Samuelh3
Caught the Bug
Went wheeling in the early evening with a buddy last weekend at Holy Jim. A small trail with mostly creek crawling and some hill climbs. He was taking one of his family members wheeling for the first time.
Long story short I was following him and he ended up getting us lost in the creek and ended up on some dudes property. The moment I realized we were on what seemed to be private property I called it in on the radio and stopped.
As you can imagine, the home owner which apparently was just around the corner outside of my view was very upset that we were there. And rightfully so. He approached my Jeep and I immediately apologized and let him know I was following the lead jeep and we got turned around. I asked him if he could help us get back on the trail and he angrily told us he’d lead us to his front gate.
At this point all was pretty good. He seemed justifiably upset but willing to help us get home and ultimately off his property....until we got to the front gate.
At this point things got a little sketchy. We were now wedged in between the gate on a narrow trail with room for about 1-2 jeeps wide and another car that showed up behind from the house. So basically we’re trapped. Our original entry point to his property was no longer accessible and now this dude is going off on us.
My situation awareness senses were going off like crazy. It was dark and I noticed someone walking in the trees about 100 yards behind us with a flashlight. We’re basically completely trapped with limited visibility and when I asked the guy if he’s gonna open the gate he told me to shut the fuck up and wait.
At this point I had two options, escalate to the level he was at or de-escalate and try to calm him down. Considering where we were and the fact that he was probably armed (I would be way out there) I decided to de-escalate. The man in me wanted to confront him for his dis-respect but the gun fighter in me knew better.
You see, they say an armed society is a polite society. I had my 9mm XD loaded with hollow points and one in the chamber, no safety. Given how often I train I could accurately put shots on multiple targets from the holster in less than 3 seconds. But I train not to fight but to protect. Had I not been armed I would have been in that guy’s face without a doubt. But situational awareness (remember the guy in the trees?) told me better. I calmly spoke to the man, let him call me all kinds of names and patiently waited long enough for him to calm down and open the gate which he did after a long 20 minutes.
This could have gone down very differently and I’m glad that it didn’t. I’m glad I was armed that day as it forced me to de-escalate vs meeting fire w/ fire (pun intended).
Given the recent events I thought I would share what a responsible gun owner looks like.
Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
Long story short I was following him and he ended up getting us lost in the creek and ended up on some dudes property. The moment I realized we were on what seemed to be private property I called it in on the radio and stopped.
As you can imagine, the home owner which apparently was just around the corner outside of my view was very upset that we were there. And rightfully so. He approached my Jeep and I immediately apologized and let him know I was following the lead jeep and we got turned around. I asked him if he could help us get back on the trail and he angrily told us he’d lead us to his front gate.
At this point all was pretty good. He seemed justifiably upset but willing to help us get home and ultimately off his property....until we got to the front gate.
At this point things got a little sketchy. We were now wedged in between the gate on a narrow trail with room for about 1-2 jeeps wide and another car that showed up behind from the house. So basically we’re trapped. Our original entry point to his property was no longer accessible and now this dude is going off on us.
My situation awareness senses were going off like crazy. It was dark and I noticed someone walking in the trees about 100 yards behind us with a flashlight. We’re basically completely trapped with limited visibility and when I asked the guy if he’s gonna open the gate he told me to shut the fuck up and wait.
At this point I had two options, escalate to the level he was at or de-escalate and try to calm him down. Considering where we were and the fact that he was probably armed (I would be way out there) I decided to de-escalate. The man in me wanted to confront him for his dis-respect but the gun fighter in me knew better.
You see, they say an armed society is a polite society. I had my 9mm XD loaded with hollow points and one in the chamber, no safety. Given how often I train I could accurately put shots on multiple targets from the holster in less than 3 seconds. But I train not to fight but to protect. Had I not been armed I would have been in that guy’s face without a doubt. But situational awareness (remember the guy in the trees?) told me better. I calmly spoke to the man, let him call me all kinds of names and patiently waited long enough for him to calm down and open the gate which he did after a long 20 minutes.
This could have gone down very differently and I’m glad that it didn’t. I’m glad I was armed that day as it forced me to de-escalate vs meeting fire w/ fire (pun intended).
Given the recent events I thought I would share what a responsible gun owner looks like.
Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
