Chapter 16: revenge killing and firearms lessons

The ground was frozen solid. There was some snow on the ground. The chickens were laying, the calves were thriving, the deer weren't getting skinny and the dogs seemed happy. That was until I got a call from Mark over the radio.

"Howard? You'd better come out here. I found something."

"Where are you?"

"The north-east most feed patch. Howard, bring a rifle." Aww, shit. I geared up, got my .22 magnum rifle and a pocket full of ammo, a foam sleeping pad and an eight by eight foot white canvas tarp. I had a few pocket heater packs with me and a canteen full of water.

I found Mark. He was squatting next to two dead dogs and a dead roe deer. It appeared that they'd been shot. I lined up the holes. It looked like someone came around the fence down at the beach and set up a ground stand. I walked down and took a look. Yep, there was the mark in the sand where someone had set down a bucket and sat on it. It was probably standard ice fishing gear—a five gallon bucket with a hot seat on it.

The bodies weren't solid yet so it hadn't happened too long ago. I walked the shoe prints back to find where the shooter had climbed into something big, by the tire tracks. I didn't see much sense in sitting around freezing my ass off. I headed back to the house where I changed clothes and took a trip to Bangor.

I found a security shop that had what I wanted. I got a low-light wireless camera with a photovoltaic panel attached to the camera by a twenty foot long wire. I had them mount the camera on a spike. Next I bought an RF receiver for the camera's frequency and a high-quality recorder that would just record changes. I made sure that it date and time stamped the images. Next I bought a white over-smock and a pair of fisherman's boots. You wouldn't lose toes.

Back at the house I had Mark use the tractor and front-end-loader to move a few big rocks to within fifteen feet of to where the causeway came onto the island. Those hid the camera. I rigged the photocell array ten feet up a tree at a southern-facing angle so the snow should slide off. I hacked off any obscuring branches. I moved the recorder into the office and plugged it in. The window was facing the right direction to pick up the signal, and the transmitter was less than a mile away. Yes! I got a picture! I crawled up onto the camera's web site (its IP address) and set the video checksum threshold up fairly high to make the trigger fairly 'soft'. (We were looking for a vehicle here.) I set the recorder to trigger an alarm if it got a set of images. I took plenty of pictures before we set aside the corpses under a cover next to the second barn. Then we settled back to wait. I mounted my rifle and 'possibles bag' on a wooden gun rack just over the kitchen door to the garage. Next to it I hung my hunting clothes and set the big seaman's boots below.

A couple weeks passed. We'd gotten about six inches of inches of snow. Mark and I had begun feeding the deer because their forage was covered. Late one afternoon the alarm went off in the office. I went to look. A big 4WD truck had passed the camera, coming onto the island. I got dressed, stamped on my boots, took the pad, canvas, 'possibles' bag and rife in hand then walked down to the beach. I followed it north until I found him. He was just setting up his ground stand. I took careful aim and shot the action of his rifle, tearing the hell out of it. Now it was a pretty club.

I yelled out "Hands up, fucker."

He peered around the woods and pulled out a pistol I smiled. I used a tree to stabilize my weapon and carefully took my shot. I took out his shoulder. He went down like a telephone pole whacked by a semi. I used my little radio to call the house and have them get the sheriff called out. She got my coordinates from the radio and spotted me on the map. I squatted down where I was and waited. I watched the guy. He crawled around a little, getting up against the undercut the waves had made in the shore. I figured he was trying to get out of the wind.

Soon the sheriff came walking up the beach. I rose and waved at him. He waved back. I made a "form on me" wave on and pointed at the downed guy.

"What happened?"

"Just over two weeks ago Mark found a shot roe deer and two dogs. They'd been shot and left to rot. The bodies weren't frozen yet so it had just happened. I lined up the holes and tracked them back to the beach. There I found the spoor from a hunting squat. The foot-prints led up the beach to a big vehicle's footprint with big, aggressive tire marks. I went to Bangor that afternoon for a camera and recorder. It went off a little after noon today. I geared up and walked up the beach. I found this loon setting up and sent a round through his rifle's action. After I told him hands up he looked for me and pulled a pistol. I shot him in the shoulder. I have not approached him. You can tell by the clean sand."

He looked around then looked at me. "You didn't try to kill him, did you?"

I handed him my rifle. "Careful, it's loaded. Go ahead, sight in on something."

He shouldered the weapon and took aim down the beach. He fired and a rock the size of my fist split, about twice the distance away that the downed guy was from us. He handed it back.

"Yep. If you wanted him dead, he'd be dead."

We walked down the beach to the guy. The sheriff was snapping pictures of everything: the rifle with the ruined action, the pistol and the bucket seat. He turned the guy over. I snorted. He looked over at me curiously.

"You know this feller?"

"Just met him the once. Lazy farmer that didn't want to work. I was hiring and he applied. Don't think he needs a job now, do you?"

"Nope. He's due three hots and a cot for a while."

He called for an ambulance then Mirandized the guy. (Read him his Miranda rights. 'You have the right to remain silent... ')

"I've got the photos from the first shoot back at the house. You're welcome to them. They're digital, but they're date and time stamped. I've got the receipts for the camera and recorder too. No sense in digging the bullets out of the animals. You can't get a comparison round out of the rifle now."