Virginia Woman Uses Shotgun to Down a Drone

Dear paparazzi and other celebrity-hunters: Keep yer drones away from Robert Duvall and his neighbors! One neighbor in particular.

It seems that a pair of swaggering guys driving a big, expensive SUV learned that lesson the hard way when they set up in front of Duvall’s property in northern Virginia and began flying a drone there, and then over above his neighbor’s place. 65-year-old Jennifer Youngman had been cleaning a pair of shotguns on her porch when the duo drove up and began their play time, and when the drone came towards her home over her property, she stoked up her double-barrel 20-gauge shotgun and let ‘er rip.

The drone-runners set up a card table at the turnaround at the end of a public road and began flying the drone. The first sign that they were up to no good was when the drone started buzzing cattle in an apparent attempt to harass them. Then the drone went somewhere it shouldn’t have:

She said the pair appeared to lose control of the drone as the wind picked up, pushing the drone over her pasture.

‘They were going a little too fast and they went over my airspace. I had my 20-gauge there, so I put two 7-1/2 birdshot shells in it, and there you are.’

Translation: she downed the drone with a single shot.

Needless to say, the SUV duo were less than happy. They even yelled at the nice lady… but they packed up and skedaddled after she mentioned the police.

They were kinda mad, but they knew to not come on my property.

She does have some regret about her actions, saying, “I had small pieces of drone all over my pasture. It’s already given me two flat tires on my tractor.”

Dang drones.

The local sheriff’s office reported that it didn’t receive any complaints from any drone operators around the time of the incident. Chances are good that the two were trying to photograph Mr. Duvall for a tabloid; apparently such things are not uncommon around there.

What do you think? Was she right or wrong? I happen to think she did the right thing… but “right” and “legal” are not always the same.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.