Tried something new....

[sandtrout]

tried something new...spray painted some golf tees flourescent colors. Run the detector EARLY in the morning or LATE in the evening. Don't dig anything...just push a painted golf tee into the ground. Come back the next day (or later in the day if I've hunted in early morning) and bring a picnic lunch and NO DETECTOR....just a screwdriver (and a Garrett Propointer of course, held under my arm pit) to pop coins out and I'm not OBVIOUS. So far, this has worked at 2 parks the police have asked me to leave.

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

hmmmm, now that's interesting. A continually moving picnic basket lunch. And yes, there are some parks where you can detect till your heart's content, if you're only brushing aside surface leaves, or only parting the grass blades to search for surface things.

Your method wouldn't be doing anything to abide by their "no digging" rule, but .......... dang, it sound durned near fool-proof. That is, if the purpose of your post was to inquire about workability of the method. I mean, no ones likely to glance twice at the guy sitting there with his picnic basket, minding his own business. But if your purpose was to ask about the ethics of it, then technically, well ....... you know.

 

[joeman]

I certainly don't see an 'Ethics Issue' here, UNLESS you're 'specifically' BANNED from MD'ing in said park.

Because a Couple of Cops don't want you there is Bullsh!t and they can suck 'Chilli Dogs'. Unfortunately the COPS in MUCH of the US like to make 'everything' their business when it's not. A ByLaw officer is the only one that can kick ME off a Park Area.

 

[Keppy]

If it works then do it i will try it ............. Your not diggin ...... no ethics or moral issues here as i see it............. And i do agree some cops do make a moutain out of a mole hill... Were not even a mole hill exist.....................

 

[gleaner1]

I am going to take my new machine and mark off targets that I am not sure of with colored tees. Then I will take my old machine back over the same marked targets to really know what the frik is going on. Saves having to carry two machines. I like it alot.

 

[sandtrout]

this was one of the 1st parks I detected and found my 1st ring with 6 diamonds and 2 cheapos and then a cop drove up and said I couldn't use a metal detector there. I said, "why is that...I didn't see anything posted...I'm new at this so is there a law that I'm not familiar with?" I wasn't impolite but wanted to know. He said that someone had called and complained that I was making huge holes. I said that I had been there all morning...could he see any holes? He said no but...this person was just going to call again, and again, and again, etc so it was just easier to have me leave. It irritated me but I never went back until now. Somehow I feel that there's more rings there...and I'm STILL leaving NO TRACE!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Sandtrout, well now that you put it that way, it's a little different picture.

To start with you and joeman are right: just because a cop comes and tells you scram, doesn't necessarily mean there's an actual law, or rule. It may simply be this one cop's "perception" and on the spot "interpretation", etc... Or as in this case here, simply because they are duty-bound to answer a phone call complaint (no matter how groundless).

All too often when a cop comes up to usher an md'r on, if the md'r is "skittish", they make the conclusion that this scram means it's "illegal". And they think they could have been "arrested" and all sorts of scary things, when often, it is the furthest thing that will ever happen. Yet, some people just don't like warnings, so to them, it's as bad as having been thrown in Attica or Sing Sing I guess. Now sure, if you purposefully continue, then I suppose you could be in trouble., but not the initial encounter, if you were not violating an rules prohibiting detecting, and if you were not making a mess.

Now that you know that that cop was merely responding to a busy-body local resident call, and that there's no actual rule, then if it were me, I'd just return at a more discreet time. Like, don't bother with the complicated golf tee thing, but just go at more discreet times, when miss lookie-lou isn't at her kitchen window monitoring the park. Like, can't you hunt after dusk? Or from 5 to 7am? etc....