On Saturday Nov. 9, 2002 I went to The In Between Area for most of the day. At the end of the day we went to Oil Crack and climbed a new 5.10c/d? next to a nice crack just down the road from the cave next to the road.
While we were climbing there, somebody started shooting from the top of the cliff down the main gully. The shots sounded pretty close but we could not figure out where they were coming from or what the target was. Some of the shots seem to have come from semi-automatic. It was defintively not hunting. It as more like just shootiing for the hell of it. During the first 30 minutes of almost none stop shooting we got so used to it that we continue climbing. When it was my turned to go up the route and as I was anchoring in to clean at the top, two bullets hit a wall behind me not too far from the route. This scared the crap out of me. I quickly cleaned the anchors and came down ASAP.
We call the cops on a cell phone. They said they were going to send somebody. We packed out stuff and hike to the car which was parked by the fork in the road that goes to Drive By. The shooting continued almost none stop as we hiked to the car. We never saw the cops.
I was there too. We got used to the shooting after a while but when we could here the bullets going through the trees within a few meters from us, we busted ass out of there. It was a little scary.
man me and rat were at drive by a few weeks ago and the same thing happened. after a while you could hear the bullets whizzing by. after a brief scream of "THERE"S FUCKIN PEOPLE DOWN HERE!" it stopped. just yell at them. they're just having fun. they probably didn't know you were there. especially after no one said anything.
Yo HO!! Just got me a code red and some funyons big dawg!!! SHIT YEAH! - Ray, excited about his breakfast
After the two close calls I did scream at them. They stop for a second and then they started all over. Yeah, they reloaded and continued wiith their fun.
I thought if I screamed, they might be able to zero in on a target a lot easier. I've never been shot at before. It was just too wierd.
It sure is messed up. I would hate to see somebody get hurt out there.
I had a shooting encounter in the southern region this spring. We rounded a corner and suddenly heard a number of shots fired. In the time it took for us to ponder where they were coming from another round of shots zipped by. The bullets were extremely close - close enough that we felt the need to get the hell out of there. As soon as we scrambled back around the corner the shooting stopped. It freaked me out.
"damn.
What locals would be pissed about climbers in the Southern Region? (Serious question - I have no clue.)"
The easily pissed kind?
There were a handful of people that knew about Drive-By and Oil Crack, etc...a year ago.
Now from word of mouth and the easy,and lazy way, of asking for directions on an internet forum that is read by hundreds, on any given weekend you will find lines at these areas. No Lynn, that's not meant as a personal shot, it's just one of my new pet-peaves.
Here's a theory:
I'm a guy who lives out that way. I make a lot of money being involved in Ky's #1 cash crop. I've been making good money for a number of years.
One of my hobbies is AK-47's and Guns and Ammo magazine (and face paint).
It seems like lately I see a bunch of vehicles through the week and 20-30 a day on weekends, heading out towards where my field is.
I'm getting tired of it, so I figure I'll scare the bastards off. What better way than to have a good old shoot up.
Don't like that theory? Than maybe it's just lke Dwayne says: "some redneck fuck, all hyped up on Ale-8s and moonpies".
At any rate it sucks, but the woods in and around the gorge have always been "interesting" during hunting season.
