to think you shouldn't walk around with a rifle near houses?

[suecy]

Our garden is next to a horse field. Yesterday evening DH was in the garden with the kids (7 and 6) when this bloke appears from round the corner and walks right next to our garden down the field. DH says hello, bloke grunts back, turns and walks into the middle of the field and DH notices the rifle he is carrying!

He's dressed in combat gear and crouches down in the middle of the field, loads his gun. DH gets the kids in the house, I lock all the doors and we call 999. Man seems to be very relaxed but slightly wierd, just aiming gun out towards the road.

We get the kids in the car and drive off to friends house in a right state thinking we've just avoided another Raoul Moat, Michael Ryan type scenario.

Ring police 45 mins later to see what's going on to discover the owner of the horse farm has sent a bloke out to shoot rabbits!

AIBU to think:

1. You shouldn't be using rifles to shoot rabbits if your field backs on to houses?
2. If you bloody well are going to you should have the decency to let people know in advance so they don't get freaked out?
3. Even if you don't do that, the bloody bloke, who could clearly see we had kids, should have explained what the f**k he was doing so no one got freaked out?

Or have I over reacted. I am seriously considering ringing farmer and giving him a piece of my mind. For f**ks sake!!

I can guarantee that someone will come along and say well if you must live in the country you need to get used to country ways and anyone who is proper country and remembers when it was all fields would have known what the bloke was up to, but no YANBU . It would have scared the shit out me.

you did all the right things and i would have done the same, they were idiots not to let people know what was happening

how bloody scary for you!!

yanbu, they should have mentioned it to you

I think in the recent events context, it is "normal" to have freaked out a bit but to the fact that the farmer called someone to do it rather than doing it himself is reassuring in way. He probably got someone whose job it is to kill rabits that way and with enough experience to shoot only at the rabits in the fiels and not on passers by or neighbouring houses.

I am saying that now but would have been worried as yourself before knowing what that man was actually doing.

He should have explained; I live in a farmhouse and the landlord sends a wee chap round once a year to show the crows. He usually knocks on the door to let me know what he's up to.

I think you are completely within your rights to have been worried. Esp with the Raoul Moat thing being so recent. Having kids too makes you worry more i think.

I think the guy should have let you know what he was doing. Bit silly not to really.

YANBU about him not letting you know. that, i agree with. it is a common courtesy if you intend to shoot live amunition near to a house then you would let someone,(that you had already grunted at acknowledged)know you are about to do it.

but

YABU to expect him not to shoot rabbit on a farm belonging to someone who has authorised it.

how long have you lived there?

he should definitely have given you advanced warning so that you knew to keep your children out of the way, if nothing else! What an idiot!

wow i could posted this few months ago I ende dup calling local police staiton not on the emergency number i add , just to say i think mans shooting at rabbits did try and ask him , no problems if he was m but was wondering if he had permissions as there was horses in same field
.
We had 6 police cras in the lane within about 2 minutes turned out he was shooting rabbits but without permission

And could he not shoot towards my hous eplease a si ahve rather large oil tank

YABU, sorry, that happens all the time. My DH has an agreement with our local farmer (field backs onto out garden) that he can go and shoot pigeons and rabbits whenever. The farmer is delighted, rids him of vermin, and we get free dinners.

I don't let the neighbours know who back on to the same field and I would not expect either us or the farmer to let anyone know in advance!!!!! That would be absurd!!! How many doors do you knock on? or how many phone calls do you make? It's the farmer's land, if you live adjacent you don't have any say or cannot expect to be informed of every single movement on that land??

He was in camo gear for err.. camouflage.

You sure it was a rifle, not a shotgun anyway?

Wouldn't a shotgun render a bunny rabbit rather inedible? I was thinking of a .22

was definte rifle in our case and turns out to be without permission .Im only house that backs on to fields .

But we now have arraangement with said farmer he lets me know when there going to be shooting and he agreed yes not shooting towards garden with oil tank good idea .
and i let him know if there is something amiss

YABU, it's his field he can do what he likes. It was probably an air rifle.

Faithless12 you are right come to think of it - my DH does use an air rifle for the rabbits and squirrels. We don't have a "proper" rifle, only air one plus shotgun.

I think that point 1 YABU, point 2 YA maybe BU depending on how many houses there would be to warn. One or 2 fair enough, more than that, what they meant to do a leaflet drop?

Point 3 YANBU he should have said.

I do live in the country and fairly frequently see people with rifles/shot guns in the fields. I've never been freaked out. Sorry.

not freaked out here either.....most people have a licence,the media only reports gun incidents which have gone wrong....a little thought would tell you that these are in the minority!

a bit of perspective required i think!

OK, clearly IABU for expecting him not to shoot at rabbits.

But I am def not BU on point 3 at least. FFS I don't care if I'd be in a minority if he turned the gun on my kids - we'd all be f**king dead so it wouldn't be much bloody consolation to think it doesn't happen to many people.

I'm all for chilling out about certain things other people panic about as regards their childrens safety, believe me, but if I see a man with a gun in a field who fails to explain what he's doing I ain't going to weigh up the odds and think 'chances are hes ok', am I - I'm going to run!!!!

I think it would be damn irresponsible to do anything else.

not air rifle when at ours because when police came saw what going on they called a lot more .

Do think if you asked him it would not hurt him to say im just doing pest control then hat be the end of it

Could your DH not have smiled at him and said 'Evening, what are you after?' or somesuch non-threatening comment to ascertain that he was hunting critters rather than people?

If I was in the countryside and saw a bloke in camos with a rifle/shotgun, I'd assume he was hunting animals, tbh. Have you only just moved to the countryside?

I feel a bit mean for saying this, but reading about your reaction did make me

In answer to your question 'Have I over-reacted?', I'd have to say yes.

Yes I do think you overreacted, but if the hunter walked right past your dh he really should have said what he was going to do. However he's probably so used to it he thinks nothing of walking round with a gun.

I had already guessed he was out shooting rabbits before you mentioned it - even with the whole Moat thing, as a country girl that was the only thing that jumped into my head.

I'm guessing that the guy with the rifle also assumed that it was obvious what he was doing.

It was an over-reaction, and YABU to expect the farmer not to control pests - it's totally normal.

Sorry, I shoot rats and crows on my own land and it has never occured to me to tell anyone else what I am doing on my own land. YABU. I have also invited friends with more powerful weapons to shoot pigeons, rabbits and foxes - they are are well educated enough about gun do's and don'ts to know you don't aim into neighbour's gardens etc.

Now, when I came across a man in camo gear with a gun in MY field that I hadn't given permission to be there, that was another matter....

Have you lived out in the country long?

do you mean me or the Op , in my case it was withoput permission i did figure he was shooting rabits but think it was all the horses in field to that made me think not legit

and called on local number not 999 just to mention it as at the time had not met the said farmer with horses have now he came to thank me for reporting and to bring wine were now friends