Ok so the thread title is a little misleading for my question.

I live in southern Wake Co. and we were driving around this morning through some of the backroads and drove by a field of tobacco being picked by approx. 8 hispanic men. We noticed that there was an old white guy supervising him, but what was strange was that he had what appeared to be a 12 ga. shotgun resting on his shoulder.

My question is for any of you out there that grew up on a tobacco farm, is this normal to oversee migrant workers with a shotgun? If so, why? What are they gonna do, bum rush the farmer and steal his tobacco?

Of course my mind went to modern day slavery but that's a big damn stretch.

And I meant to add, this was obviously not a prison crew working, as there were no jump suits and no law enforcement/prison guards

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 12:04 PM. Reason : adfs]

9/3/2012 12:01:48 PM

yeah, i'm sure he was intimidating the mexicans into working by brandishing a shotgun

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 12:06 PM. Reason : it's the only explanation]

9/3/2012 12:04:32 PM

Quote :

"Of course my mind went to modern day slavery but that's a big damn stretch."

it is?

9/3/2012 12:06:07 PM

dove season opened this weekend. maybe he just had his shotgun in case a few flew over.

i grew up around the migrant farm worker stuff and never saw anything like an "overseer". most of the time the farmers and workers were on very good terms. most of the time they just gave the keys to a truck or converted school bus to one of the workers with a license and told them what had to be done and they got it done. i would be very surprised if the white guy was an "overseer" and even then that he had the shotgun for any sort of intimidation reasons. maybe he just dropped in to check on his employees after his dove hunt that morning or something.

one thing i can guarantee you is that if those hispanic workers don't like working for you, they won't continue to do so. they will quit and go somewhere else if you don't treat them with respect.

9/3/2012 12:11:08 PM

I'm gonna go with ^

9/3/2012 12:13:01 PM

def hunting dove

9/3/2012 12:34:12 PM

are you sure they were hispanic workers and not zombies, and that man was not saving us all?

9/3/2012 12:36:07 PM

lots of snakes in tobacco fields...

9/3/2012 12:38:09 PM

You're misinterpreting what you came across.

I grew up on a working farm and the land all around my house is now leased for farming. No one oversees workers with a shot gun.

The workers are working the field. The man with the gun is hunting. Now, the man with the gun could be the farmer or landowner who has stopped by to check on the workers. OR he may not have anything to do with the workers and just happen to be hunting.

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 12:44 PM. Reason : .]

9/3/2012 12:43:42 PM

MAYBE he was hunting migrant farmers

9/3/2012 1:19:02 PM

I might by dove hunting, however this guy was not mobile. He was plopped down on an overturned 5 gallon bucket with shit sitting on the ground around him. If he was dove hunting, he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

More realistic - the snake option.

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 1:45 PM. Reason : kjhg]

9/3/2012 1:44:52 PM

have you ever been dove hunting? that's how you do it. sit down on a bucket or small hunting stool and wait for them to fly over. you generally put a lot of folks all around the edges of the field and if you're lucky the dove will just kind of circle around the field.

goddamn yuppies

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 1:48 PM. Reason : daf]

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 1:49 PM. Reason : it's not like quail hunting where you keep moving covering ground to find a covey]

9/3/2012 1:46:22 PM

With it getting on towards fall, maybe it was protection from other animals? Have they had any bear problems recently? Southern Wake (meaning pretty well outside Raleigh) it wouldn't be a stretch for Bears to be around..

9/3/2012 1:51:37 PM

Quote :

"I might by dove hunting, however this guy was not mobile. He was plopped down on an overturned 5 gallon bucket with shit sitting on the ground around him. If he was dove hunting, he wasn't doing a very good job of it."

fail

9/3/2012 1:52:17 PM

lol

9/3/2012 1:56:27 PM

shotgun is not going to do anything to a bear except piss it off. I would go with shooting doves that were flying out of the field due to the workers walking down the rows.

9/3/2012 1:56:51 PM

I'm not sure I've ever been dove hunting and NOT sat on an upside down 5 gallon bucket.

9/3/2012 1:57:19 PM

He was not dove hunting.

9/3/2012 2:03:11 PM

^ holy shit, you are a fucking retard.

9/3/2012 2:13:35 PM

Haha. Even if a shotgun isn't going to do much to a bear, it's not going to stop someone from carrying some kind of munitions just to feel better about it.

My brother lives one road over and there is a bear over there that has been making a nuisance of itself. It's coming up into people's yards and getting awful close to people. It even stood in the path of a walker and wouldn't back down to let the walker pass. My brother won't go to the pack house or down to the fox pen without carrying a pistol even knowing that the gun really isn't going to do much for him if the bear decides to kick his ass.

