Denied permission today to old perfect school

[darktower007]

Last weekend I was looking at old maps and found a school really close to me that went back to the 1920's. The areal photo looked perfect.. old soccer fields, football fields... perfection.

As thoughts of silver danced in my head the next morning I drove to the site and to my horror I saw "Private Property no trespassing" signs everywhere.

My heart sank. This is owned by the public I thought?

Doing more research the school has been closed for 7 years and Vandals tore it apart.
The city sold it 3 MONTHS AGO.. I tracked down to whom, and left a message.

The secretary called me back and said he would rather me not... but call back in s few months, as he is busy and out of the country.

Could I hunt it?? Why yes on a lonely road with no traffic.. but I'm not gonna do it. Hoping he changes his mind in September.

Happy Hunting


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[No gold in NY]

That is heartbreaking. When he gets back try for a face to face meeting at the property. Be sure to wear your best professional face.

 

[Rustic]

I think some folks get a little jolt of pleasure saying no... most folks are friendly, I find, no matter if it's a yes or a no answer, they know how to say no in a nice way. Then every now and then there's some jerk: the other day I asked a homeowner very politely if I could detect his hay field, and he said "NO!", then just turned and walked away. Very unfriendly and not how folks usually are around here... it did hurt my feelings a little.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that the man comes through with your permission come Autumn... and that you make some excellent finds there.

 

[AlienLifeForm]

You're doing it wrong. If you asked if you could remove trash from the property, I bet you would have got the permission.

 

[Sandman]

Owner probably saw Diggers on TV. So won't get permission.

 

[Tommybuckets]

Haha Warbaby has it down! " Hi would it be ok if I cleaned up your property a bit? I'll be removing as much metal trash as I am able. You don't even have to pay me if you don't feel like it." I am using that next time.
I have had similar experiences where properties have just changed hands and you get the "No." I detected the curb strip at one just because I was already there and got a 1900 Barber quarter and was gone in ten minutes.

 

[darktower007]

I actually offered the secretary to mow the football field and pick up trash! She said "we have people do that"

The guy is suppose to be a man of the cloth according to news articles of him and gives back to the community a lot...

Not in my case though :crying:

Oh well I tried.. I might try to catch the lawn maintenance guy and ask him.. lol


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[Truth]

You're doing it wrong. If you asked if you could remove trash from the property, I bet you would have got the permission.

Nice


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[RustyGold]

It's not a complete no. At least he gave you the opening to ask the owner later and who knows, if you offer to share the history with the gentleman who owns it, there's a chance he'd say yes. I'd ask again later.
Best of luck!

 

[Javadroid]

You're doing it wrong. If you asked if you could remove trash from the property, I bet you would have got the permission.

Brilliant!!

 

[Jason in Enid]

Dont feel too bad. If it was that obvious on a map, it been known to every detectorist in the area (many who probably went to school there as children). It was probably hunted to death long before it went private and isn't the silver mine you envision.

Not a reason to give up trying though, no place is ever hunted out. Try back again every few months. maybe they'll get tired and let you hunt it just to shut you up. LOL

 

[darktower007]

Dont feel too bad. If it was that obvious on a map, it been known to every detectorist in the area (many who probably went to school there as children). It was probably hunted to death long before it went private and isn't the silver mine you envision.

Not a reason to give up trying though, no place is ever hunted out. Try back again every few months. maybe they'll get tired and let you hunt it just to shut you up. LOL

This is true. I've only found silver at permissions. A lot of people hunt Chattanooga though due to civil war.

Parks are basically out for me, due to Foreman's keep us out even though no banning policy exists.

So I hunt schools and churches a lot.

It's about 50/50 I get denied permission a lot but I got one today from a landscaping company that takes fill dirt! So I'm hoping to scan the tear outs soon.


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[Honest Samuel]

The best time to search the school grounds is when the owner is out of the country. Good hunting and good luck.

 

[Xraywolf]

The best time to search the school grounds is when the owner is out of the country. Good hunting and good luck.

You never miss a chance to advocate illegal, underhanded actions do ya ?

 

[jeff of pa]

please do not encourage illegal activity in posts on TreasureNet

 

[Tnmountains]

The best time to search the school grounds is when the owner is out of the country. Good hunting and good luck.

You need to change your name Samuel.

 

[Kurios1]

I have an abandoned school about 100 feet from my home. It's about five acres and the owners don't mow it and it's basically rotting into the ground and an eyesore to our small community. I have voluntarily mowed it with my own mowers, time, and gas. I hunt it whenever I want and no one says a thing. The county police have stopped and asked me who owns it. I tell them I don't know but, if you find out let them know I am doing THEIR job of mowing it for FREE!

You can come up with a plan to help keep the school clean and report any unusual activity to the owner. For a spot like that I'd be willing to invest some of my own time and $$$ for the privilege to hunt it. Good ground is hard to come by. I hope something works out in your favor.

 

[trdking]

I have an abandoned school about 100 feet from my home. It's about five acres and the owners don't mow it and it's basically rotting into the ground and an eyesore to our small community. I have voluntarily mowed it with my own mowers, time, and gas. I hunt it whenever I want and no one says a thing. The county police have stopped and asked me who owns it. I tell them I don't know but, if you find out let them know I am doing THEIR job of mowing it for FREE!

You can come up with a plan to help keep the school clean and report any unusual activity to the owner. For a spot like that I'd be willing to invest some of my own time and $$$ for the privilege to hunt it. Good ground is hard to come by. I hope something works out in your favor.

I find that commercial property owners are more worried about injuries on their properties than any thing else. The big what if. They don't give a crap about you digging up a degenerate property, they are worried about you getting hurt on it. I am a commercial contractor and I carry 3 million dollars in Liability insurance. When I ask for permissions at the end I offer to give them an Accord certificate of insurance listing the owners and subsidiaries employees etc etc as additional insures to protect their interests. This goes a LONG way. It greatly increases my chances of a yes. It costs me nothing to create a cert listing them. I give them a copy and I am good to go. I would think that if you filed a 25 dollar dba (doing business as) Claimed no employees and did not state your yearly gross receipt income over 100K per year, you could go to Hiscox.com and get a commercial policy for less than $40 a month. Thats California. In other states I would think 25 a month. Just a thought.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Owner probably saw Diggers on TV. So won't get permission.

Although, somehow those guys sure do manage to get a lot of permissions!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

... I hunt it whenever I want and no one says a thing. The county police have stopped and asked me who owns it. I tell them I don't know .....

Wait, hold on a minute, let me see if I understand this correctly: It's abandoned. But as you know, that even though it might no longer function as a SCHOOL, yet that doesn't mean that someone doesn't "own" it. Perhaps, like for the OP, someone bought surplus school property, or whatever ? Point is, you say you "don't know who owns it". Hmmm. Then perhaps the reason "no one ever says a thing", is that you haven't asked the right people "can I ?"

Does yours have signs like the OP's has ?