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It has been a long time since I've had the cops roll up on me while hunting but they did last Saturday night. I have to say that it went as absolutely well as it could. I have had encounters with most of the usual law enforcement agencies you would expect, sheriff, local city cops, border patrol, DFG, and now I can add the CHP to the list.
It was about 7:30-8:00 in the evening when we got off the highway, went about 1/2 a mile up the road, turned off on a dirt road and by now we noticed that we have picked up a tail. We went up the dirt road less than 1/2 a mile, stopped, and went dark just as they did the same. We spent about 2 minutes discussing what was going on when they turned their lights back on and started coming our way. At this point we both stepped out of the vehicle and walked to the back bumper with our empty hands in plain sight as they rolled up with the spot lights blazing.
Two younger cops, one was probably mid to late 20's and the other in his early 30's at best, exit the vehicle and the senior officer asks what we are up to. I told him we were out for an evening of predator hunting and he comments with, "oh OK, no problem then". What ensued was more like your typical b.s. session amongst fellow gun nuts than it was a fishing expedition from an overzealous cop. Sure, he asked where we were from, which way had we come in from, what caliber were we shooting, did I mind if he took a look at my AR, mind if his partner could check it out too. He mentioned that their interest was in that they were gun nuts too and that they had just both purchased AR's , the younger guy had an S&W and the senior officer a CMMG. Funny this was my first time ever in the field with an AR, I've always run a much more conventional bolt gun. My AR is a DPMS Sweet 16 upper mated with a Calguns lower with a Hammerhead stock adapter and the short fixed tactical stock. Neither one had seen such a beast and were both interested in how it felt and looked. They never even really considered checking ID's, running serial numbers, or any along those lines.
Myself, I subscribe to the theory that the less time I spend interacting with law enforcement the better. While I am a basic law abiding citizen, I have much more to loose than I do to gain. That being said I am not a real proponent of the whole "am I being detained, am I free to go now, is that a legal question officer, I am not required to answer that" kind of crap. These guys were polite and professional and while they did conduct a bit of a fishing expedition, they were neither pricks nor over bearing about it. Their reason for rolling on us was because 1) we drove off into the desert and they see all kinds of illegal stuff go on out there and 2) when they went to follow us we went dark, just as they did too. I told them we went dark because we saw that they were following us and we did not know who they were.
All in all it went about as well as could be hoped for. I have been rolled by some real dicks before and these two guys were surely a credit to their profession.
It was about 7:30-8:00 in the evening when we got off the highway, went about 1/2 a mile up the road, turned off on a dirt road and by now we noticed that we have picked up a tail. We went up the dirt road less than 1/2 a mile, stopped, and went dark just as they did the same. We spent about 2 minutes discussing what was going on when they turned their lights back on and started coming our way. At this point we both stepped out of the vehicle and walked to the back bumper with our empty hands in plain sight as they rolled up with the spot lights blazing.
Two younger cops, one was probably mid to late 20's and the other in his early 30's at best, exit the vehicle and the senior officer asks what we are up to. I told him we were out for an evening of predator hunting and he comments with, "oh OK, no problem then". What ensued was more like your typical b.s. session amongst fellow gun nuts than it was a fishing expedition from an overzealous cop. Sure, he asked where we were from, which way had we come in from, what caliber were we shooting, did I mind if he took a look at my AR, mind if his partner could check it out too. He mentioned that their interest was in that they were gun nuts too and that they had just both purchased AR's , the younger guy had an S&W and the senior officer a CMMG. Funny this was my first time ever in the field with an AR, I've always run a much more conventional bolt gun. My AR is a DPMS Sweet 16 upper mated with a Calguns lower with a Hammerhead stock adapter and the short fixed tactical stock. Neither one had seen such a beast and were both interested in how it felt and looked. They never even really considered checking ID's, running serial numbers, or any along those lines.
Myself, I subscribe to the theory that the less time I spend interacting with law enforcement the better. While I am a basic law abiding citizen, I have much more to loose than I do to gain. That being said I am not a real proponent of the whole "am I being detained, am I free to go now, is that a legal question officer, I am not required to answer that" kind of crap. These guys were polite and professional and while they did conduct a bit of a fishing expedition, they were neither pricks nor over bearing about it. Their reason for rolling on us was because 1) we drove off into the desert and they see all kinds of illegal stuff go on out there and 2) when they went to follow us we went dark, just as they did too. I told them we went dark because we saw that they were following us and we did not know who they were.
All in all it went about as well as could be hoped for. I have been rolled by some real dicks before and these two guys were surely a credit to their profession.
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