Thanks to man who returned my rifle

In this world these days, it seems that most of the news is bad. This little story is good news. About someone who is a good guy, who did the right thing.

In October this year, I was elk hunting in Idaho’s Salmon unit. After the morning hunt, I foolishly leaned my rifle against the front tire of my pickup truck while I took off my backpack. It was a damp, chilly morning, so my hunting partner and I jumped in the truck and headed back to camp 40 minutes away.

After getting some dry clothes on and starting a fire in the stove in the wall tent, I decided to wipe down my rifle to get the moisture off. To my surprise, the rifle was not in the truck. I knew immediately where it was, laying on the spur road where I had backed up the truck. It had been an hour and 15 minutes since we headed for camp and I was panicked.

We headed back to the spur road where we parked that morning, another 40 minutes away. When we drove up to the spur road, nearly two hours after we had left, there was a pickup parked there. The man at the pickup was Dale Goshorn from Camano Island. We asked Dale if he had found a rifle there. He grinned and said, “I figured someone would be back for that gun.” He went to his truck, pulled out my Weatherby Mark V 7mm Magnum with the Leupold 3X9 scope on it, easily a $1,000 rifle, and handed it back to us.

I don’t know how long Dale had been there with that rifle, but I’m sure that if he had wanted to, he would have had plenty of time to just pick up the rifle and drive away. But he didn’t do that. Instead, he waited for me to figure out that the rifle was gone and drive back to where it was lost. The world needs more guys like Dale!

For doing the right thing, Dale will forever have my gratitude, my respect, and a shipment of Oregon dungeness crab from our boat here on the coast at Newport. Thanks again, Dale.

Mike Pettis

Newport, Ore.