The only problem with paintball guns is the paint hoses right off! The first thing they would do is get the bike home and get out a hose.
Not sure what a solution is, but I would sure desensitize my horse as much as possible if I were still riding those trails.
Calling the State Park dispatch does work though. One night we were coming to the end of the Tevis trail just at dusk after a long ride. There were some mtn bikers heading down toward the river where they could be picked up. The trail is clearly marked in several areas as "no bikes" due to the single track/edge of canyon type of trails that exist there. They caused our horses to spook, and nearly go off a cliff. I was ticked beyond belief, and got out my cell to call. They did get picked up at the bridge and cited.
I sure hope they catch these guys and prosecute!
Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. ~ John Wayne
From: bwalker2@xxxxxxx To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [RC] Folsom lake accident Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 23:00:06 -0800
Yeah, I thought of this. Then I went and looked up paintball pistols. The prices I saw were around $280. Cheaper ones didn't look as if they would be a good choice for carrying on horseback. Still might be feasible for some folks.
Also - I would be sure to shoot at the bike, rather than the rider. First - it sounds better if you are trying to explain to a police officer, and second, it is harder to hide a painted bike than to throw away some clothes.
The other point is that those pistols look a lot like real pistols, so anyone using them would need to keep that in mind w/ regard to police, etc. You don't want to get shot because someone mistook your paintball gun for a real one.
I have to wonder if one were to carry a paintball gun, and shoot one or all of the illegal riders/bikes in the body (no intent to cause injury) then call all of the police agencies in the area to be on the lookout for a marked rider or bike, and all of the area papers/TV stations to publicize that there are marked bikes/riders who were illegally riding the trails, how many of those people would be caught then? Also, probably many of the outlaws are teens and 20's who may have someone to answer to like a parent or spouse. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall explaining to a parent how they got marked when they were supposed to be riding in legal areas.
