JERK NEIGHBOR and how I dealt with him.

[Bogey]

Well friends it had to happen.   Last Sunday evening ( 7-26-09)  I was in my backyard that is surrounded by a 6 ft privacy fence.  I was shooting a Big Cat at targets on my back stop which is 7ft high by 12ft long and almost 3 inches thick solid board.   On one of my trips to check the targets I heard a person shouting something.  I thought someone was just calling a dog or something.  As I wallked back to my patio I heard more shouting and looked in that direction.   There was this man who appeared to be quite aways over the top of my fence.  I thought what the hell? This clowns house is almost 300ft from mine. I walked over towards this person and he began to  read me the Riot Act and giving me the 3rd degree on what I was doing.  He stated that I was disturbing his wife and dog.  Wanted to know what I did for a living.  Was I retired.  That he and his wife was worried (and his dog).  That he needed to give his approval for me to shoot even a BB gun.   I listened to this piece of Dog Squeeze and made no replies or comments to him except to say that I had a back stop to shoot into.   He stated that he had to get a ladder inorder to look over the fence to see what I was doing.  When he said that, I knew I had him.   This one comment put this turd into the unique classification of Peeping Tom.  

I have contacted my lawyer and will prosecute Tom  ( his real name ) if he ever hovers over the fence in the future.   I have installed a higher fence to discourage him and if he peers into my yard in the future the papers are with my lawyer.   Also he has been sent notification in the mail to cease and desist any future actions such as peering into/at  my yard and home.

So far, this snoop has not even opened his back door to watch my crew construct the fence that will  block his views.   Today  is 7-30-09,  The fence would have been up sooner but the rains delayed construction.  I have considered contacting the homes around his and offer to build new fences for them. And completly wall off this dog squeeze .
SPECIFICATIONS : at least 8ft high and double lapped boards.  BTW  the new fence is over 8ft high.
Why would I do this?   Because I can.

[1shotwander]

Damn andI thought my neighbors could be bad at times!! I could understand if it was a 9mm or something but come on, a big cat?? I could maybe even understand if it was continually producing a supersonic crack.... but that to say something about it at 300ft? I didn't think that a big cat was THAT loud!!

[shadow]

Top it off with barbed wire and you should be set .   The are folk's out there that are just not happy unless their making someone else unhappy. :0 Ed

[gamo2hammerli]

Hope it works out for you.  In my area, no shooting of any kind, be it arrows, bbs, pellets, bullets, bowguns, slingshots etc are allowed within city limits.  So in my backyard, even if it's fenced off....and somebody complains....I'm in trouble.  Technically, even if I shoot in my house in the basement....I can still get in trouble since that's within city limits!!!!!

Yep, some neigbours are just not happy if you're happy....   !&%$ them.

[ShadowShot]

Take down the fence and shoot the neighbor,
with a rubber band.

I had a jerk like that when I was growing up.
I use to hunt in the woods beside me and the"new neighbors"
moved in. Long story short, I had a visit from the sheriff about my
daisy 880 hunting. Never stopped me, just was careful to not let them see me.

[RedFeather]

Just be sure you are in accordance with your local laws and regulations.  Where I live, it doesn't matter if you are 3000 feet from another house if you haven't jumped through all the legal hoops and hurdles.  After doing that, and if you are legally ok, he doesn't have a leg (or ladder) to stand on.  One more caveat - don't write anything which could come back to bite you here on this forum or elsewhere.  You never know who might be reading your posts these days!(

[Bogey]

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and concerns.   And I would never put anything in writing to this joker. Or name him outright.  That is why I keep an attorney on retainer at all times. He is a snake and a weasel ( the attorney) but he is my snake and weasel.
My residence is in an un-incorporated part of the county, there are no restrictions on use of Air Guns, except to not endanger life or property.
It has been explained that any communications are to be  through my attorney.  This has been explained to the other party by certified mail.  He has already signed for the letter.
He called  my attorney  and said not to send him any legal papers for at least 1 month as he  had to leave town unexpectedly this Friday.  HA !
My attorney asked this gentleman where he could be contacted by phone if needed.   He stated he did not know where he would be at any given time.
Seems like this  dog squeeze is going to lay low  and disappear until he thinks the storm has passed.    I guess the  prospect  being prosecuted as a peeping Tom just doesn't appeal to him.

