[2ndsupporter]

First of all, I would like to say that this forum made the difference for me today. We don't always agree with each other in a scenario, and I think that all of the debate of the different situations is what kept me on my toes tonight.

A friend and I deciede to do a little fishing this evening and to access the fishing hole we pulled off of a main highway to a parking spot. From there we had to walk 25 yards down a hill to the river. By this time it is dark and once we finally finished rigging the polls we walked down and put the hooks in the water.

We hadn't been there for five minutes when I see lights above us in the same parking lot we parked in. First I thought another fisherman was going to join us. I'm still in a Yellow mode at this point but I'm starting to feel a little light orange after the lights are still on after five minutes or so.

We continued to sit there and not catch a fish for another few minutes when I feel the surge of dark orange run through my bones and I tell the friend it's time for us to go.

We reel in and pack up, I ask him to carry everything since I'm the one with the firearm. As we top the hill we can't see anything but lights as they are aimed directly in our direction. At this point I put my hand on the gun without exposing it and we proceeded.

As we cleared the lights we could see two girls 18 to 22 and two boys about the same age just syanding by their car that is parked right next to me. This has really got the scenarios from this forum going through my mind at this point.

I walked very carefully toward my truck while the friend walks around the back of the car and my truck and watches me as I try and not make eye contact with these folks, although I'm doing my best to try and figure out what their intentions are. As I start to round the rear of the car they step out of the way, thankfully in a direction that I can see all of them and ask us how we did with the fishing. I said not too good and they said too bad, we (they) are going tubing and then they proceeded to unload tubes from the car and head toward the river.

Turned out to be a situation that was inocent, however I feel that this forum in a since trainned me to be more aware and while I may of made some mistakes I never lost my head and I felt in control of what was going on.

So a big THANK YOU to all of y'all out there for your different point of veiws!

 

[mathewsman]

hope you had fun on your fishing trip and glad everything went ok

 

[obxned]

I would have stayed down in the dark. If they wanted to bring me trouble, they would have been night-blind. I would not have placed myself in the beams of their headlights. Besides, I probably would have caught some fish while waiting for them to do whatever it was they wanted to do.

 

[PastorPack]

Glad it turned out to be nothing. Sounds like your fishing trip was a wash, too bad, but I'd have been pretty concerned too in the situation you described.

 

[dukalmighty]

I woulda had the same feeling,In Texas sometimes things aren't what they seem,not to mention a few groups of kids have gone on crime sprees

 

[2ndsupporter]

I would have stayed down in the dark. If they wanted to bring me trouble, they would have been night-blind. I would not have placed myself in the beams of their headlights. Besides, I probably would have caught some fish while waiting for them to do whatever it was they wanted to do.

Good point, although I probably done a poor job discribing the situation at the river. We could not fish a keep our eyes on what was going on behind us. It was a narrow bank and unless I stood up and turned I couldn't see up the hill where they were. I had to make a decision and I felt very vulnerable where we were.

 

[Astute]

I can understand fishing at night, been there, done that on many occasions, but who in their right mind goes river tubing at night?

 

[BikerRN]

Beer, a tube, some tunes, and a pretty gal. :hand10:

Tubing at night is where it's at!

Biker

 

[David in FL]

Beer, a tube, some tunes, and a pretty gal. :hand10:

Tubing at night is where it's at!

Biker

2 couples in their late teens/early 20's in an out-of-the-way spot by the river? I have no trouble at all figuring out what the were up to!

Trust me, they were more unhappy to see you there than you were to see them! :image035:

 

[highoctane]

2 couples in their late teens/early 20's in an out-of-the-way spot by the river? I have no trouble at all figuring out what the were up to!

Trust me, they were more unhappy to see you there than you were to see them! :image035:

What he said! :haha:

 

[kspilot536]

"we finally finished rigging the polls"
HEHEHE....sounds like you were at a democratic event!
You mean Poles?

 

[BamaSteve]

Trust me, they were more unhappy to see you there than you were to see them! :image035:

:rofl: ain't that the truth

 

[dukalmighty]

Down here on the"River" people with tubes at night are "smuggling"

 

[2ndsupporter]

"we finally finished rigging the polls"
HEHEHE....sounds like you were at a democratic event!
You mean Poles?

