Have you ever hunted private property without permission?

[kindafoundabuckle]

You ever go golfing at night?

 

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[Ray S ECenFL]

Nope, never have and don't intend to, but that is just me.



Ray S

 

[rebelLT]

As a general rule NO! However..... ...... I will hunt some homesites that are owned by banks, trusts, etc. I live in one of those states that have a liberal "no trespassing" law and, generally, if no one is around to run you off you will be okay. I wont even get into my opinion that the banks etc that issued the 20 percent loan for the now forclosed houses are crooks. To be very EXACT about the law around here, one could, in theory, just walk up to a house and start detecting, as long as it was not posted or otherwise guarded against trespassers in such a way likey to come to the attention of anyone trespassing etc etc blah blah (insert legal chicken bone throw here). Of course I dont do that. I hunt the old, run down neighborhoods where the cops worry more about the dead body or crackhouse down the street than the crazy white guy with the metal detector. A friend of mine once told me that there are two kinds of people, those who have had an accidental disharge, and those who will. He was talking about guns, of course, though the same thing applies to DMing. There are those who have hunted private property without permission and those who will. I think that, if we are honest enough about the topic, most of us admitt that we have or would. I think if you use a little common sense and keep the image of the hobby in mind you would be okay. Just keep in mind, outa sight, outa mind.

 

[Montana Jim]

no

 

[midnightcaller]

[Any way getting back to my question, of have you ever hunted private property without permission,


Its a good way to get shot

 

[scuffler]

You cannot shoot someone for trespassing unless he enters your home, hence the castle doctrine not the yard doctrine. If you shoot someone for being on your land that is murder, plain and oh so simple, you will spend the rest of your life in prison.

 

[Rob66]

You cannot shoot someone for trespassing unless he enters your home, hence the castle doctrine not the yard doctrine. If you shoot someone for being on your land that is murder, plain and oh so simple, you will spend the rest of your life in prison.

It happens though...."Oh my God... he came at me with a knife I had...to shoot him!!!!
I heard some poor guy up in the mountain came across a field full of pot, oops!!!! They tied him to a tree, put peanut butter on his feet and it was dinner for raccoons.Ouch!!!

15 year old kids up in trees with sniper guns.People do come up missing all the time.

The law can't be there for ya all the time.Be safe !!!!!!!

RD

 

[Montana Jim]

I'm going to get some popcorn...

 

[rebelLT]

I think about the only way you can shoot someone "legally" is to show that you, or someone else, are in immediate danger of death or great bodily harm. Anyway, dead is dead. If you shoot at me with rocksalt expect the next 16 rounds to be incoming and made of harder stuff!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Here's another scenario I consider innocuous enough to just go:

Where I'm at, all the towns are surrounded by row crops (lettuce, cauliflower, strawberries, etc....). Small time land owners here that do this went by the way-side back in the '40s. It is all done now by major coorporations, farming thousands of acres at a stretch. The fields are laced with dirt roads and not fenced. Sometimes we have researched out where an old house used to stand, or adobe site, etc... We just wait for fallow season (3X p/yr, for a week-ish each) and go out to certain spots. The only persons you're likely to see are mexican migrant farm workers. Now technically, I could probably look up an owner, which would maybe be a board of directors in some big city 5 hours away, but when you look at the lay of the land, it just seems so futile and needless.

Now contrast that, to someone's garden at their house. Or a fellow with a single few acres and a personal garden of lettuce, with his house right there, and I could see a difference in the "feel" of the two situations. One is personal, and you would be in a personal space, and the other is nameless/faceless and you could hardly expect anyone to care.

There ya go Montana Jim, you can get some more popcorn now

 

[BLACKFOOT]

Metal detector ? Whats a metal detector? It looked like a weapon to me, I told him to leave and he raised it up, I thought he she it was going to shoot me.

IF THERE WERE ANY OTHER WITNESS THEY WOULD TELL YOU I WAS IN FEAR OF MY LIFE!!
My story so now do I get victim compsation for mental agony? Yes oh thank you Officer.

