HANOVER, Va. -- About 25 minutes after David Hodges got home last Thursday he heard a loud crash in his garage.
When he went to look he found a nickel-sized hole and shattered glass.
He called deputies and what he found out made him want to warn others living in the area.
"I could be dead. That’s not good,” said Hodges. "One shot, one bullet , no pellets."
It appears to have been a hunter’s misfire. Hodges says Hanover deputies told him their investigation led them to the farm land behind his home in Kings Charter. "They said they have the two names of two hunters, so I'm going to wait for them," said Hodges.
In Hanover County, the law says that you cannot shoot any weapon within a hundred yards of a public road or occupied dwelling, meaning a house or a place where people gather.
"I don't think you should hunt with rifles,” said Hodges. “Now shot guns, I have no problem with those."
Hodges says deputies told him that the bullet hole looks like it could've come from a .50 caliber, black powder rifle. But experts point out when the shot shattered this door that Thursday, it was muzzle-loading season for deer and using a rifle, according to code, is legal.
"It penetrated a steel door, broke the glass and we are still looking for the actual bullet," said Hodges.
Hodges hopes others in the area will take notice, including the hunters who will hunt the land behind his home and those who may have fired this shot. "There are 800 houses in here,” he said. “ Younger kids play in the cul-de-sac and down in the woods near the creek line. So it's dangerous."
For information about hunting regulations in your county, click here for a link to the Game and Inland Fisheries website.
