About 25 years ago, a recently married buddy and I went groundhog hunting and he borrowed his new father-in-law's brand new varmint rifle to try it out. We had just crossed an electric fence and were about 5 yards into a pasture that we were crossing to get to the next clover field. There was a large herd of cows resting in the shade of a big tree about 60 yards away, chewing their cuds.
Now those cows, as if on cue, all got up simultaneously to have a look at us. My buddy must have thought they were going to charge us or something because he turned and beat feet to get out of the pasture. I stood there and watched the show as he hit the electric fence, screamed like a girl, and literally launched his father-in-laws new gun about 10 yards into the adjoining field. It landed right on a rock on the top scope turret and crushed the scope. Fortunately, the new Leupold scope took virtually all of the damage. Unfortunately he was to return the gun that evening so that his new father-in-law could use it the next day. So there was no way to simply replace the scope and rings, sight it in, and act like it never happened. I can still see his father-in-law chewing him out and chiding him for running from a bunch of dairy cows.
