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Being Followed? What to Do When It Is Time to Shake a Tail

Talyn

Talyn

SAINT
Founding Member
Have you ever had that feeling that you’re being followed? Although you can’t pinpoint it, something might not feel right about that car trailing behind you or that stranger who won’t seem to leave your vicinity.

But it is possible you have a tail you need to shake.

athlonoutdoors.com

Being Followed? What to Do When It Is Time to Shake a Tail

Have you ever had that feeling that you’re being followed? Although you can’t pinpoint it, something might not feel right
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I second his statement that awareness is a must. As part of a counter-surveillance exercise many years ago, and knowing "they" were out there somewhere, the slightest distraction can divert your attention and allow the tailer to slip in and get close. At night while driving is especially a problem trying to sort out threats from all the headlights behind you. On top of this, conversations with a rider can let your guard down. Even in small hinterland towns there are suspicious characters, so the author has some good advice no matter where you live.
 
It depends on the type of tail you have.

Is someone surveilling you or did you just **** off someone who doesn't care if you know they're following you?

If it's the later heading for the nearest police station will usually end it.

The former? depending on why they're following you just "shaking the tail" may not be enough.

You kind of have to know why before you can effectively react.
 
The last time I thought this was happening I locked 'em up a few blocks before my house and jumped out of my car and was standing at the drivers side window with a quickness with my hand cocked back ready to come on through it. Window comes down an inch and my new neighbor is crying " I live here, I live here". That's the last time she rode my ass on the way into the valley. I fully expected her husband to come down to see me, but instead the cops came. I explained to him I thought something was up and was not going to let it play out at my home and he went back up to her house and told her following people that close was a real bad idea around here.
 
Bassbob said:
The last time I thought this was happening I locked 'em up a few blocks before my house and jumped out of my car and was standing at the drivers side window with a quickness with my hand cocked back ready to come on through it. Window comes down an inch and my new neighbor is crying " I live here, I live here".
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I'm not saying this with any intention of offending but had you done that to me I would have had gun in my hand before you got to my car.

That just seems like a really easy way to make things go south in a hurry.

And like most things, I have a story about me doing something stupid that taught me this particular lesson.

I was sitting at a friend's house in Pearland Texas. A couple days previously somebody had stole the bicycle off his front porch. I was cleaning a rifle at the kitchen table I'm not sure why I was cleaning a rifle in his house and somebody we didn't know pulled into the driveway.

I don't even think It was intentional but we all ran out the door and I still had the rifle in my hand. The guy pulled into our driveway was a County constable. Things almost got ugly
 
The Night Rider said:
I'm not saying this with any intention of offending but had you done that to me I would have had gun in my hand before you got to my car.

That just seems like a really easy way to make things go south in a hurry.

And like most things, I have a story about me doing something stupid that taught me this particular lesson.

I was sitting at a friend's house in Pearland Texas. A couple days previously somebody had stole the bicycle off his front porch. I was cleaning a rifle at the kitchen table I'm not sure why I was cleaning a rifle in his house and somebody we didn't know pulled into the driveway.

I don't even think It was intentional but we all ran out the door and I still had the rifle in my hand. The guy pulled into our driveway was a County constable. Things almost got ugly
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No offense taken. And likewise let me preface this by saying I mean no offense, but if you are close enough to me that I can't see your headlights you better have a gun in your hand.
 
trader said:
soooo Bass, I'm guessing your new neighbor didn't invite you over for tea and crumpets. ;)
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Well they like my wife. And clearly understand why what happened, happened. This is a funny neighborhood. Until about 15 years ago cops wouldn't even come down here. When the cop went up to talk to her I think he made her understand. The husband asked my wife if we would look after her while he was out of town a few months back so I think these days they appreciate my cautious nature.


I would like to ask the all knowing here though, what is it YOU would do if you find yourself with someone riding you hard, you have no idea who it is or if it is some butthurt tweaker you passed out on the highway because he was driving too slow or what, you can't see his headlights he's so close and you find yourself very close to your house, where your wife sleeps ? It's a dead end street by the way and I was armed. What I wasn't though was pulling on to my property. Nor was I the guy pulling a gun out because I was afraid of an unarmed man. Let's be clear, if the situation evolved the way Night Rider says it would if he was the guy riding me down, he would either have gotten his ass beat with his gun in his hand or he would have killed me, an unarmed man who was defending himself from an aggressive driver and would now likely be in prison. And that's if someone in the neighborhood didn't pull him out of the car and put his ass in the river before the cops got there.
 
I do see your point and jk on the neighbor thing, so not judging you. However since you asked, I will share one of my own. Truck following me after the 4 turns thing. Twice, and it was during the day. So I pulled into a bit of a turnaround in a rural area, staying in my truck. Rolled the window down, not displaying nor brandishing, but, at the ready with S&W and waited. They were behind me and stopped, I guess assessing whether to push it or leave. They left and so did I.
 
