Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I need to get this off my chest to my fellow detectorists.
I live in Hillsboro Oregon and have been trying to enjoy this hobby for about a year now. I started out with a Bounty Hunter Tracker II, and have since moved up to a Fisher F5. My rant starts with the areas to hunt in this city. There are plenty of parks and schools to hunt, so where to go is not a limited to selection. However, almost all of the parks have one very common problem associated to them. They have NO irrigation what so ever. Not only this, but the grass grounds themselves are not taken care of. Oh sure, they mow the grass when needed, but the ground has become so devoid of any nutrients that it turns to solid brick when the sun comes out for even a minute, and solid mud pies when the rain hits (which is most of the year for the non-Oregonians reading this
) So while I hunt the crud out of tot lots, the big open soccer, baseball, and football fields are near impossible to do anything in because the ground is near impossible to dig in, even with a screw drive probe. Hunting tot lots is great in all, but really leaves a lot to be desired. Another problem I've encountered is construction areas, such as side walk removals, top soil removals, building demo etc etc. I have yet to find a site where even sidewalk is being removed that I am allowed to hunt. Here's a great example of this, which happened to me today. Near our fairgrounds is a very large, very open field. During fairs and other events, the fairgrounds uses the field to park cars. This field has been there for as long as the fairgrounds, if not longer, and is used on a regular basis by people walking their dogs and playing catch with their dogs. Well half of the field has now been bulldozed in order to make a proper drive way and parking lot. There was a total of one dozer doing the work, and one man. There was nothing else. I called the fairgrounds to ask if I could metal detect on this now very easy to search field, and was turned down because its a construction site.... One dozer and one man in a 3/4 arce is a construction site? Its flat other than some piles of dirt, wheres the danger in this?
I am I wrong to be frustrated by the fact that a hobby I want to enjoy and want to do is blocked at every turn by things like this? Anyone else in Oregon having these issues?
Again, forgive my ranting if this is the wrong place for it, just so frustrated with the way things have been going lately...
I live in Hillsboro Oregon and have been trying to enjoy this hobby for about a year now. I started out with a Bounty Hunter Tracker II, and have since moved up to a Fisher F5. My rant starts with the areas to hunt in this city. There are plenty of parks and schools to hunt, so where to go is not a limited to selection. However, almost all of the parks have one very common problem associated to them. They have NO irrigation what so ever. Not only this, but the grass grounds themselves are not taken care of. Oh sure, they mow the grass when needed, but the ground has become so devoid of any nutrients that it turns to solid brick when the sun comes out for even a minute, and solid mud pies when the rain hits (which is most of the year for the non-Oregonians reading this
) So while I hunt the crud out of tot lots, the big open soccer, baseball, and football fields are near impossible to do anything in because the ground is near impossible to dig in, even with a screw drive probe. Hunting tot lots is great in all, but really leaves a lot to be desired. Another problem I've encountered is construction areas, such as side walk removals, top soil removals, building demo etc etc. I have yet to find a site where even sidewalk is being removed that I am allowed to hunt. Here's a great example of this, which happened to me today. Near our fairgrounds is a very large, very open field. During fairs and other events, the fairgrounds uses the field to park cars. This field has been there for as long as the fairgrounds, if not longer, and is used on a regular basis by people walking their dogs and playing catch with their dogs. Well half of the field has now been bulldozed in order to make a proper drive way and parking lot. There was a total of one dozer doing the work, and one man. There was nothing else. I called the fairgrounds to ask if I could metal detect on this now very easy to search field, and was turned down because its a construction site.... One dozer and one man in a 3/4 arce is a construction site? Its flat other than some piles of dirt, wheres the danger in this? I am I wrong to be frustrated by the fact that a hobby I want to enjoy and want to do is blocked at every turn by things like this? Anyone else in Oregon having these issues?
Again, forgive my ranting if this is the wrong place for it, just so frustrated with the way things have been going lately...