 

[robert roy]

ANother reason not to trespass is that the police can confiscate your metal detector!!!!!
It HAS happened out here in Indiana.
Robert Roy

 

[LadyDigger]

I can say I never have detected without permission and we have been turned down a few times...one site being a former POW Camp during the war....now sits a new building for a few shops ....history gone...makes me want to cry everytime I drive past that site...but I move on to the next one.

I am STILL TRYING to get permission to detect a piece of land that is still owned by the family, which has been handed down since it was granted by the King of England when Princess Anne County was first being settled....the son said YES, but I am trying to get ahold of DAD to see if he will say YES!!!! He's a hard man to reach...but I won't give up. And since this land has been in this family for many, many years, as long as I can take lots of pics, I will have no problem turning over any finds (including TRASH) to the DAD!!! I just want to detect it...as I noticed homes going up in that area...think the family is selling the land ....we shall see if this deal will ever pan out! Fingers crossed.

But the other night I took my son to a boy scout meeting and went into the parking lot and detected around some trees...(I posted about it here somewhere on the forum)...anyways..long story short...ran into the Trustee of the church (who use to metal detect many years ago! Just my luck huh?) ... Gave me permission to detect the church grounds. I consider the church grounds PRIVATELY owned by the church and would never detect on church grounds without getting permission as I would a homeowners land. I'm so excited to get back and detect and he showed me where three houses were situated....only time will tell what I shall recover!!

I have been discourage by the NO's I have heard, but I won't give up...I use my genealogy research to help me....well, now I do....seems to work better for me. But it's no lie either...I am trying to make the largest family tree of a city (Hampton Roads Area) and finding things of the people of our past adds to the flavor of my future book!!!

I always say..."Wise to be safer than sorry later"...I love my detector and I don't want anyone to take it away from me and I work hard for my money and don't wish to contribute anymore than is required to the City and/or State!

Please be respectful of others, as you would like for them to be to you!!!! Just look it at this way, if you saw someone metal detecting in your yard...would you be mad? I would, they didn't ask me...besides, my yard is hunted out! LOL (well, maybe it is?)

Happy Hunting all...be safe and enjoy!
Annmarie

 

[mastereagle22]

You cannot shoot someone for trespassing unless he enters your home, hence the castle doctrine not the yard doctrine. If you shoot someone for being on your land that is murder, plain and oh so simple, you will spend the rest of your life in prison.

Ever heard of a hunting accident? Or like others have said, "He had this big knife looking thingy and he came at me with it." Face it a Leche or similar digging tool is a pretty scary looking tool.

Besides around here in some locations it is an old boy network type of thing. Billy Johnson(just a random name) knows the sherriff and this dude from out of town went on Billy's property and was making holes and stealing stuff.

As far as I am concerned there is one rule of metal detecting that trumps all others.

NEVER hunt where you don't have permission. End of story

 

[LadyDigger]

You cannot shoot someone for trespassing unless he enters your home, hence the castle doctrine not the yard doctrine. If you shoot someone for being on your land that is murder, plain and oh so simple, you will spend the rest of your life in prison.

Ever heard of a hunting accident? Or like others have said, "He had this big knife looking thingy and he came at me with it." Face it a Leche or similar digging tool is a pretty scary looking tool.

Besides around here in some locations it is an old boy network type of thing. Billy Johnson(just a random name) knows the sherriff and this dude from out of town went on Billy's property and was making holes and stealing stuff.

As far as I am concerned there is one rule of metal detecting that trumps all others.

NEVER hunt where you don't have permission. End of story

Don't know how true this is...but was told some time back...that if you ever shoot an intruder and he falls outside into your yard, drag him in your house...cause if he is in the doorway and falls back into the yard, you can get arrested for murder, but if he falls forward into your home, you can say he was robbing you ... but as I said, don't know if it's true, never did it...and hope to never have too! This is what I was told was the law in Virginia Beach...but I don't know.

