One night when the Pony Club was closed, I found a quiet dirt road nearby.
No lights.
One house way back off the road.
Vacant fields either side.
Set up, observing happily until,...
4WD pulls up behind me, flood lights on me, so I turned my back hoping to preserve my night vision when I hear...
"Don't try and hide your face from me you b........,
turn around and face me"
So I turn around to be looking down the barrel of a rifle.
And a mean angry farmer.
Seems his fields had been robbed the previous week, and he was waiting for the culprit to return to finish the job.!
That got the heart rate up a bit.
After a long tense period to convince him I was an amateur astronomer I offered him a look through the scope at M42.
He walked away shaking his head..."I can't see nothing but clouds" ...
Observing in pairs is a good idea.