Metal Detecting Federation ?

[HaroldILL.]

The shovels were the Bullseye in my case. It just looks bad with a guy running around with a shovel in his hand and I have always said this,But you always get the classic response that they can dig a neater plug with a shovel. But like I tell them if they will listen is it looks bad and draws unnecessary attention to you. That is one reason I detect alone not because I'm greedy it's just less is more in this case.Anyways I guess I'm lucky I still have all the gang ridden Chicago Parks even though they are another 45 minute drive.

 

[ironsight]

The shovels were the Bullseye in my case. It just looks bad with a guy running around with a shovel in his hand and I have always said this,But you always get the classic response that they can dig a neater plug with a shovel. But like I tell them if they will listen is it looks bad and draws unnecessary attention to you. That is one reason I detect alone not because I'm greedy it's just less is more in this case.Anyways I guess I'm lucky I still have all the gang ridden Chicago Parks even though they are another 45 minute drive.

I totally agree walking around a park with a shovel is plain and simple bad optics for busy bodies and park attendants to see. It doesn't matter if that shovel can produce a perfect restored plug. SHOVEL + PARKLAWN = DESTRUCTION to some, maybe most.

I also like to detect parks alone for the same reason you mention. A bunch of years ago i passed a small historic neighborhood park and to my surprise.. no horror.. there were a dozen or more people detecting this small park most with shovels. Had to be a detecting club with a lot of parked cars with out-of-State license plates.
Today when i drive by that park there are NO METAL DETECTING signs all around it.
What was this club thinking! Brains up their you know what!

I try to go by 'out of sight out of mind' best i can to not attract attention when i detect a park.

By the way, you wouldn't catch me detecting in one of those gang banger Chicago Parks...unless maybe i had a platoon of armed Marines hanging around.

 

[Prep1957]

Harold, don't we all wish it were "this easy" . You pay some "dues" to a lobbying group, and presto, you can detect nilly willy anywhere, right. And if you can't, well then "by golly, they're falling asleep at the wheel". Durned that federation anyhow, eh ? Sheesk, what do you think they are, miracle workers ? And I've got news for you: unlike the NRA, which has MILLIONS of dues paying adherents, md'ing is a small niche hobby, and ... no .... they're not raking in lots of dough to go fight against laws. Their hands are tied, their funds limited, and they can't stomp out every single fire "lest Harold get mad".

And ironically, I'm going to venture another bet that when groups like the FMDAC got started, that ... actually, their "fight" and "solidarity" often did nothing more than only PERPETUATE the rules and laws against us. Not their fault mind you. Their goal was a noble one. But the psychology of even having groups like that, had the un-intended consequence of getting legions of hunters that came afterwards to develop an "oh no, the sky is falling" fear. I saw it first hand back in the mid '80s when the FMDAC came into being. Their monthly newsletters were read outloud at our club. Each edition packed full of scary stories from far away isolated places, of bootings, laws, etc.... The goal, of course, was to raise the alarm, get solidarity (letter writing, etc....) to the cause. Ie.: a "coming to a place near you" sort of inference.

But as you looked around the room at those listening to the stories, is that their eyes became as big as silver dollars. Sky-is-falling fears took over. And .... since no one "wants to be arrested", guess what they all naturally did next ? They would start asking permission (or "inquiring of laws", etc...) wherever they went, from then on. Afterall, you "don't want to be the next statistic", do you ? And oddly, a lot of the places (city, county, etc...) fielding these "pressing questions", would often pass back down a "no". And oddly, they could be places that, prior to that, NEVER HAD A PROBLEM BEFORE (it never even occured to us you needed to "ask", doh!).

So in an odd sort of way, the groups you speak of, had the effect of subconsciously bringing about the very fears and no's (a vicious circle) that they sought to fight against, in the first place. Ie.: Raising red flags on our own behalf, is sometimes the LAST thing you want to do. Sometimes the LESS attention is better, not more attention.

So give these guys a break. Their hands are tied. If you had been there, and seen the avalanche of archaeological mindset we have to fight against (heaven forbid you might find a 1959 penny), then you too could have done no better. Sheesk.

