Have you ever hunted private property without permission?

I don't think anyone mentioned you could get shot.

Tresspassing is tresspassing regardless of the situation. Just think of how much you will have to find just to pay off the legal costs if you are arrested and prosecuted.

Also think about this. If you live in a smaller coummunity word gets out about what is happening. You get arrested and then you have the reputation of being "That guy with the metal detector that got arrested for digging up somebody's yard." Be really hard to get any further permissions.

An darn it if it doesn't tick me off when I am told no. I have one 92 y/o guy whose daughter lives with him. The house he lives in was built in 1940 as was the house across the street he owns both and has since 1940. He also owns a property that has a house on it built in 1876. When I asked if I could possibly detect it I was told no because there might be valuable coins and stuff on the property and his daughter said they belong to her and her sister and she isn't going to allow some stranger to come in and take them. She doesn't have a detector, has no plans on getting one, and is not going to hire someone to find the stuff. When I offered to split it with her and her family she said "Why should I give up 50% of what I own 100% of." ????? Some people are just plain ignorant.
 

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Master Eagle, you say "digging up somebody's yard" Do you see any difference between someone's front yard, and an abandoned blighted lot where an owner doesn't even live or care about?

Here's an analogy: I own a commercial building, where I run my streetsweeper business out of. We have a dumpster in our parking lot. Occasionally, a homeless person will be rifling through it, in search of aluminum cans. I just walk past him and ignore him. Yeah it's my private property, but I'm not offended by him or anything. Now if that SAME homeless person was at MY house, rifling through my trashcan which is kept at the side of my home, I'd maybe be freaked out. Ie.: one (the "yard") is more personal, like an invasion of privacy or whatever. But the other, is like im-personal. Yet they are both private property.

Or here's another example: Shopping centers are private property, right? But people enter and leave them all the time ;D What's the difference if I see a dime on the parking lot, and pick it up? Or the homeless person who goes through the shopping center trash cans for aluminum? Where's the fine-line between that, and the detectorist who hunts an abandoned, un-posted, un-fenced lot?
 

EDDEKALB said:
do you really think someone who has will say
"oh sure yah blah blah" PLEEEAAAAAASSEEEEEE
Click to expand...

Nope...Not yet. Everyone has let me hunt...So it works LOL. You feel a little like a kiss ass, but thats what people want these days.
 

People will always try to justify their actions. So you will hear a lot of stories about a site that will be lost forever or whatever. The is no excuse for breaking the law and violating our hobby's code of ethics. If you hunt without permission, you're violating the law and should be punished IMHO. You are the people that make it hard for the rest of us.
 

i have no issues about hunting vacant lots without permission but things are a little different in big cities.... people arent as preoccupied with what everybody else is doing.

i'll hunt a vacant lot without permission if it has no fence and no signs. no fence means no B&E. no sign rules out the "you got warned not to enter" part of the deal. at least here in miami, someone has to ask you to leave a yard or lot and you refuse to leave for it to be considered trespassing. got this right from the cops. (have 4 in my family)

usually the most i have to deal with is "what have you found?" or "did you find anything yet?". if you stop detecting and talk to folks for a few minutes, they lose their curiosity and leave you alone.

i know this kinda goes against the majority of the other posts in this thread but most people in miami just dont care enough to bother reporting real crimes, much less worry about the nerd in the middle of the field with the MD'er.
 

Re-tek, I agree with your philosophy. And I don't see how hunting an abandoned blighted lot "hurts" our hobby?
 

:( Not me. Never would I trespass on private property!

My wife and I have a system that works fairly well which I will share with everyone for getting permission. I fire up Google Earth and do a search in our area for historical areas such as old schools, military bases, churches, etc. Once we find an interesting spot we log on to the county website and do a GIS/Interactive search of the property based on address and aerial photo's from the county website. Once that is done it is simply a matter of clicking on a "parcel" and the owners name and address is there for all to see. We lookup their phone numbers and give them a call. If the phone number is not found or is unlisted we write a nice letter with our names and numbers in it to the owners on the tax record with a prepaid, addressed envelope to mail a response to us if they so desire. So far we have received permission to hunt an old race track on 55 acres built in 1896, an old school built in 1900 which is now an antique store and the best yet is a cabin built in 1915 on 40 acres of land 200 miles from my house which may be a location for copper culture Indians from thousands of years ago. We have found several sites that use to have houses on them in the middle of no where which are now owned by local townships for future development. The local townships almost never give permission since they are always concerned about liability issues or are concerned you may actually find something worthwhile even though the land will be covered in concrete soon and it doesn't matter. Some things you cannot control or do anything about but you ALWAYS ask permission. We keep fairly busy hunting the local parks and beaches and the private property mentioned above. We hunt the old school grounds on the 24th when the owner returns from her Florida vacation.
RC
 

Tom_in_CA said:
Master Eagle, you say "digging up somebody's yard" Do you see any difference between someone's front yard, and an abandoned blighted lot where an owner doesn't even live or care about?

