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Was out dove hunting on my neighbors place a few days ago, coming back to the truck on the 4-wheeler I get stopped by the local game warden. He checks my shotgun for the plug and such, then asks for my ID and hunting license. I give him my CHL, DL, and hunting license. He asks where my hand gun is, I tell him its in the saddle bag on the fuel tank of the 4-wheeler.

He walks over to the 4-wheeler, reaches into the bag, withdraws the the XD, slides it out of the holster, and in doing so pulls the trigger.

After we both check to see who was hit we determined no one was hit.
The 4-wheeler took a direct hit to the right front tire.

He is panicking for a discharge and at the same time stressed out to the nines for shooting my 4-wheeler.
As we walk back to my truck (about 4 miles) he is apologizing the whole time.

We get back to the truck and drive back to my place, get a spare wheel and go back.

We get back to the parking area, I hand him the wheel and and we go back to the 4-wheeler
Get the wheel changed and I give him a ride to his truck.

He said we had about 3 hours of paperwork to do and would I mind meeting him back at my house to do it.
I said, "paperwork for what, you needing a ride back to your truck?"

Moral of the story,
Just because they are LEO does not mean they know how to handle a gun
Just because they are LEO does not mean they are not people too

Good story. I hope that he learned a couple of lessons. Thanks for the post.

All I can say is Wow!

And good on you for handling it the way you did

I can't lie, I'd have been at the least a little upset.....but then again, the realization that no one was hurt/hit would've probably leveled me off pretty well.

Wow! I'm glad no one was hurt! You handled yourself well thorkyl. I'm glad that the game warden only wounded your 4 wheeler, and didn't kill it.

I'll bet the warden thinks twice about handling firearms he's not familiar the next time this situation pops up.

I have to say my initial impulse on reading this was not terribly forgiving... I'll bet if you accidentally launched one into the tire of his vehicle, you wouldn't be getting the "citizens are people too" treatment. You were very generous to him.

I hope the guy learned several things. Given that it sounds like you were not doing anything remotely illegal, never mind threatening, and that your handgun was not even on your person, I cannot imagine any sensible reason for him to go pull the gun out of the saddlebag. And then it was downhill from there.

Thanks for the story.

I would have been extremely bent that he went into my bag in the first place. I told him where it is, what more does he need to know?

thorkyl wrote:Just because they are LEO does not mean they know how to handle a gun
Just because they are LEO does not mean they are not people too

Amen to each statement.

I am glad your tire was the only victim. Grace is a powerful thing.

Jason

Purplehood wrote:I would have been extremely bent that he went into my bag in the first place. I told him where it is, what more does he need to know?

That's kind of what I was thinking. Bet the GW wishes he had felt that way too ...now

If he is any kind of man you should find a new ATV tire and wheel on your front porch soon.

What was he carrying?

Rex B wrote:If he is any kind of man you should find a new ATV tire and wheel on your front porch soon.

My thoughts exactly! Time to man-up for your mistakes...

Why was he even stooging through your bag looking for the gun? You obviously didn't have the handgun on you nor were you going for it, according to your story. I'm just trying to understand how these guys think.. Or do they even bother?

Since he was very apologetic, I too would've been kind about the minor disaster.

However, I would've politely asked the reason he needed to see/handle your pistol.

I don't understand his need...?

thorkyl wrote:

...He walks over to the 4-wheeler, reaches into the bag, withdraws the the XD, slides it out of the holster, and in doing so pulls the trigger...

Therein lies the reason that I like the Thumb Safety on my .45 XD Service. I'd be a lot more comfortable with my XD 9 SC if it had a thumb safety.

Just my 2¢ worth.

thorkyl wrote:
We get back to the truck and drive back to my place, get a spare wheel and go back.

So, when you got back to your house, did you tell him to stay in the truck and "Don't touch *anything*"??