 

[UnEarthed72]

I have not ever gone on private property without permission,and wont start getting into the practice of doing so illegally(this can prove to be detrimental to yourself and to the hobby if caught).

I do have a suggestion though,from reading posts I've noticed that many fellow md'rs have backup detectors.So my idea is to take a second detector with you(if you have one) and when asking for permission offer to let the land owner use the back up and accompany you in looking on the property.This will serve a few purposes..

(1) It will peak their intrest to see what they may find and gain you access

(2) They wont spy or hover around you when you are searching(kinda putting their minds at ease)

(3) It will make the land owner feel part of the process and allow you to keep your finds as they will keep theirs(ruling out the idea of them taking everything you may find)

(4) It may possibly lead them to join the hobby and offer up some other spots they may know about(they may even want to join you)

(5) You possibly can't use both at the same time,and seems like the ethical thing to do,it allows you now to be viewed as an ambassador of the hobby instead of just being one of those people non detectorists think your there to just scour and take from their land.

(6)You may just gain another friend,hunting partner,or a conduit to other private lands that can put a good word in on your behalf.

There you have it,I hope this may help everyone who reads this post
be safe and HH all
~Shawn~

 

[joya_dorado]

I almost always ask permission... say "almost" because there are areas I sometimes hunt, along Salado Creek in San Antonio that are probably private but they are also flood zones and any fences always get washed away. No property markers of any kind. Some of it used to belong to my family. These spots can never be built on or developed and as a kid I roamed freely through this area so I am disinclined to dig through court records to find out who actually owns this land. If I see anyone I walk the other way. If anyone ever chases me I'll run and believe me, I know every trail there like the back of my hand.
I know, this is not the best policy but it's sort of a special situation. I ALWAYS recommend getting the landowner's permission

 

[desertfox]

Don't do it, its not worth it, there are far too many other places to hunt. No is NO. I've only been told no twice in 20 years. MDing is way to much fun to spoil it for everyone else!
HH and get permission first or stay off other peoples property.

Desertfox

 

[BuckleBoy]

I do have a suggestion though,from reading posts I've noticed that many fellow md'rs have backup detectors.So my idea is to take a second detector with you(if you have one) and when asking for permission offer to let the land owner use the back up and accompany you in looking on the property.This will serve a few purposes..

(1) It will peak their intrest to see what they may find and gain you access

(2) They wont spy or hover around you when you are searching(kinda putting their minds at ease)

(3) It will make the land owner feel part of the process and allow you to keep your finds as they will keep theirs(ruling out the idea of them taking everything you may find)

(4) It may possibly lead them to join the hobby and offer up some other spots they may know about(they may even want to join you)

(5) You possibly can't use both at the same time,and seems like the ethical thing to do,it allows you now to be viewed as an ambassador of the hobby instead of just being one of those people non detectorists think your there to just scour and take from their land.

(6)You may just gain another friend,hunting partner,or a conduit to other private lands that can put a good word in on your behalf.

There you have it,I hope this may help everyone who reads this post
be safe and HH all
~Shawn~

How many times have you taken newbies out with you to hunt If I did this during most of my hunts, I probably wouldn't enjoy them nearly as much. You'd be checking or re-checking targets for them, advising them on how to dig, trying not to skunk them too badly.

Every so often, I pick up a "project," i.e., a newbie to our hobby that needs some help. I usually go hunting with said person a good bit, help them with detector issues, share advice and research techniques, and then pretty much let 'em have at it. They usually remain good friends and huntin buddies afterwards. This takes a lot of energy and time, and I don't do it very often. In theory, I think the idea of taking your back-up machine with you and making the offer to the property owner is sound, but in my experience, property owners are usually too busy to drop whatever they're doing and participate in a hunt with us. Remember, it is us that randomly intruded to knock on their doors and interrupt their lives--however briefly. Usually owners just ignore me after they give me permission, and only occasionally check in.

Regards,

Buckleboy

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

"oh sure yah blah blah"