On a side note: I had a 'Biker' work crew start at 7 am every morning.  Plenty of noise and shouting.  It must have terrified the crap out of my neighbor.  He never showed and his dog never barked.   The bikers are mostly former law enforcement that work for my son in his business.  They just have bikes and thought it would be a hoot to put on a show.   They are not 'cleancut' looking .  About 12 showed up every morning  but only 4 actually did any work. They parked the bikes so they could be seen and heard easily.   The others just sat around and drank coffee and ate biscuits  (looking menaceing ) until noon or until the rains started.  Boy could they eat the biscuits.  But we  had fun.
 

[North Pack]

There's always one in every neighborhood - nice goin' & best of luck.

[Fritz]

You have done a very nice job dealing with your jerk wad. Thankfully my neighbors care not if I shoot, as long as I take full responsibility for ALL projectiles... and of course that I shoot safely. Some actually support my cause, since we have a private road I can legally OPEN carry as I talk to any trespasser- not many repeat offenders.

[tylorw]

Wow man I feel bad that you have to live near him  :0

It's a good thing you handled the situation well though  

That's funny I bet he went back to his house pouting after you rattled off on him  

Well I'm sure your free to shoot whenever now that you got that jerk off your tail  

Take Care & Keep Shooting

Tylor

[douglas george]

I sometimes shoot air rifles in my back yard...50 ft range, just along the fence between my house and the neighbor.  My neighbor moved, a new neighbor moved in...and one day I heard a soft poping sound, and the impact of pellets in a target...I came out side, he heard my door open, and he quickly went inside.  Next time he was outside I got my RWS 46 out, and shot a few rounds in the back yard.  Well my neighbor got his Crossman pellet gun out and started shooting too!  I asked him to join me for some friendly shooting...he said sure!  I now have a new air gun friend!
Douglas George

[cole5169]

Sounds like you have things under control now

We had one inquisitive neighbor - several houses away, though - who was worried what was going on in our fenced-in backyard until one day this June when he was walking his dog along the road in front, and saw my wife calmly shooting carpenter bees out of the air with her huge, menacing-looking UTG L94 airsoft "sniper" rifle.  I came out the front door (just to get the mail) and saw this poor guy looking slack-jawed up the drive.

"What's she doing?"  he stammered.  I had to go look, because I couldn't see her around the corner and the gun is so quiet I didn't even know she was outside shooting.

"Oh...  home improvement,"  I said, and explained the bees situation.  He was amazed, and we ended up talking for twenty minutes about airguns and shooting.  I even brought him out a cheap M-14 airsoft rifle to fool around with, and let him shoot the mailbox with it a few times (he was impressed that he could hit it).  He said he had heard the reports of my airguns and pellets hitting traps, field targets, and our backstop, and had not known what to think, except to be a little "afraid" of us.  Now that he has met us,  he's not afraid any more (of me, at least!), and he's interested in getting a QB-78 for his backyard now

[tjk]

Way to go Mike!!!. Of course knowing of the laws and local ordinaces  of my neighborhood and township,......I would have replied to his BS in much harsher and unpleasent words,....and threatenned to call to law on him for being a noisy, no account piece of crap invading MY privacy!!!...like peeping over someone else's exsisting fence. Knowing the laws of our respective domiciles is of the utmost importance in regards to our hobby.
Douglas,...Great to know you've made a new friend in the air-gun community!!!!! tjk

[BJames]

I have some real dirtbag neighbors.  I'm almost certain they're dealing drugs.  The "house" next door is actually a duplex and it's not in good condition.  Cars are constantly coming and going, and shady characters are always hanging out in their front yard.  It's the only duplex on the street, and the rest of our neighborhood is actually pretty nice.  Anyway, these people throw their cigarette butts in our yard, and walk across my lawn constantly to get to the street. I know that's not such a big deal, but man what happened to respecting the property of others?  I wish there was something I could do to get rid of them.

[lil'feeby]

bogey, i don't know you but i like you a lot. peace