Dodging Bullets on the Kentucky River

[MrSplitshot]

As I mentioned in another thread, I hit the Kentucky River below the lock at Boonesboro today...promised a friend of mine that I'd take him out on the river one day while he was down at the State Park Campground with his camper. The water was a little murky, in great shape, with water temps in the low 80's...it fished typical to my usual river experience - A few small bass on buzzbaits. It was comfortable outside and we ran way up past Clay's Ferry...nice day to be on the water.

So we're running back upriver and things got interesting.

A few hundred yards downstream from the old Shipwreck at Hall's I notice something hitting the water ahead of me....I throttled back to examine and heard the gunshots. Bullets were spraying the river, shore to shore....looked like something from a Chuck Norris movie. It wasn't just a couple of pot shots either. It was multiple rounds, fired in rapid succession. It didn't sound like large caliber, but it didn't sound like .22 rounds either. I'm not sure what it was, but it was everywhere. There was no time between the percussion of the shot and the impact on the water, so it was close. It would go for bit, then stop...then start up again...I watched what I'm guessing was 60-70 rounds pound the water.

Not 30 minutes prior, a group of 12 canoes with 2 kids in each one had floated through right there. There were several boats that had gone through as well. I'm a laid back kind of guy, but I know a bad situation in the making when I see one. Needless to say, we looked at each other and were certain that upriver was nowhere to be. I did a big U-turn and got back down the river a ways, grabbed the cell phone and called the State Police. The dispatcher told me that there was a Law Enforcement Shooting Range down that way, which I knew about, but I find this hard to believe. If a shooting range is setup in such a way that rounds can end up in the river, aint that a problem? I find it hard to believe that an officer of the law would knowlingly put rounds into a public body of water...there's just no way. Something wasn't right. The dispatcher said he was going to notify the range and send someone down there. After a few more bursts of fire into the water a few minutes later, it stopped. About 15 minutes later a KDFWR patrol boat comes down the river, checks our licenses and the normal inspection routine, then I asked if they had received a call from the State Police by chance. He said that they had and asked if we were the boat that called...he, too, mentioned that there was a law enforcement shooting range down that way and that they would look around. They didn't really act like it was a big deal. I wish they could have seen what we did.

Anyone else had anything like that happen down there before? Talk about dangerous! I didn't set out with plans on getting shot today...especially not for the sake of a few 12" river dinks.

[roberte68]

The Law Enforcement Range does not fire towards the River, they fire in-land into a hillside.

[flippindrew]

robert is correct, ive been to their shooting range. they fire into a hill. i would have raised heck until something was done to the morons firing into the water. i cant believe they blew it off like it was nothing. what someone had been running down the river at a fast pace and didnt have time to react? bad news there, glad you had time to figure out what was going on.

[BanditMan]

I'm glad you are all right first of all. Then what the heck they don't think that bullets all over the water is a big deal. Give me a break. I know they can't be every place at any given minute, but never mind it's a wast of effort.

[DJD]

Brian,
Wow, good to hear your ok.....We put in at Highbridge a few years ago and watched some guys shooting a high powered rifle into the river from the hillside and the bullets were flying into the far side of the river. Some of these guys are living in a different world.

[Cobra190]

Glad you weren't caught deeper into a major problem. Very evident you were within the presence of idiots. Anyone with an ounce of common sense when it comes to firearms, know to never fire into water. The larger percentage of any caliber weapon will richotet instead of going into the water.

[MrSplitshot]

I felt pretty sure that the range would be firing away from the river, into the hillside...anything else is just too dumb to make sense.

I think we were dealing with some moron sitting somewhere on one of those hillsides practicing for dumbass of the year award by shooting the water. There were two orange kayaks sitting up on an old dock, just downstream from the shipwreck, and I saw several bullets hit the water a foot or so from them. Maybe that was the bullseye.

[WacoWildcat]

I'm from Richmond and I fish that area from time to time mainly because it's close. In the evening after work it's the only place to go. I've never had any bad experiences on the water there other than catching little dinks. It can hold some good fish though, mainly boone and howards creek. I did however have a similar experience on cave run one evening. We heard gun shots and then something flying through the trees and hitting the water. If you've ever heard the sound you know right away what it is. Needless to say we got the %^*& out of there. Glad to hear your alright though.

[mhall]

robert is correct, ive been to their shooting range. they fire into a hill. i would have raised heck until something was done to the morons firing into the water. i cant believe they blew it off like it was nothing. what someone had been running down the river at a fast pace and didnt have time to react? bad news there, glad you had time to figure out what was going on.

My sentiments exactly.......

[BigPoppy]

This is just my opinion and is what I would do and indeed have done. I can not understand why the water patrol blew that off, anyone with any firearms training knows if fire from a range was hitting there it would have to be lobbing into the area pretty much straight down, and you would not have heard the report most likely, and the rounds would be very spread out and not bank to bank. You described what sounds like 9mm fire very fast firing weapons easy to reload and fairly quiet. When we lived in Louisiana we would often fish and hunt on National Forest land one afternoon we were fishing a natural beaver pond and all hell broke loose about a quarter mile up the road from us and it was heavey automatic fire it turned out to be an M60 (7.62/308) we called the sherriff and they blew us off like they did you later we returned and eased our way up there and found brass and a few of the metal links that from the chain. We called the State Troopers once again they blew us off saying the soldiers fro Ft. Polk dumped stuff like that in the woods all the time. (A LOAD OF CRAP I was a Staff Sergeant at the time)
the following monday I called the BATF office in New Orleans and they sent out a field agent and he came and spoke to us and we showed him the area about a month later he called me and informed me they had tracked down some of the prints and busted two guys who liked to dress up all in white and wear pointed little dunce hats. If you fish this area alot or if you have friends or family that does I would go ahead and call up the chain some, it may have been a one time thing or it might be some A-- hole practicing for something much worse. I am glad no one was hurt, be safe have and everyone watch each others back out there.

Dennis

[biggw]

Glad all is well man--People shooting in the river is nothing new been going on for a long long time man-i have encountered that many times over the years its a way of live with those river people........a person needs to watch out for that when they are out on the river...stay safe guys

[CTFSHWHISKER]

am i wrong but i was thinking it was illegal to shoot into a body of water period,dad wouldn't let me, maybe it was just the glancing factor,but now don't you have to use steel ammo if it is going to land in water?