Once at home, never while out and concealed..
Lived in the woods, two guys come into my driveway (gravel, loud) and park their van behind my car (blocked me in). Middle of a sunny day, nobody but me, them and Bambi for at least a half mile. They get out (I'm watching through the BR window) and start looking around. Then they head for the rear of the house and up the porch. I know many of you are thinking "everyone always comes to my back porch first, nobody ever uses the front door"... Well, that's not the case at this house. The front door is the very obvious choice.
Now I'm in the LR. One guy starts looking through the sliding glass doors (vertical blinds kept me hidden), the other goes further around to the back door and I hear him trying the knob. Already had my gun out, now I call 911. "Someone's trying to break in to my house, please send help". They confirm the address and tell me someone's on the way. I put the phone down (still on 911 call) on the table and quietly go out the front door, around the side and take a covered position at the corner of the house. I don't want to be inside if they pull out guns or decide to break in.
"Hands Up.!!... NOW.!"
Both of those MotherLovers turned white as a ghost. Started yammering about how they were lost and thought this was a house they were supposed to do a repair on. "You always come around back before you knock on the front door? You couldn't have missed my car parked in the driveway." They repeated their story...
"Hands on the railing, the cops are on the way"... "Don't move and I won't have to shoot you".
End of the story is that the Sheriff shows up about 2 minutes later (smokin down the gravel road). The two guys don't have any weapons, and they DO have a bunch of carpentry tools in their van.... Apparently they were able to give the Sheriff the name and address (no phone, not a very close by address but off the same main street, plausible, I guess) of the job they were supposedly on their way to... A house under construction. Since they didn't actually break in, their only real crime was felonious stupidity, so the sheriff took names and checked ID (no records for either) and sent them on their way with a warning to always knock on the front door or risk getting shot next time. I assume he followed up on the address later, but that was the end of it for me...
I remember being fairly calm through the whole thing. Tense but calm. I definitely felt like I had surprise on my side... Like maybe they thought the wife was home alone during the day (home office for me). Even more so once I got outside. Felt less trapped, had more options, lots of places to run/cover and I was standing between them and their van. Didn't see any weapons on them, not even a hammer or crowbar... I'll never forget the feeling of my heart beating in my throat.