A little shooting last night.

This is crazy, but true. Last night around eleven, I heard shots, very fast, almost like machine gun fire. Since it is possible to hear Ft. Riley at my house, I thought at first it was the fort. I stepped outside, and a few moments later heard a second burst. This clearly came from the north east. Ft Riley is to the west. There is a housing area over that way. My property, and the road are not part of it. I grabbed shoes, a flash light and an AR-15 and went out to check. There are three neighbors down the road from me and to my knowledge none own guns or shoot. the area immediately north of my house is pasture, and there are cattle out there now. The guy who owns them does not allow hunting when the animals are on the land.
I called the local sheriff, and they said deputies were already in the area searching. Seems the housing development was pretty scared, all the cops were over there. I started walking that way, parallel to the road but not one it. I was still on the phone with dispatch when a car came out. It was a green car and definitely not one of my neighbors. I got a partial tag, but the plate was dirty and hard to read. I walked up the road and found twenty three expended casings, and one miss fired cartridge. About that time a deputy arrived. He told me that shooting at night was legal, which I knew, and that firing from a road was also legal as long as they were not hunting, which I did not know.
Well, its almost like South Dakota where hunting from the road is legal in certain instances.
The road past my house turns east, then north, and slowly cuts back west in almost a question mark fashion. If they were shooting perpendicular to the road at that point, the rounds were going over my house!
It appears the guys were testing a garand. I found a cardboard box for a clip of ammo.
All I can add is I hope these guys scouted the area first. it would be a poor report if they had hit some one or something of value such as one of my neighbors cows.
After the deputy left, I heard two more volleys of shots, one from the south east and one from the south west. Again, both were close to housing areas.
This is the sort of conduct that will turn the people against gun owners, the sort of stuff the Brady types like to pick up on as they clamor for more gun laws.
Now I'm sure most of you are wondering what type of idiot traipses off in the middle of the night when shooting is going on. Well, I am an excellent shot if need be. I have better then average night vision and can use a standard scope at night as easily as during the day. plus, this is my home. I'm not going to sit there bottled up if they are shooting at me. Shoot move communicate. I didn't need to shoot, but sure could have.