Is the End of MD Coming?

[Doug Mauck]

I was hunting the 600 acre park surrounding Lake Shawnee in Shawnee County, Kansas when the Director of Parks and Recreation came out of his office and told me that all county property was now closed to metal detecting. Why? Too many hunters were digging holes and not filling them in. As he said, the few spoiled it for the many. Our city and county are discussing consolidating Parks and Recreation departments, so we could soon lose everything but private property to hunt on.
There is no use 'preaching to the choir', but this may be a growing trend.
On the other hand, I've been hunting in this area for three years now, and I've never seen an uncovered hole that wasn't dug by a squirrel.
I guess if we see an uncovered hole, even if a squirrel dug it, we should cover it up.

 

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[bk]

I've heard this time and time again. I have seen an occasional "spot" left by another detectorist, but never as bad as some of these people describe. Contact the FMDAC and see if they can help. You also need to do you're part. Explain that as a hobbyist you can actually do more good than bad simply by picking up trash, helping law enforcement, and assisting in returning missing jewelry to people.
In my city our Park and Rec. has sponsored our detecting club for the past 25 years. Why? Because we have helped people find lost items, assisted city and county law enforcement, and Civil Defense. We also patrol the city parks and report illegal activity to the authorities.

 

[aarthrj3811]

In my area you can get a ticket for having a metal detector in your car when in a park. It's pretty simple...It's their park and they don't want any one in it...Art

 

[George (MN)]

They like to give a reason that sounds rational for not allowing metal detecting, but I suspect they were contacted by the state archaeologist & told they should stop the looting of priceless 1 of a kind treasures that belong to the public. They can get paid thousands of dollars for each nearly worthless object that they find, if they draw on a map which square inch it was on, which way it was pointed & how deep it was. So they think of us detectorists as a threat to their job. One of the govt people was saying we shouldn't even take pulltabs, as they could be of interest to future archaeologists. George (MN)

 

[Templar09]

One of the govt people was saying we shouldn't even take pulltabs, as they could be of interest to future archaeologists. George (MN)

 

[Ant]

If that's a problem in your area contact the powers that be and suggest developing a permit process that would require some type of small test. Some city and or Municipalities use this method to insure that MD'er know the ethics of MD’ing. This is only an alternative to complete closer of your areas.

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

The end will not come until 14 April 2009, 9:57 A M.

We still have time for pillaging and looting the
areas.

So get out there now.

all have a good un............

 

[bk]

The end will not come until 14 April 2009, 9:57 A M.

We still have time for pillaging and looting the
areas.

So get out there now.

all have a good un............

LOL
We all thought the end of the computer world as we know it was supposed to happen at 12:01 AM on 01/01/2000.

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

bk,

its funny you mention that. in 1999 when i was still using wini had an old copy of win95 installed. was gonna change to 98 anyway so i set the date ahead and restarted the pc......nothing bad happened.

i installed 98 and since it was new i set the date ahead on it too, before i actually stored data to it, and restarted. nothing bad happened... the pc loaded as normal in both cases. i LOL'd to myself and when the Y2K craze hit i just sat back and LOL' to myself again....... all the people buying these damn patches and quick fixes. haha....better them than me.....

as afar as the end of MD goes. i have found out from the state of texas parks and wildlife website that it is and "infraction" to use one on it's land.

i have looked into the rules for the city of houston for the parks and recreation department and found no provisions for describing rules for or against MD'ing. thats for all my fellow houstonians who didn't know. i just learned this myself. hopefully it cannpt fall into the destructin of property section. that remains to be seen....

 

[Farmercal]

One of the govt people was saying we shouldn't even take pulltabs, as they could be of interest to future archaeologists. George (MN)

George,
Believe me when I tell you this: There are still plenty of pull tabs for the archaeologists to find in the future. No matter how hard I try to eliminate them they still pop up and get in the way of good detecting. Maybe I should sell my colleciton to the state of Florida as a historical account of 20th century Floridians. What do you think?

 

[Doug Mauck]

If we don't remove some of the pull-tabs, the archeologists of the future will miss the fact that we were here with our metal detectors! When they find an area with very few pull-tabs, they'll know that some tribe collected them, maybe to use in a primitive religious ceremony....or whatever they dream up. Let's help the archeologists out by removing pull-tabs as a message to the future that we were here!

 

[Sandman]

This is a problem all over an it's easier for "Powers That Be" to close an area to an activity than police it. Once the rules are changed, it is harder to get them eliminated. I once explaned to a Th'er why he should cover his holes he was making in a park and got told where to go. He got fined for destroying park property and had to pay for repairs. I got kicked out of the park on general principles.

 

[Blackjack77]

.

On the other hand, I've been hunting in this area for three years now, and I've never seen an uncovered hole that wasn't dug by a squirrel.
I guess if we see an uncovered hole, even if a squirrel dug it, we should cover it up.
[/quote]

In My yard,many of the holes I dug AND filled in, have been uncovered by morning!! Found the skunks like the easy digging looking for grubs!! This could be happening in the public places as well. Most MDer's I bet fill in the holes only to have an animal dug em back up!!



Ok- I don't seem to have this "Quote" thing down yet Quote above by Doug Mauck!!

 

[Mirage]

.
In My yard,many of the holes I dug AND filled in, have been uncovered by morning!! Found the skunks like the easy digging looking for grubs!! This could be happening in the public places as well. Most MDer's I bet fill in the holes only to have an animal dug em back up!!

I have experienced the same thing. Was wondering what animal was doing it. Good thing I went back to the park and did a little "damage" control.

 

[Mirage]

The end will not come until 14 April 2009, 9:57 A M.

We still have time for pillaging and looting the
areas.

So get out there now.

all have a good un............

Pillage and loot....is that what we do?
Boy, I'm glad I got a little more time left to detect. By the way, what happens on this date?

Mirage

 

[Mike Silver -gold]

It takes the fun out of hunting when almost everywhere you hunt, you you have to fear every person who comes your way. I have been told to leave almost every park or school I have ever hunted. I wait a bit and go back. Sometimes no one will bother me , but the threat is always there.

 

[MEinWV]

Two more "hole diggers" come to mind, skunks digging for grubs, and those with golf clubs taking divits.

Detectorists were being blamed for those holes also, where I used to live. The parks and recs. people said they couldn't control everything but they were starting with us. We brought buckets of junk(tabs, nails, caps, foil, and even broken glass), to a meeting, but to no avail. They ended up allowing detecting only during the "off" season, Oct.- Apr., which in Maine was what we called "WINTER". OH WELL!

 

[treasurejack]

I've yet to have a city park's employee approach me and tell me that I couldn't metal detect. But then again, I'm pretty consistent in asking first, which I think seems to easy their woes a bit. I have had city police cars pull up and watch me for a while, even watched one of them call in the plates on my van, but without further incident. Let's face it, if it's a new park it just looks bad for a guy to be digging up the new ground cover, even around the swingsets, so I shy away from these places just for that simple reason. Sort of the "out of sight, out of mind" theory, I guess, or the, "he's no threat" train of thought. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I really think these conscious efforts go a long way towards not being bothered by the Park's staff. And if the Park's rules/laws prohibit MDing, then why even bother with it in the first place?

 

[ericwt]

I do not think the end of MD is coming.

I never have problems as I search on Private property with permission.

If it is not private property with permission I do not touch it. There is plenty of private property.

MD- everywhere else, well those days are coming to an end.

ericwt

 

[stoney56]

It's my understanding that the Topeka Metal Detector Club holds an annual hunt there around June of each year. They are allowed to set up to seed hunt the beach of Lake Shawnee but not the park grounds itself.