Ditto-I remember them well,did not get any money from me, bunch of self centered, dumb, no it all that could not see they were a bigger problem ,same as some clubs.Our hobby/profession anymore is like smoking and drinking in public you can do it just stay out of site and go were you are still allowed.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Prep, I wouldn't go so far as to bash the FMDAC. Their intents were noble. To "sound the alarm", so-to-speak. And yes, to lobby, fight, act as a "voice", etc.... Who can argue with those noble goals ? They had no idea the psychology that would follow, once you start feeding "scary stories" into the food-chain. While it seems a wise idea to "garner solidarity", yet how was any of them to know that it merely causes skittish newbies to "run to their nearest city hall seeking clarifications" ? And while it's a noble idea to "obey all laws" (which the FMDAC trumpeted all the time, logically so), yet that is easily construed as a "go ask 'can I?" type of admonition". Or at a minimum, even if not phrasing it in the form of a permission request, is phrases as "are there any laws regarding such & such?" type question. But the devil got in the details, as desk clerks and pencil pushers might apply/morph something silly like "disturb" or "alter" or "remove/harvest", etc... Mind you all this was happening at places where no one ever had a problem before ! So in an odd sort of way, the "scary stories" simply seemed to perpetuate the very thing they were meant to avert, in the first place. A self-fulfiling vicious loop. Doh!

But at no time was their efforts not well-intentioned, hard-working, noble, etc....

 

[Prep1957]

Harold, don't we all wish it were "this easy" . You pay some "dues" to a lobbying group, and presto, you can detect nilly willy anywhere, right. And if you can't, well then "by golly, they're falling asleep at the wheel". Durned that federation anyhow, eh ? Sheesk, what do you think they are, miracle workers ? And I've got news for you: unlike the NRA, which has MILLIONS of dues paying adherents, md'ing is a small niche hobby, and ... no .... they're not raking in lots of dough to go fight against laws. Their hands are tied, their funds limited, and they can't stomp out every single fire "lest Harold get mad".

And ironically, I'm going to venture another bet that when groups like the FMDAC got started, that ... actually, their "fight" and "solidarity" often did nothing more than only PERPETUATE the rules and laws against us. Not their fault mind you. Their goal was a noble one. But the psychology of even having groups like that, had the un-intended consequence of getting legions of hunters that came afterwards to develop an "oh no, the sky is falling" fear. I saw it first hand back in the mid '80s when the FMDAC came into being. Their monthly newsletters were read outloud at our club. Each edition packed full of scary stories from far away isolated places, of bootings, laws, etc.... The goal, of course, was to raise the alarm, get solidarity (letter writing, etc....) to the cause. Ie.: a "coming to a place near you" sort of inference.

But as you looked around the room at those listening to the stories, is that their eyes became as big as silver dollars. Sky-is-falling fears took over. And .... since no one "wants to be arrested", guess what they all naturally did next ? They would start asking permission (or "inquiring of laws", etc...) wherever they went, from then on. Afterall, you "don't want to be the next statistic", do you ? And oddly, a lot of the places (city, county, etc...) fielding these "pressing questions", would often pass back down a "no". And oddly, they could be places that, prior to that, NEVER HAD A PROBLEM BEFORE (it never even occured to us you needed to "ask", doh!).

So in an odd sort of way, the groups you speak of, had the effect of subconsciously bringing about the very fears and no's (a vicious circle) that they sought to fight against, in the first place. Ie.: Raising red flags on our own behalf, is sometimes the LAST thing you want to do. Sometimes the LESS attention is better, not more attention.

So give these guys a break. Their hands are tied. If you had been there, and seen the avalanche of archaeological mindset we have to fight against (heaven forbid you might find a 1959 penny), then you too could have done no better. Sheesk.

Ditto-I remember them well,did not get any money from me, bunch of self centered, dumb, no it all that could not see they were a bigger problem ,same as some clubs.Our hobby/profession anymore is like smoking and drinking in public you can do it just stay out of site and go were you are still allowed.

I agree with you and I remember talking to some of those people back then,and I was there, been hunting since 72 and the leaders of that MDA remind me a lot of our current president only they were affecting our whole hobby but could not see it, not saying they were not good people.I got around and hunted just about everywhere I wanted just like I do today.Kinda like Obama Care good intentions that was total disaster