Well, Scott, since you chose to handle this publically on the list, I will respond in kind. Scott, BACK OFF. You need to sit down, take a deep breath, and lay off of the personal attack on me. YES, personal. You were not there and YOU are judging my account of the events and calling me names (like, "irresponsible"). NOW, I will get on MY soapbox! I, too, am a target shooter, I HUNT (elk and deer), I have a CCW permit and legally carry a concealed semi-automatic weapon. I legally carry in the field as part of my search and rescue activities. HOW DARE YOU ASSUME that I am somehow "anti-gun" or that I think it is "politically incorrect"??? I am about as PRO-GUN (sport and defensive) as they come. I have even been directly threatened; about 2 years ago, living as a single mom, I thwarted a break-in (yes, they actually broke in my house) BECAUSE I had a gun. The police, to whom I made a rather frantic 911 call, never even showed up! They didn't keep me on the phone as they are supposed to do, and they were so busy they "forgot" until I called them again. Thank God I have a weapon to defend myself and my family. Need I state the OBVIOUS that you were NOT THERE at the cache, so how do you know how close the gunfire was??? Are you the only person capable of judging how close gunfire is?? Since you have been to the cache, do you remember the old abandoned (shot-up) building closest to the cache?? (Between the road and the cache) We heard the shot hit/ricochet off THAT building. IT WAS THAT close. I call that "just about got shot" as it was that close. Intentional or NOT!!! Our fear was that those shooting didn't know we were in the area, so we yelled out "HEY WE ARE HERE" and after two more shots, it stopped. We have no idea where the people were. Who are you to judge an experience that you were not even part of?????? I REALLY take personal offense that you would go off on me like that, calling me "irresponsible", "uncomfortable around guns" and attacking my ability to assess a situation involving gunfire, when you had NO IDEA how close the gunfire was to us. Shame on you!!! You need to publically apologize for being totally out of line and attacking my story, my views and my credibility. If you read my log, you would have seen that I said we saw and heard nothing until we were part way to the cache. Had we seen the shooters prior to our walking to the cache, like Larry indicated he did, we would have asked for them to stop for the few minutes it took to do the cache. And, how do you know FOR SURE it was a sport-target shooter? Maybe a disgruntled mine-owner/land owner/crazy person wants people off his private property! There was a sign there granting access, but it did have restrictions on shooting near (OR AT) buildings. OBVIOUSLY this person who SHOT AT AND HIT the old building NEAR US was violating the law. Some kind of law-abiding target shooter? Maybe not. Next time, may I recommend that you keep your mouth shut until you know more facts about the situation. Free speech and free expression are fine, but it doesn't mean you are always right. I'll bet I'll get a whole bunch of negative comments back from this, but I don't care. ALL of you keep in mind, before you respond, that Scott brought this up, and that YOU were not there, and the gunfire was CLOSE. It was not a "mile off" as Scott the Psychic says. The building that WE HEARD GET HIT was less than 50 yards from our position at that time, (on the way to the cache) and about 25 yards from our vehicle, and we had no idea exactly which direction the shooter was. (It was so loud, it was hard to assess direction against that hill) You be the judge, under THOSE conditions, as to whether we had a right to be concerned. I think anybody attempting this cache needs to be aware, and careful. Trisha Prescott On Fri, 29 Nov 2002, Scott Wood wrote: > > At 06:49 PM 11/29/2002 -0800, you wrote: > > >I did a cache today north of Wickenberg/Congress called the OASIS > >cache....just about got SHOT....anyway, I noticed that the last person > >to log online, on 11/16, who shall remain nameless (but he goes by > > I have to jump in here. How can you say that you "just about got > SHOT" > when you just heard gunfire? As a regular target shooter I take great > offense at the notion that just because a person hears gunshots that > they > are somehow intended to hit the person, or endanger the person that > hears > the shots. I don't mean this as a personal thing, but what on earth > would > make you think that you were the target of this gunfire? > > As I said, I have been target shooting for a long time, and it is just > as > legitimate of an outdoor activity as goecahing or hiking. I am also > getting pretty tired of being maligned just because I choose to engage > in a > hobby that others might find politically incorrect. > > I have been to the cache that you mention, and yes, I did log it, and > that > area is pretty flat with the exception of the hills that the cache is > located in. Gunshots will be heard there for a very long distance and > could have been over a mile from you, in an entirely different > direction. > > I realize that there are always going to be people that are > uncomfortable > around those that have guns, but I feel that it was very irresponsible > for > you to say that you "just about got SHOT" when you have no idea if the > gunfire was anywhere near you. You actually said that you never saw > the > people shooting, so more than likely you didn't just about get shot. > > Please don't take what I said the wrong way, but I would ask that you > choose your words more carefully, they do actually mean things. > > I hope that your message doesn't scare people off, OASIS is actually a > decent little cache. > > > In liberty, > > Scott > > wood@myblueheaven.com > www.myblueheaven.com > > _______________________________________________ > Az-Geocaching mailing list > listserv@azgeocaching.com > http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching > > Arizona's Geocaching Resource > http://www.azgeocaching.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, Anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~