Tom was into black powder shooting. A few of his buddies were too. I'd never tried it but I would here. One afternoon, a bunch of us went in somebody's car up into the mountains to shoot them. We found a place that wasn't near any people and there were no "Posted". I honestly thought they had permission to be there but nobody had said anything.
What I didn't agree with and knew was wrong is that one of the guys had brought along some beer. Alcohol and fire arms is never OK. I kept my mouth shut. I hoped they knew what they were doing. They had been shooting a few hours and I'd tried it too. I was pretty good with it once I learned how. Then they packed up the guns and sat down to drink their beer. So far, so good.
Some woman suddenly appeared on the bluff above us. We weren't shooting then so I thought it was no biggie. I was wrong. A few minutes later a cop came along and gave them all hell for shooting there. He said the woman had claimed they were shooting at her and her dog, but she hadn't been there when they were shooting. Then he spotted one of the beer cans. Just one, cause they had stowed the rest with the garbage in the back of the car.
The cop said he hoped they weren't shooting and drinking and of course they said no. Good thing there was no breathalyzer there. They pointed at me and said the beer was mine. Again, I just nodded my head and went along with it. I was so stupid. He gave them all a verbal warning and told them to make sure they had permission to be on the land before they went shooting again.
It was a good thing he didn't wait to see us leave because I, as the one who really wasn't drinking, was the one who drove them all home.