Here's an analogy: I own a commercial building, where I run my streetsweeper business out of. We have a dumpster in our parking lot. Occasionally, a homeless person will be rifling through it, in search of aluminum cans. I just walk past him and ignore him. Yeah it's my private property, but I'm not offended by him or anything. Now if that SAME homeless person was at MY house, rifling through my trashcan which is kept at the side of my home, I'd maybe be freaked out. Ie.: one (the "yard") is more personal, like an invasion of privacy or whatever. But the other, is like im-personal. Yet they are both private property.

Or here's another example: Shopping centers are private property, right? But people enter and leave them all the time ;D What's the difference if I see a dime on the parking lot, and pick it up? Or the homeless person who goes through the shopping center trash cans for aluminum? Where's the fine-line between that, and the detectorist who hunts an abandoned, un-posted, un-fenced lot?
Click to expand...

I am sorry I misread his post. I thought he was talking about going somewhere where he asked and was told no. I missed the part about a vacant lot. I have a lot here in town where an apartment building was abandoned by its owner and the city had to condem it and tear it down. I am planning on going there and running my detector soon. I agree with you that in a situation like this it probably won't hurt. I can tell you though that I asked the city if I could go on this lot and they said the lot was owned by the bank that had foreclosed and I had to ask them. I called the bank and the person I spoke with told me "I'm not telling you can and I'm not telling you you cannot." So I took this to mean it wouldn't be too big an issue. I'll let you know.
 

Never, Never, Never Trespass on a spot you were told No.
You could get Arrested, or Attacked by Everyone here,
or have your posts Deleted, Or Banned,

OR All of the above

You did the right thing by asking us,
now do the Right thing out there
Click to expand...

Never ever hunt on someones land without their permission. I would never do such a thing as even hunt under cover of darkness. On city lots now if the city allows detecting on its property it should be OK as you pay taxes in the city, right? To hunt private land is to give us detectorists a bad rap. Ask, and if you are refused permission, move on with a smile. At least you tried. It is about the same as some dude setting up his deer stand on your property.
 

Not sure about a city but here where I live in rural VT. sometimes it is hard to figure out who owns a certain piece of property. I could see where this may make someone say oh well and go anyway.
I can go to the town clerks office, pay $1.00 and get a copy of my towns GRAND LIST on a CD. This tells me who owns EVERY piece of property in town. The surrounding towns do the same thing.
Do other states - towns offer this ?
 

VERMONTPACKRAT said:
Not sure about a city but here where I live in rural VT. sometimes it is hard to figure out who owns a certain piece of property. I could see where this may make someone say oh well and go anyway.
I can go to the town clerks office, pay $1.00 and get a copy of my towns GRAND LIST on a CD. This tells me who owns EVERY piece of property in town. The surrounding towns do the same thing.
Do other states - towns offer this ?
Click to expand...

I get mine... from work.I deal in beachfront- resort, homes and property: Rental, sales, renovate and financial and have to deal with owners all the time.Some are nice... others, hard balls.But before I turn the property over I clean it up a little... ya know what I mean? You must get permission first!!!!! A friend of mine was shoot with a salt ball... it was not fun for him.

As mention above get an owners list and start calling.
RD
 

The answer is no and there is a good reason for NOT doing so, other than its just not polite. SOme people around my neck of the woods had their metal detectors confiscated by the police for being where they shouldn't have been. I like my equipment toooooooo
much to have the cops take it away from me.

RR
 

A friend of mine was shoot with a salt ball... it was not fun for him.

As mention above get an owners list and start calling.
RD

[/quote]

See I told ya, shot I tell ya shot!!! Around here they don't use salt either.
 

How can the police justify taking your property, what has that got to do with the breaking of the law, what statute would justify the theft of your detector, Would they take your shovel too? how bout your car. Wonder if I would let them take my detector or defend my rights!
 

No I never have.


They can take whatever they want just like shooting a deer out of season you lose your lifetime hunting license,you car, your gun, and the fine.
Deal drugs out of your house here in OKla thay can take your house.

Blackfoot
 

I guess its a good law then, at least I'll say that on this public forum.
 

Only by mistake, once or twice. Wasn't looking over my shoulder as I thought I had permission. When doing large areas of land, a farmer will say "that field over there next after the 3rd large Oak tree on the right". Not til later that you realised you missed a tree. Now I get them to draw on maps to make sure I'm legal.
 

Not intentionally; gave up an SLQ I dug thinking I was in the right yard. I was one yard too far south >:(. It was an honest mistake. Otherwise, I wouldn't hunt private property without permission.
 

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