it, I've got to fire new guns I've not tried before and allowed them to fire mine and all was well. Very rarely have I gone to that road and found that every last spot was taken, so if the first is taken I have no trouble moving on to the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th... if they are all taken, I've never encountered a situation where the folks at the bigger spots weren't totally cool if I joined once I asked permission.
Am I genuinely under the impression that 6 shooters at that spot would either have to slow everything down (everyone's gotta wait for their turn) or become a safety hazard, neither of which was particularly desirable to me. There are spots on that road FAR better suited to lots of people. So am I just totally off-base and it really is just totally cool to invite yourself to shoot with folks you encounter no matter how small the space and so forth? Cast some light.