:haha::rofl::rofl:

Boy, what a true statement I inadvertently made!

Sum tims my spilling ain't so goot!! :rofl:

 

[RMS]

Just a question. Why no eye contact?

 

[2ndsupporter]

It has been said that some of these gangs look at eye contact as a confrontation.

 

[farronwolf]

Ok, I have some questions. If they were only 25 to 30 yds away, why could you not hear what they were doing, or distingish the number of different voices etc? Seem that if it was teen or early 20's couples they would be making plenty of noise, girls would be giggling or telling the boys to stop grabbing whatever, and there should be little doubt as to whether they were a threat or not. If they are going tubing and in a car, was there the sound of an air pump being run to inflate the tubes?

Why would you go up the hill in front of the headlights. Seems it would make much more sense to approach from the side of the hill in the dark, away from the headlights so as to not give your position away. Even if your vehicle was on the other side of theirs you could always go up the hill and go around the back side of their vehicle still staying in the dark.

I don't get the not making eye contact with them. Even if they were gang members, eye contact is a good thing. Eye contact and a nod of the head often go a long ways toward letting someone know your there and your paying attention to what is happening.

Next, why have your hand on you gun while you are walking and have no clue as to what is happening? If your climbing a hill, it would be better served free to catch you if you fell especially if your walking into headlights that blind you. I would not be reaching for my gun until there was something that I determined to be a threat. By placing your hand on your gun first before you know what is there, you are telegraphing to anyone that does have bad intentions just exactly what they can expect. They could change their actions to make you think they are innocent, only to catch you off guard and go directly for your gun that you let them know you have.

Anyway, glad it worked out to be nothing, just giving your some food for thought.

 

[2ndsupporter]

Ok, I have some questions. If they were only 25 to 30 yds away, why could you not hear what they were doing, or distingish the number of different voices etc? Seem that if it was teen or early 20's couples they would be making plenty of noise, girls would be giggling or telling the boys to stop grabbing whatever, and there should be little doubt as to whether they were a threat or not. If they are going tubing and in a car, was there the sound of an air pump being run to inflate the tubes?

Why would you go up the hill in front of the headlights. Seems it would make much more sense to approach from the side of the hill in the dark, away from the headlights so as to not give your position away. Even if your vehicle was on the other side of theirs you could always go up the hill and go around the back side of their vehicle still staying in the dark.

I don't get the not making eye contact with them. Even if they were gang members, eye contact is a good thing. Eye contact and a nod of the head often go a long ways toward letting someone know your there and your paying attention to what is happening.

Next, why have your hand on you gun while you are walking and have no clue as to what is happening? If your climbing a hill, it would be better served free to catch you if you fell especially if your walking into headlights that blind you. I would not be reaching for my gun until there was something that I determined to be a threat. By placing your hand on your gun first before you know what is there, you are telegraphing to anyone that does have bad intentions just exactly what they can expect. They could change their actions to make you think they are innocent, only to catch you off guard and go directly for your gun that you let them know you have.

Anyway, glad it worked out to be nothing, just giving your some food for thought.

All good points, however as I posted before I probably didn't discribe the layout of the scene very well. There was only one way out as there was cliffs on ether side of us. ( I know that was my first mistake) As for having my hand on my gun, I at no time exposed my gun.

As far as the hearing them joking and playing around, the river drowned out any chance of hearing anything and that also made me wonder especially as I got closer to them. Why wouldn't they be making noise if there intentions were pure. Seemed to me another reason to be cautious.

As far as the eye contact, I saw this on gangland on the History channel, is it correct info? I don't know for sure, but I wasn't about to test it out in that situation.

The tubes they were using were not big and they had them stuffed in the trunk. I saw only 2 tubes, maybe they were getting ready to air up more. Not sure. I am sure however, whether I did things correctly or not, I can say that my SA was up, thanks mostly to this forum and I walked away without any bad things happening!

I aslo learned the varrables are endless in any situation and hind sight is certinly 20/20!

 

[RETSUPT99]

Staying alert is the beginning of problem solving.:yup:

Glad you had no problems, but I believe that you approached the potential problem correctly.:hand10:

Stay armed...always be alert...stay safe!

 

[paramedic70002]

Tubing at night? Your rivers must be a whole lot nicer than mine!