Be Vewy Quiet, I’m Hunting Wunners
You’ve dealt with bad weather, yappy little dogs, inattentive drivers, and so on. But I hope you haven’t come across British farmer David Manton, who has a unique way of handling an uninvited group of trail runners.
Pity he wasn’t sentenced to lace on some shoes and run himself happy – it’s amazing what a stress relief running is….almost medicinal even.
It’s unfortunate these runners were so inconsiderate of private property. They could have apologized and turned around. While I’d be scared of meeting up with someone with a gun, too, my reaction would be to head out the way I came in… backing out… very slowly.
The farmer was completely within his rights. Firing a warning shot was probably a bit of overkill, but (assuming that the story is accurate) the runners should have gotten off the property when he asked them to.
I have been in a similar situation, although there were a few key differences.
1. The guy didn’t own the land
2. The path had become a right of way
3. It was posted no trespassing…but not from the direction that we always ran it so we’d never seen the signs
4. He never discharged his rifle, but he did point it at us numerous times until his 10 year old son started crying
5. He swore and yelled at us to get off his property but never gave us an opportunity to do so