I found I cant hunt my favorite park anymore!

[Roland58]

I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

All set for a fun time with my F75, Hori Hori knife in hand, fresh batteries, partly cloudy, 65°, light wind......just a great day to relax and hunt at my favorite soccer complex. I step across a sidewalk on the field side (still a long way from the actual playing field) and get a good solid nickle signal. I stop, pinpoint it, dig a plug, retrieve an aluminus poptipicus and put my plug back and the poptop goes in my junk bag. Then I hear the voice, "Did you find a quarter?" Nope, just a poptop. It was the guy that signed my permit to hunt in the park. He was making small talk before he lowered the boom on how I could not hunt there anymore! I could not figure out why, my digging is non-destructive, shallow and done with a very sharp knife. When done, ALL the dirt goes back in the hole and I try to leave it looking better than when I find it. No matter what it found, it goes with me.........a little bag for keepers and a big bag for junk. I showed the manager a hole I had just dug and he could not find it, then stomped around and found no soft spots. Then I showed him the aluminum sherds, nails and other items that I had removed that could really hurt a kid. Didn't matter.

But, he had a couple of instances where some )#%&)_! butt had dug and left holes open in the middle of the playing fields, left trash and generally made a mess. So, for you one or two mouth breathing lowlifes, thanks for screwing things up for the rest of the world! BTW, this is Lindsey Park in Tyler, TX. and I live close by. If I see you locating, I WILL call the sheriff. If I can't enjoy the park, you sure aren't going to either.

 

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[Cherokee_Kidd]

Re: I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

Well, it's sad that it has come to this in public parks. I quit hunting parks when the silver gave out a few years ago, if it's still there, you have to dig deep and be really careful how you do it. Me, I like hunting old yards, homesteads and relic sites. Do some research on your area, find the owner and ask permission. To me it's alot better than having to look over your shoulder for trouble from the cops or crooks & crackheads. I would rather have a property owner say no and move on to another site. I have detected for over 35 years and have found that research and being picky about your sites is well worth the effort. I leave the "Dirty Money" hunting to the cheap detector, too lazy to research newbes out there. I know this may sound harsh, but it is the cold hard truth.......

I just wanted to add that not everyone who detects parks are newbies . I've been detecting for over 20 years but I spend most of my time hunting farm fields and ghost towns. I still like to hunt parks in small towns cause I've found alot of good finds in small town parks because most of the time noone has detected them in a long time if they've been detected at all.

 

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[soonerdan25]

Re: I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

Well so far I have been lucky enough to avoid that situation. One thing we should all practice especially in the area where I live is to save the parks for the off season. Digging up their precious spring grass just adds to the hatred. And on that note im off to find treasure HH

 

[Cherokee_Kidd]

Re: I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

Well the grass here isn't much of a problem but they do need to mow 1 of the parks cause the grass is already getting too tall. Most of the other parks don't have much if any grass in the areas that I'll be detecting once the weather clears up, it's mostly just dirt and gravel.

 

[ron_c]

Re: I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

Another bum rap we get is when the squirrels, skunks and armadillos dig holes looking for grubs, roots, etc. You don't see them getting banned from the park but we get blamed for it.

 

[Roland58]

Re: I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

Kicking all metal detectorists out of the parks for the actions of 1 or 2 is just ridiculous. I asked the parks guy here if they were gonna keep all the cars off of a street if 1 person gets a speeding ticket on it. There doesn't seem to be any of them (city workers) around to complain if you go on Sunday mornings though.

HH Charlie

Yeah, me too! That is my favorite time to go

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Re: I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

I would have asked him how he knew it was not one of the kids from the baseball team that dug the hole. Maybe they should ban baseball because one kid dug a hole.

I would write a letter.

 

[Baldingboy]

Re: I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

Just to point out something that has not been said here...... we (metal detectorists) are NOT the only things making holes in the ground.

I had a lady challenge me once in a local park that I had left a hole which was obviously a mole trail. Another lady approached me with her dog and blamed me while her dog was digging a hole for some reason. I politely pointed that out to her and she left embarrassed.

What is wrong with this country? What is happening to it? When did we lose our backbone and let a few crazy, unhappy miserable people ruin it for the rest of us?

But I can say I have detected with two people who did not fill their holes ONCE. I will never go with them again. I tried to explain to them why it was bad, they didn't listen. Some people are just jerks.

I think it bears mentioning that the two people he is talking about ARE NOT ME. I know who he is talking about......just for the record.

 

[Roland58]

Re: I found I can't hunt my favorite park anymore!

AH........ What

I called Tyler Parks a month ago to find out where I could not detect. The guy on the other end told me to stay out of Bergfeld, Childrens and Rudman... and to stay off the ballfield play areas. NO mention of permits. He even mentioned that most of us do in fact take care with our diggin.

I never got around to shooting there... guess I never will. Bummer.

Did he say if this was in effect for the rest of Tyler parks or just Lindsey?

Lakemonster,
Well, this is getting deeper. I have been hunting Bergfeld since last September when I got my detector! My permit does not mention it as off limits......only Goodman and cemeteries. I have even talked with police officers and City Park employees while hunting, no problems....they were just interested in my machine. My permit came from the City Parks office in the
southeast corner of the Harvery Hall building and is called a "Special Event Permit."
I'm located off spur 364, very close to Chandler. I'll try to drop you a PM.......if you don't mind hunting with an old cripple, maybe we can get together somewhere.

 

[gfordtx]

Lakemonster,
Well, this is getting deeper. I have been hunting Bergfeld since last September when I got my detector! My permit does not mention it as off limits......only Goodman and cemeteries. I have even talked with police officers and City Park employees while hunting, no problems....they were just interested in my machine. My permit came from the City Parks office in the
southeast corner of the Harvery Hall building and is called a "Special Event Permit."
I'm located off spur 364, very close to Chandler. I'll try to drop you a PM.......if you don't mind hunting with an old cripple, maybe we can get together somewhere.

Roland,

Gary Here from the east side of Tyler. I am going to get my permit in the morning and I am looking for a hunting buddy. I bought an AT Pro a few days ago and have had little luck on anything besides pennies and tabs. Look me up on the Forum and PM me. I have 4 different days off each week since I work a rotating night shift for the state.

Thanks...

 

[jewelerguy]

well that blows

 

[pennyfarmer]

Another thing we should watch for. Kids who follow us around. Pay attention to them after they leave you. I have seen them go back to holes that someone has dug and reopen them. My holes are next to impossible to detect but a newbie is a little more noticeable. Another thing about holes. If you are in a construction site you should still fill your holes. You don't need a site manager or even a neighborhood kid who is exploring falling into a hole. Yeah its a construction site but the holes they leave are more smooth and not sharply deep. Imagine that you want NO one to know you were there. I always behave that way no matter what anyone tells me.