Bassbob said:
Well they like my wife. And clearly understand why what happened, happened. This is a funny neighborhood. Until about 15 years ago cops wouldn't even come down here. When the cop went up to talk to her I think he made her understand. The husband asked my wife if we would look after her while he was out of town a few months back so I think these days they appreciate my cautious nature.


I would like to ask the all knowing here though, what is it YOU would do if you find yourself with someone riding you hard, you have no idea who it is or if it is some butthurt tweaker you passed out on the highway because he was driving too slow or what, you can't see his headlights he's so close and you find yourself very close to your house, where your wife sleeps ? It's a dead end street by the way and I was armed. What I wasn't though was pulling on to my property. Nor was I the guy pulling a gun out because I was afraid of an unarmed man. Let's be clear, if the situation evolved the way Night Rider says it would if he was the guy riding me down, he would either have gotten his ass beat with his gun in his hand or he would have killed me, an unarmed man who was defending himself from an aggressive driver and would now likely be in prison. And that's if someone in the neighborhood didn't pull him out of the car and put his ass in the river before the cops got there.
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In the wrong hands a car is a weapon. We were taught that early on. And people who drive like you describe are dangerous to others, maybe intentionally, and IMO there are more and more of them as the cultural climate has declined.
 
I had an incident of somebody with ill intentions following my wife an I one evening about a decade ago.

We were headed home after shopping one evening and there was an area we drove through that was kind of sketchy. As we went past a parking lot I saw a vehicle parked with its headlights on pull out behind us. At the next stoplight I was turning left and they pulled up close to my Suburban and then shut off their headlights.

When the light changed I drove on and noticed they turned their headlights back on and were still behind me. I got to the next light, and they did the same thing. They pulled so close I thought for sure they were going to bump my truck. They again, they killed their headlights. When the light changed, I started making random turns as my wife asked me what I was doing. I told her I had a bad feeling about this vehicle behind us. They stayed with me at each turn. After the 4th time, I had my EDC at the time, a Springfield XD45 Compact out and in my hand. I knew there was a nearby park that had a baseball diamond and was lit up most nights.

I told my wife to hang on, punched it to get some distance between us. When I got to the park I raced across the lot, and turned around back facing the entrance to the lot. I parked directly under a light in the lot, got out of my truck while staying behind the door, and waited.

About 10 seconds later, they pulled slowly into the parking lot and stopped. After sitting there for a minute, they backed out of the lot just as slowly, and took off the way they had come from.

My wife and I waited for about 10 - 15 minutes before we left, watching behind us the rest of the way home, which was thankfully uneventful.
 
Back when I still worked at my sheriff dept, I was at my local WalMart and noticed a former inmate following us around, instead of confronting him, I found the in store security, they asked the guy what was his issue, then called the sheriff’s up and a deputy asked him why he was following us. He made a lame excuse, the deputy asked me if this was the same inmate that I charged $300.00 dollars for damages in his cell, replied yes. Now I was carrying but didn’t or want to make a scene, they took him in for questioning though.
 
4rchangel said:
I had an incident of somebody with ill intentions following my wife an I one evening about a decade ago.

We were headed home after shopping one evening and there was an area we drove through that was kind of sketchy. As we went past a parking lot I saw a vehicle parked with its headlights on pull out behind us. At the next stoplight I was turning left and they pulled up close to my Suburban and then shut off their headlights.

When the light changed I drove on and noticed they turned their headlights back on and were still behind me. I got to the next light, and they did the same thing. They pulled so close I thought for sure they were going to bump my truck. They again, they killed their headlights. When the light changed, I started making random turns as my wife asked me what I was doing. I told her I had a bad feeling about this vehicle behind us. They stayed with me at each turn. After the 4th time, I had my EDC at the time, a Springfield XD45 Compact out and in my hand. I knew there was a nearby park that had a baseball diamond and was lit up most nights.

I told my wife to hang on, punched it to get some distance between us. When I got to the park I raced across the lot, and turned around back facing the entrance to the lot. I parked directly under a light in the lot, got out of my truck while staying behind the door, and waited.

About 10 seconds later, they pulled slowly into the parking lot and stopped. After sitting there for a minute, they backed out of the lot just as slowly, and took off the way they had come from.

My wife and I waited for about 10 - 15 minutes before we left, watching behind us the rest of the way home, which was thankfully uneventful.
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I was sitting at home one day, recovering from surgery. My gun was upstairs. When a dirty, filthy street vagrant walked right through our door.

Luckily we had two Pit Bulls sitting on the stairs to run him off
 
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