how do you feel

[formon]

how do you feel about metal detecting in the park...and the park employees are cutting the grass?..i hate it i just leave

 

[jim tn]

I personally don't have a problem with it. In fact, they were around this morning when my buddy and I were hunting. Most of them are friendly and wave and often some ask how we are doing. We do make it a point to stay our of their way and pocket our dug trash and fill our holes. HH jim tn

 

[BigCatDaddy]

I don't have a probelm with it. I just keep out of their way and go about my loot gathering. What bothers you about it??

 

[John-Edmonton]

I move on to another green area nearby to hunt.

 

[ajaj]

I usually move on to a different location in case one of them is Rambo Town Employee of the Month. I think it not only increases the risk of getting booted off, but I wouldn't want to get their way.

aj

 

[mudpuppy]

I dont mind the park employees and they have sort of gotten used to me, i usually get there early before they do anyway...I make the effort to talk to them....if theres anybody else there I dont hunt though, so early mornings are the only time I can hunt a park without distractions..its a lot quieter in the mornings, I have trouble concentrating later in the day when theres all sorts of commotion and just plain ambient noise all over the place. I dont think the Park employees give a rip about anything except getting the grass cut and getting paid...
Mud

 

[M_d_in_guy]

I always make an effort to get over and chat a bit with them, and that goes for any location I am at, knowledge is good and also to offer say the joke of the day to them. Rick and I were cutting through the back of a museum property yesterday to get to the cars, and noticed 6 employees on a picnic table. A couple of them had a curious and not so friendly look on their face, we walked right to the table and chatted about 10 minutes, you could see them relax during our chat. I don't think I'd like to make it look like I'm avoiding, that can at times offer thoughts of be sneaky. JMO.

HH

Jon

 

[upnorth]

If I see work being performed I go to another spot in the park. A few years ago I used to chat up the grounds keepers and felt them out about my detecting. It was positive to the point of my steering one employee to a half decent beginners machine. If I was messing parks up they would have stopped me long ago.

 

[quicksilver]

Being from Michigan, this is legally a metal detecting friendly state. So here at home really the only time I avoid the parks, is when there are kids and family's trying to have fun. I feel awkward if I sort of get in there way. So I don't. Now this past summer I was working in Ohio most of the time, and the laws there are quite different. You basically can't hunt in any parks. So in general people see you hunting and they aren't to friendly. Fellow diggers just need to be aware of the laws and local ordinances and you won't have any problems. If your in a metal detecting friendly state generally people are curious but usually pretty cool. Just remind them of all the clean up your doing. Good luck.

 

[Beale]

To be honest before I moved I would just go to a different area of the park, no biggie. Now though this small town does not even have a park in it, Beale.

 

[rlc1940]

Look at it this way. ..they're cutting the grass so we can get our detectors closer to the target. ..that's a good thing!

 

[ecoast]

Look at it this way. ..they're cutting the grass so we can get our detectors closer to the target. ..that's a good thing!

I would move off; the mowers can easily pull the plugs when they are mown over.
Why chance it?

 

[William-NM]

I just ask them to go cut a different park until I get done detecting.
Just kidding, really, I'm kinda shy, only hit the parks early Sunday mornings when the good folks are in church and the bad ones are still sleeping it off (and the in-betweeners are metal detecting).

 

[IKSDoomsday]

Was kicked out of my local park today by the town guys. Said they would call the police if I killed any more of their grass. Been detecting for years never leave a mark...kinda made me mad so i asked them to point out any of the six dig sites that I had just come from...they could not find them. I also showed them the nails and other sharps that I had found and they said they would soon have signs up saying no metal detecting allowed lol.... Then they told me to make sure I do not detect anywhere in town. So I just drove around town asking permission from the nice folks around here and now have half the town to dig. Stopped by the sherriffs office just to check on any ordinance codes and laws and there was none on the books....think I just met a guy with a chip on his shoulder

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Was kicked out of my local park today by the town guys. Said they would call the police if I killed any more of their grass. Been detecting for years never leave a mark...kinda made me mad so i asked them to point out any of the six dig sites that I had just come from...they could not find them. I also showed them the nails and other sharps that I had found and they said they would soon have signs up saying no metal detecting allowed lol.... Then they told me to make sure I do not detect anywhere in town. So I just drove around town asking permission from the nice folks around here and now have half the town to dig. Stopped by the sherriffs office just to check on any ordinance codes and laws and there was none on the books....think I just met a guy with a chip on his shoulder

dooms-daym, your post is quite "telling". For starters, you say yourself that you've been "...detecting for years ...." (assuming in the same type zones/places as this current encounter?). And now all of the sudden, you have someone coming and telling you that you can't do that. That tells me your final sentence is the answer: ".....think I just met a guy with a chip on his shoulder " In other words, instead of us md'rs thinking that such an encounter constitutes a new rule, or that they can no longer detect in a park or city, NO! On the contrary, it can often just mean you've met a singular guy (cop or gardener or whatever) who was having a bad day, or was responding to a singular call, or whatever. So I hate to say it, but sometimes you have to treat such things as "isolated incidents". Give that one spot a rest for awhile, and avoid that one lookie-lou in the future.

I can think of one city in CA (that has lots and lots of parks d/t it's a very big city), that .... over the years, several of us have had run-ins. But most other times, no problems (even right in front parks people who could care less). So if we are required to take "isolated incidents" and assume they mean some sort of issue we need to fight or get clarified, then that could back-fire. To waltz into city hall to fight it and get clarified, might just LEAD to specific rules or edicts or policies. You know, to simply bring an issue up for "pressing attention". So what we've done is to simply give lip service, and go to a different park. 6 months later, when I'm travelling back through that town, I've gone to the exact same parks, 20 more times, and never heard "boo" again.

Yes, I know this isn't ideal. And yes, it's not fun having to be a little discreet and hunt at lower traffic times. But heck, we have to realize we're in an odd-ball hobby that draws stares, and has connotations. You're simply never going to have red-carpets-rolled out for you, and have everyone always love it. So it's kind of like nose-picking: Not necessarily illegal, but for pete's sake, we all use a little discretion in our timing, so as not to offend the wrong persons.