I was out in the middle of nowhere this morning, checking oil wells in the rain, when I got a little surprise. It had rained here all last night, so the roads were very bad and I was having trouble getting up this road to one of my wells, but I noticed a set of very fresh tracks of someone that had gone in ahead of me. It being Deer season here, I just figured it was a hunter who had decided not to let the weather keep him home today.
As I got almost to the location, I saw a guy run from where my gas compressor is located and jump into a mini van; it was still dark, but he had ran in front of his head lights. By this time, I had two thoughts going through my head; one was, how did he get that mini van in here and the other was, I hope he's not dumping a body.
The guy was blocked in by my truck as there is only one way in and out of the location and the road is very narrow; not to mention slick with deep mud. I had come to a stop to consider my options at this point, as there was no way to back down the road as muddy as it was and I was doubtful that there was enough room for us to pass each other. I knew one thing for sure, I really didn't like the idea of getting near his van for fear of getting shot.
About then, guy decided to make the decision for me and was going to get by me at all costs. I had to make the decision as the weather I was going to drive and try to minimize my exposure to this guy or draw my weapon and deal with a possible confrontation with him; the road was too bad to even consider doing both. I chose to drive and try to avoid a shoot out with this guy, if at all possible. So I hammered down my work truck and slid by him in the ditch, missing his side mirror by inches and staring him directly in the eyeballs as we passed window to window.
The guy was no doubt your typical crack head and was up to no good, so after we passed each other, I got his tag number off his rear plates. As I pulled onto the location, I called the County Sheriffs department and gave them a good description of the vehicle as well as the driver. I then checked the location and found no body laying around or anything missing, but I figured I had pulled up on him before he had a chance to steal anything.
At this point, I considered the very real possibility that the guy had slid off the road and had me blocked in; so I was real careful coming back out in case the guy was stuck, but he had managed to get it back out to the main road.
I went ahead and pulled into my next well location and found that he had been there and stolen $400 worth of batteries, from the compressor on that location. So I contacted the sheriffs department again, to let them know that the guy had in fact stolen equipment from me. They informed me that they had not found the guy yet, but were still watching for him.
Later, when I finally got back to civilization, a deputy met with me to fill out an incident report. When we shook hands, I gave him my drivers license along with my Concealed Handgun License as I introduced myself. The deputy glanced at my CHL and handed it back to me; never asked where the weapon was or or even mention it during the whole encounter. I was very pleased with the professionalism of the deputy and I'm confident they will get the guy, as when they ran the plate number I gave them, it came back as valid, on a mini van that fit the description of the one I saw.
This is one of those situations I fear the most while working out in the boonies by my self; at least it didn't turn into a situation that I felt my life was threatened. I sure would of hated shooting somebody over $400 worth of batteries; but had the guy threatened my life, this story would of had a much worse ending.