Had to "Clear" my Backyard Last Night....now a Question

[shooter556]

Imagine if it were several armed intruders and you go outside by yourself. You would have been smoked. I think it's smarter to stay inside and find a position where you can see them but they can't see you. Then if they DO go in you pop one and I doubt the rest will be eager to get shot as well. But on the contrary if you're outside by yourself they'll clearly see they have you outnumbered and will most likely stay and finish what they started. Unless you're rambo and decide to take them all on.

[dieselpower]

look at all this foolishness... at least no one has brought up zombies, werewolves and Dracula yet...


DA PLANE BOSS, DA PLANE!!!!!

[FatalKitty]

this is really just my 2 cents

I was asleep and heard a loud noise somewhere and just kinda wrote it off as either a dream or the family cat getting into some mischief. Not but 5 seconds later my wife comes running into our room whisper-yelling, "DID YOU HEAR THAT?!? HURRY GET YOUR GUN!!!"

Women are easily concerned/scared.

Apparently my wife was putting our daughter to sleep when that noise happened right outside my daughters' window to the backyard. Blinds were closed so my wife didnt see anything. She also heard other noises prior to the loud noise, but whote them off until the loud one happened. For the record: I'm not the type of person that would wait for an intruder to come into my house and put my family at risk just so I can have some legal standing.....I'd rather put them furthest away from danger and confront the potential threat far away from them (not that it means i'm going to automatically shoot on sight or anything, but i wouldnt hesitate if I saw the perp had a weapon or if they came at me).

While others mag disagree, I support a reasonable prevention of danger - usually that involves telling my girlfriend to get in the back bathroom in the tub with her shotgun and the doors locked... not necessarily putting MYSELF in danger

Anyway, I tell her to turn off ALL lights inside so if somebody is in our backyard, they cant see in and I can see out. It was about 10:45PM at this time. So I rush to get basic clothes on and quickly grab my surefire tac light and my loaded Kimber. I slowly creep up and peer out the window....it's lighter outside than inside now since the lights are all off. I see nothing moving and hear nothing else. I need to get outside to verify, but decided against opening the sliding glass door because tactically speaking, it's not in the best placement: Middle of the yard....If I looked right first and someone was to my left, they'll get the jump on me. So I quickly move back to the garage and out the side door to the side yard. First thing I notice is that it is really windy.

Well that explains a loud noise, doesn't it? go back inside and tell your wife she is crazy

Then I see our gate is fully closed and locked. Phew! That tells me that it is much less likely that someone is back there because our gate would make too much noise to risk closing, let alone opening. Still suspicious, I shine the light down the side yard towards the back. WOW!!! 260 Lumens is freaking BRIGHT

I would consider 120 to be MAXIMUM in that sort of situation, 260 can be handy, but NOT for a bedside companion

when you just wake up. It took my eyes a second to adjust and understand what I am seeing.....all clear. Proceeded down the side to the backyard and turned the corner, lit up the backyard again. BRIGHT. All clear. Turns out after clearing both side yards and backyard that the wind blew over my daughters' playhouse wall and it made a bunch of noise crashing to the concrete. So false alarm.

All legal questions aside regarding confronting a potential trespasser in your fenced off backyard at 10:45 at night, I am so surprised at how bright 260 lumens is when your eyes have been adjusted to complete darkness and I have to wonder: What is the optimal brightness for a tac light when in these situations? I found out that the light should be too bright because even when the light is not pointed at me, it can still be too bright. But on the other hand, if it was that bright for me, it's going to be WAY brighter for the one I am shining it on, thus completely blinding his vision my direction, so maybe that one second adjustment with my eyes doesnt matter so much, as the recipient of the light will be basically completely blinded looking in my direction?

And what if you shine your light at a white wall or glass door and all that light bounces back at you? seriously... 260 lumens is TOO MUCH

Just wondering what others use as their pitch black tac lights and what you think the optimal light/lumen output is.

BTW: My tac light is a Surefire M951 with a Malkoff E61 LED lamp upgrade.

[ASTMedic]

I think you are discrediting how much a dog can turn the tide in a situation like this. Some have commented about trained protection dogs but most people really don't need to go to that level. For most home protection an average sized dog will do just fine. They don't need to attack on command. Many dogs will come to the defense of their owners without hesitation when it really matters and really just the barking is good enough to stop most criminals. If something goes bump outside our house I have told my wife to be sure the dogs are allowed free run inside the house to confront anyone that could try to come in. Most dogs will respond to genuine fear in their owners and react.

[TeddyBallgame]

dogs can make a difference...growing up we had a pretty nice sized german shepard who caught one of our neighbors trying to peep into our bathroom, probably trying to see if one of my sisters was in there, but, he got caught, and, chewed on a little bit for his trouble...he was nothing but fail anyways...sad, because his parents, sisters and brothers all good people, he was just a bad egg...even now, 35 years later, he's doing time in prison, been there for most of his life...don't think he's getting out either, im sure he killed someone

anyway, our dog was always great at alerting us to people around the house, they are great deterrents too, people dont want to F with a dog, they'll go somewhere else, unless your home is being targeted for a particular reason

[Huevos Machaca]

A guard dog is nice, but my very young children are far more important, and the increased liability it brings should said guard dog/s get out is more than I care to bring upon my family. If anything, I'd get a dog that would bark for alerting purposes....a nice dog.

Consider a boxer. Outstanding family dogs, protective of their pack (your kids) and alert on strangers. They also look intimidating.

[Baconator]

Consider a boxer. Outstanding family dogs, protective of their pack (your kids) and alert on strangers. They also look intimidating.

Yeah, we are looking for a boxer puppy now for these reasons.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[The Virus]

The OP clearly is well trained.
Why else would he leave his loved ones alone and go outside to confront an unknown threat?

[SocomM4]

The OP clearly is well trained.
Why else would he leave his loved ones alone and go outside to confront an unknown threat?

It's a mystery we may never solve.

I'm looking into tactical hiding classes as I type. That and a new purse.

[dieselpower]

^ Tactical 911 dialing class...

[dieselpower]

^ Tactical 911 dialing class...

[Doheny]

^ Tactical 911 dialing class...

.

[TeddyBallgame]

i could probably go out and "clear" my yard 2, maybe, 3 times a night everytime I heard a bump in the night...im sure im not the only one either

[Firerescuebatt07]

I would never go outside... if I heard a noise out back it would put me on alert... any further noises and I am moving my kids to the back of the house with the wife and a pistol, telling her to call 911 and I will be in a room ahead of the room that has my family peeping at the stairs with my rifle waiting for someone to walk into view to meet Mr Jerry H. Price (JHP for short)

[brianm767]

My advise would be next time, call the police and stay inside the safety of your house.

I see too many folks here who take unnecessary risk, we are not cops, we are not trained as cops, IMOP your actions prove my point, even a police officer would have waited for back up.

I would say if you felt the need to protect your family, call the popo get your gun if you feel it is necessary and place your family somewhere in you home in a defense able position.

Just my thoughts, I'm glad it worked out safely for you.