Neighbor Problems

I live in the country and occasionally shoot targets for probably an hour maybe once a month. I have a new neighbor that moved in a few months ago. The first time I was out shooting he came over to my place with a badge on his hip telling me it was not legal to shoot on my property. I asked him if he was a LEO and found out he was security for Silver Dollar City.(WOW). Trying to be the good neighbor, I politely explained that I am not breaking any laws and it is perfectly legal to shoot on my property. I also explained that I am not shooting toward anything that would cause harm.

Since then he called the County Sheriff office on three occasions and they came out and spoke with me about shooting. Everytime they agreed that I was shooting is a safe manner and not breaking any laws.

Last week I decided to take the tractor out and I dug a 100 yard long shooting range with a 12' berm. This neighbors house is approx 3/4 of a mile from my place. I am shooting in the opposite direction .

Yesterday I took a few of my guns out for a little target practice. A couple of the other neighbors came over and we were shooting for about 20 minutes and here comes the Sheriff driving across my lawn to where we were. He immediatly got out and wanted to see our hands. We all obliged and he then relaxed a bit. He told me he was the sargeant and he was called out on a complaint of gunfire. I explained to him that this was the fourth time this neighbor has called and I asked if there is anything illegal about my shooting on my own property. He stated that he thought my range is safer than the public range we have in the county. He was really impressed by what I had done to be safe while shooting. He told me that I was not breaking any laws and I can shoot there anytime I wanted. I explained that everytime I shoot, The Leo's respond. I told him that this is the fourth time they have been called. He told me that he was a sargeant and would put out a memo to all the other county officers that I am shooting safely and even built a very safe range on my property and they would not be responding to this neighbors complaints anymore.

He then told me that the neighbor this time had called in and reported that I shot his dog. I was really upset at this point. I am probably the biggest animal lover in the state and have rescued many dogs. I explained that this neighbor is trying to do anything he can to get me to stop shooting on my property. The sheriff agreed and thought his story was bogus.

The officer went over to the goofy neighbors and explained that they will not respond to anymore of his unfounded calls. He also saw that his dog was running around barking and having fun and was by far not hurt or shot.

I called the Sheriff's office today and spoke with the officer. I told him that I was really concerned that this neighbor is reporting that i had shot his dog and that is a false report. He told me he had a long talk with this guy and told him if he makes up anymore stories about dog shootings ect that he would get a free trip to the county lockup.

I cannot believe I have this nut case giving me all this greif. I am a law abiding citizen and have never had a LEO ever respond to anything at my place until this nutbag moved in.

Now I have decided to go all out with the firing range. I am going to build a small roofed structure with a built in shooting rest ect. Since this gut is such an A** I think I am even going to light it up for some evening shooting. Pics will follow when I get it completed.

The funny thing is that I did not shoot very often nor for longer than 30-45 minutes. The reason was so I did not offend anyone. I am freinds with all the other surrounding neighbors and they will be using the range and do not have any problems with the range at all or my target shooting on my property. I have a feeling that I will be getting in alot more range time in the following weeks. Paybacks are hell.