Ranger Rick

[Bob Mc Alice]

Got a funny story....

Earlier this spring my brother in law tells me he is done hunting and wants to sell his .30-06 bolt rifle. I told him I know a young guy at work who had just completed his hunter safety and was looking for a used rifle. I finally went to the other side of the state to pick it up three weeks ago. That Monday I sold him the rifle and mailed my brother in law a check. This morning at work the buyer told me he and a buddy and their girl friends headed for the hills to try out his new toy.

Now here in CO we have several counties that have a fire ban in effect including no open flame and even no shooting on public lands.These guys head to Kenosha pass in Park County to a forest service road that leads to a place to shoot in the woods. Park county happens to have a NO SHOOTING ban in effect right now. At least two well lit road bill board signs advertise the fire ban including no shooting. The guys and gals get there and set up frames and paper targets for some rifle and handgun shooting.

Not long into the fun the girl friend of the gun buyer gets smacked in the bridge of the nose with the scope on the .30-06 and draws good blood. After another hour passed the guys hear a vehicle coming their way. It was a mint green US Forest Service pick up truck with two occupants inside.

Some "old geezer" we will call Ranger Rick is clearly unhappy with shooting going on in his part of the forest. He orders all of them to lay their guns on the ground and stand away from them. They complied. He is on the warpath with questions about them not knowing of a fire ban or shooting on public lands and threatens to write the maximum fine ticket of $1000.00 each. These guys clearly can not afford the fine and beg for mercy.

Ranger Rick offers an alternative to the fine, cleaning up the forest of shot up litter. This was a popular spot for shooting and many a slob shooter left tons of shot up debris behind. The shooting party agrees to the deal but Ranger Rick will stay and supervise the effort. One of the guys has a near new mini pick up truck, perfect to haul away computers, laptops, microwave oven, TV sets, ceramic dishes, ...the list goes on. He even gave the girls each a rake and shovel and trash bags to collect hundreds of shotgun shells. The work party lasted two hours and half filled the pick up bed.

There was plenty of tension at first but it eased as the work progressed. In the end Ranger Rick shook hands with the bunch and let them off with a warning. As a final slap they stopped at the county land fill to dump the junk off. They were charged the normal disposal fee but also had to pay double the rate for dropping off an uncovered load.

[Trent]

An uncovered load... isn't that where kids come from?

Well, sounds like some worthwhile community service in exchange for not complying with a temporary ban. They were mistakenly in the wrong and the ranger made a fair deal with them. Now that little corner of the woods is a little cleaner and they avoided a hefty fine. I'm sure it won't be long before some jerks come in and leave more trash behind.

The big question, did they get the rifle sighted in and will they be following your footsteps and start shooting silhouette with a 30-06?

[Bob Mc Alice]

Gets better, Trent. The rifle buyer told me this morning his buddy got a ticket for not having a current OHV sticker on his dirt bike he trailered there.

[BCloninger]

Colorado sounds less fun all the time...

[Dee]

That is one of those things going from good to bad to good again and back to bad. What a day.

At least Ranger Rick was cool about it and worked out a deal with them to avoid fines else he would have been Ranger Dick.

My main question is why the ban on shooting? Do you all use a lot of tracer rounds or something in Colorado?


Dee

[Bob Mc Alice]

Dee, some years ago a moderate size forest fire started at one of these clandestine shooting ranges. The shooters said is must have been caused by a ricochet off a rock, but in reality a tossed lit cigarette was the probable cause. Stupid law makers accepted the ricochet theory and now for some time we have had this stupid rule to deal with in fire season. Not all counties have this rule about shooting on public lands. Just the ones run by dumbass democrats.

EDIT...I just searched Park county shooting ban and it only applies to JACKETED BULLETS , lead non jacketed bullets are OK according to the sherriffs official press release on the subject.

[Jerry G]

Son-of-a-gun. The goo roo has returned. Hope to se you in Lander.

[Bob Mc Alice]

Bonner and I will both be there to give you a big hug and kiss, Jerry. Hey, bring down some Varget from MT. if you can get your hands on some locally. That is if you can stuff it in that little car of yours.

[Jerry G]

I haven't seen any Varget for a long time. The shelves are not quite as empty as they were a month ago. I can buy primers a 1,000 at a time now.