Quote :

"He was plopped down on an overturned 5 gallon bucket with shit sitting on the ground around him. If he was dove hunting, he wasn't doing a very good job of it."

And uh. . .this is EXACTLY what you do when you dove hunt.

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 2:19 PM. Reason : .]

9/3/2012 2:14:28 PM

i shit you not, the first result for a GIS of "dove hunting" is this:

9/3/2012 2:25:45 PM

hahaha

9/3/2012 2:29:06 PM

this guy was sitting right beside the road, right beside the truck hauling the tobacco... not in the field. Maybe he had just moved to get out of the sun for a little while- but rest assured, he was not dove hunting at the time.

9/3/2012 2:29:29 PM

yo dog, you logged onto your alias for that post

9/3/2012 2:31:25 PM

yo dog, i'm the wife who was in the car at the same time.

9/3/2012 2:32:01 PM

yo dawg, I'm not buyin it!

9/3/2012 2:32:25 PM

Quote :

"old white guy"

Probably some old guy just hanging out, shooting shit, and waiting for something to take a pot shot at.

9/3/2012 2:32:31 PM

Oh Goddammit, a retard husband and wife team.

Please never reproduce.

9/3/2012 2:36:05 PM

^necessary?

9/3/2012 2:38:49 PM

Absolutely. I believe all stupid people should be shamed into at least putting a little effort into not appearing so moronic. These people didn't know what they came across, so they posted a thread about it. That's fine. But then when not just one or two people, but handfuls of people that know what they are talking about come along and tell them what the deal is and they are still belligerent and knowingly ignorant...yes, these people deserve to be mocked, and I genuinely hope they don't reproduce so that will be one less dumbass that my kids will have to deal with in life.

9/3/2012 2:43:43 PM

So I'm being belligerent by just making the statement that he was not dove hunting? You may think he was, but you were also not there seeing what we saw.

Besides, it was just a question, and you people have made way too much of a big deal out of it.

9/3/2012 2:48:41 PM

When you have clearly shown that you have literally zero idea what dove hunting looks like, yes, that is very belligerent to state something like that as though you're now some expert on the subject.

Quote :

"Besides, it was just a question"

It was just a question that people answered for you, and rather than defer to their obvious expertise in the matter, or even be slightly humble by saying something like "Are you sure they were hunting, they weren't moving around much" you came back with "They weren't moving around, so obviously they couldn't have been hunting". That's the definition of belligerence.

9/3/2012 2:54:11 PM

^^^yeah, and hopefully you don't reproduce so there's one less hateful person in the world. the only belligerent person itt is you, you fucking dick.

9/3/2012 2:56:00 PM

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 2:58 PM. Reason : I fucking love how it's impossible to hate me without being exactly like me. ]

9/3/2012 2:56:51 PM

feral swine are a really big problem on farmland. it's very common for farmhands and supervisors to stand on guard as they're flushed out

[/thread]

9/3/2012 3:38:11 PM

I oughta get into dove hunting

I mean I can sit on my fat ass while doing it

9/3/2012 5:13:39 PM

it's a good time if the folks you're hunting with aren't idiots

9/3/2012 5:39:52 PM

^^^Is that the case in NC? I thought that was more of a SC and south kinda issue... didn't know we had wild hogs here!

9/3/2012 5:48:38 PM

walked a tobacco farm outside Kenly and they said they see several a day

9/3/2012 5:50:35 PM

interesting. One of my hunter buddies says it only takes a couple of generations for hogs to turn wild. sounds like I need to find some people in the know and go hog huntin'!

9/3/2012 5:52:14 PM

Quote :

"one thing i can guarantee you is that if those hispanic workers don't like working for you, they won't continue to do so. they will quit and go somewhere else if you don't treat them with respect. "

white people always act like motherfuckers cant fend for themselves

9/3/2012 5:53:06 PM

^

Quote :

"dove season opened this weekend"

the whole county was wrapped up in old white guys and their slave shooting shotguns .

the horror

[Edited on September 3, 2012 at 6:01 PM. Reason : sa]

9/3/2012 6:00:15 PM

i can't tell if BHS agrees with my statement or not

9/3/2012 6:02:55 PM

i agree one hundred percent

not that i know anything about dove season, but I approve your post

9/3/2012 6:03:42 PM

i think he does.

9/3/2012 6:04:38 PM

Rename thread title "Offended city slicker thread."

9/3/2012 6:08:49 PM

9/3/2012 6:47:17 PM

Quote :

"i shit you not, the first result for a GIS of "dove hunting" is this"

laughed out loud

9/3/2012 9:38:33 PM

Quote :

"a field of tobacco being picked"

tobacco is never picked it is PRIMED

9/3/2012 9:46:56 PM

set em up --------------------->

9/3/2012 9:48:29 PM