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awaldro7

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
How many of you have been shot at before when bowfishing? Last year I was shot and hit with a shotgun. We were in the middle of Lake Wylie idling at dusk waiting on the lights to warmup and I hadnt been there for over 5 minutes. Someone from one of the mansion houses shot us with a shotgun. Luckily we were far away enough that it did not injure any of us. There were so many houses that I could not tell who done it so I didn't bother shooting back or calling the Game Warden, I just left. Also last year someone from our bowfishing club was shot with a high powered pellet rifle while bowfishing. Then this year 2 separate ones of our club members have had people fire guns (apparently just up in the air) while they were fishing in a cove on Lake Norman. One guy on Mtn Island lake had a guy run down a dock and get on his boat with a knife last year, which my response to that was if he was able to do that then you were to close to his dock anyway. Then finally this last saturday we were in a tournament on Lake Norman and we were up in a small cove fishing and there wasnt a house within sight in any direction. All of a sudden we heard five close gunshots. I pulled out my 9mm in case we were indeed about to be in a gun fight, however, I think that person was just shooting up into the air. What is the answer to these situations? I couldnt call the Game Warden because I knew I would have to sit there and wait on him to show up. We were in a tournament and was doing very well so I didnt want to ruin the night. I thought about mailing a letter to all the surrounding houses in the cove stating that we are participating in a legal fishing activity and harassment of an angler is punishable by law and is a Class B Misdemeanor. I know that the ******* in me just wanted to fire all 12 rounds of 9mm straight in the direction of the noise, however, this would probably result in us getting in trouble or have some sort of negative impact to the bowfishing community.

I think I am going to call a game warden and get him to ride along with me in all of the coves that have a record of people getting trigger happy. Nothing could be better than pulling up to their dock and dropping off a Game Warden to have a chat with them. Its either the game warden option or I am going to mount my AR15 to my light rail! lol.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
You need to let the CO handle it, unless your life is in immediate danger. Don't go looking for a fight. If you're not careful, you just might find one. Also, keep in mind that any body of water managed by the Army Corps of Engineers has a strict no firearm policy unless you are involved in a legal hunting activity. I'm not saying Lake Norman falls in this category, but just something to keep in mind for when you get boarded. And since there's no better feeling in the world than being shot at and missed, is it possible they were just trying to make you feel good? :laugh:
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Payphone Jones said:
You need to let the CO handle it, unless your life is in immediate danger. Don't go looking for a fight. If you're not careful, you just might find one. Also, keep in mind that any body of water managed by the Army Corps of Engineers has a strict no firearm policy unless you are involved in a legal hunting activity. I'm not saying Lake Norman falls in this category, but just something to keep in mind for when you get boarded. And since there's no better feeling in the world than being shot at and missed, is it possible they were just trying to make you feel good? :laugh:
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HaHa I dont think that they were trying to make me feel good. I ahve been wrong before though! lol. The lake is managed by Duke power so there is not a firearms policy. We always carry so normally there are at least 3 to 4 guns on board. Everytime we are stopped or check the first thing I tell them is that I have a concealed weapon and they have never even asked to see it. I guess I will be making some calls to the game wardens today.
 
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#5 ·
Have had a guy come down to edge of water one nite and shine us up with a handheld spotlight years ago at about 11pm and he had handgun in one hand but no shots fired,another time we had halos on our boat and had Outdoors Delmarva news guy with us and me and my son thought heard an airgun go off then one of the glass to our lights shattered,we think we're shot at that night, and had a crazy guy chase us down the bank after midnight one night lighting us up with handheld spotlight,he went about 1/4 mile or more thru woods chasing us down the bank, had a guy shine red laser on us from dock also, from about 300 yds away after passed their dock....
 
#6 ·
And you guys think we Californian's are crazy huh?

That stuff simply doesn't happen here, at least that has been my experience. Every interaction I've had on the water at night except one was nothing but polite.

Bunch of crazies living back there.
 
#7 ·
Originally from IL, and something like this happening in that scum puddle wouldnt surprise me a bit. Out here in Wyo though youre lucky to even see another person on the lake let alone get shot at!! A couple times though weve had people call the game wardens on us after trying to tell us what we were doing is illegal (usually birdwatchers, mountain people aka hippies, or those really yuppy "look at my 3,000 dollar fly rod" types) One time the game warden came down and explained to them they were wrong and actually gave us a round of high fives for shooting the carp before he left LOL but man now you got me thinking if maybe i should keep my IWB .40 with me when im out as a precaution. Scary stuff awaldro.... glad im not where youre at
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
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Discussion starter · #11 ·
I have considered reporting the situation to the local news so maybe they would run a story that would highlight the events and then tell that harassing an angler was a misdemeanor crime, however, knowing my luck it would result in bowfishing on this lake getting banned to solve the problem. I think sometimes it is best if we fly under the radar.
 
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
garpwacker said:
This was a good one that happened local

http://bow.fishingcountry.com/forum...sherman-in-the-local-news-paper-and-sucks-to-be-this-guy&highlight=De_Bowfisher
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This is great! I would love for that to have happened in our situation.

There was a woman on Mtn Island lake also a few years ago that everyone called the "Frog Lady" because she would always come out with a shotgun screaming something about hurting her frogs. It actually ended up with a Game Warden warning her and explaining that the bowfishermen were not doing anything illegal and that she was. I dont think anyone has had problems with her ever since. I think "Ncbowfish" has had a few encounters with her before.
 
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#15 ·
Had a warning shot in the air on Lake of the Ozarks, we had shut the lights off and were idling back into a big cove. After the shot we went on to the back of the cove, had a guy on a dirt bike running the bank back and forth where we were fishing. Same lake during a 24 hr ironman tournament we had an old man bouncing bbs off the boat from his deck with a red rider bob gun. Some crazy folks out there!
 
#16 ·
We have been shot at 3 times before twice on Gaston in the same cove and once on Roanoke rapids had someone shooting fireworks at us before too buddys had guy in boat come out and did doughnuts all around them during a tourney and last time got shot at had just got into cove and was letting lights warm up and getting stuff situated in boat when we heard two shots and had the pellets hitting front of boat and all around us me and Jason both drew ours and was bout to return fire but we just trolled on out get around bend and there was two deputys at a bridge we go over and talk and said they had a complaint on loud radiobut it was no louder then genny and we asked about them shooting g at us and the deputys told us to not go back into that cove and avoid that dock
 
#18 · (Edited)
West side of the state seems rough. Haha. Over here on the east the worst I've had was a brief shine of a spot light and some yard lights blinked on n off. Although I prefer rivers that not many live on and the coast where I steer clear of the general populace. Although if I am fired upon I will phone the police and keep the phone on as go straight toward them for some one on one discussion.. Ppl face to face are like keyboard warriors. Big and bad behind a screen or at a distance. Not many have the nuts to pull the trigger on a human face.. If they start hitting aluminum they better make it count as I'm headed to shore. May or may not be the right mentality, but me and the minute I'm fired upon my escalation of force tier just went near the top. Law enforcement must be notified. Have them go with you door to door if need be. A fired shot without known direction is a no go.
 
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Payphone Jones
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