Re: What's the use
When someone says "there's no legal place to detect! All the parks, schools, and beahes in my area are off-limits". I have to ask where they come up with that info? Invariably, ... THEY ASKED! That is where they go wrong from the start.
For example: We have an old park in the middle of the city I'm in, that has been detected, at-will, since the dawn of metal detectors. When I got into this hobby in the mid 1970s, it was just known as one of the places to go. When a brick-&-mortor club was formed in 1980 here, that was a favorite stomping ground for us.
Anyhow, at one of our club meetings, a new person was visiting, having just moved to our city. As the find-of-the-month show & tell was going on, he observed a few people showing off some silver coins that were "found in Central Park". The newcomer raised his hand to asked "Hey, I thought Central Park was off-limits??" The other 20 of us just stared at him, confused. We asked, "since when? who told you that?". The guy said that when he moved to this area, a month or two earlier, he had taken it upon himself to go to city hall, and ASK! The clerk at the counter, really didn't know. So she tells him to go the park's dept. office. And so on and so forth, till he gets his answer "no".
The club was sort of confused at this point, because we had always detected it, in broad daylight, and no one ever said anything to any of us. In fact, the gardeners would sometimes ask us to help them find sprinkler heads for them. It never even
occured to us, that you needed to
ask. I mean, it's a public park, right?
All I can figure is, some desk-bound bureaucrat, when asked "can I metal detect?" gets an image of geeks with shovels, leaving messes, etc... etc... What do you think the easy answer is? Why should he be bothered?
I think this new fellow should never have asked, to begin with, and left good-enough alone. And I think this same logic applies to a myriad of public places (barring obvious historical monuments). If you ASK some bureaucrat, you are only casting aspursions upon yourself, as if.... something is inherently wrong with you, or your hobby, that you had to ask in the first place. Know what I mean? Treat yourself as if this is no different than flying a kite at that park, using the swing set, using the water-fountain, sitting on a bench there, etc... Would you ask to do those things? Of course not. No don't ask to detect. Just leave no mess, don't be a sore thumb, etc.... If someone has a problem, they're welcome to tell you. No harm done.
Some people may say "well it doesn't
hurt to ask". I say "yes it can hurt!" Here's why: If you get a "no", from a place that previously no one would have paid you any mind, guess what's going to happen the next time that ranger or bureaucrat passes that park, and sees
another md'r out there? He'll remember the earlier inquiry, and start booting the next guys! I actually know of this happening at a certain state park near Santa Cruz, CA: Several local hunters used to hunt there at-will. They were never bothered. One day, they got booted by a ranger, whom they'd seen all the time, previously. My friends asked "why?" The ranger just said that orders came down from his superiors "no metal detecting". So they left, much dismayed. Later, these guys met a newbie, who was lamenting that he had gone to the park ranger's kiosk, at this same park, a month or two earlier, to ask if it was ok to detect there. The ranger on duty didn't have the slightest idea, because he'd never even given it thought. So he inquires of his superiors, and they start looking through their rule books. They must've found something about "don't disturb the vegetation", or perhaps something to do with ARPA, so they told him "no". Well guess what?? Then all of the sudden, other md'rs, whom they'd never even paid attention to before, start getting booted! So my friends were much dismayed (read "mad") at this newbie for getting their park put off-limits. Do you see what I'm saying? So unless a place is an obviouis historical posted monument, just be discreet and go!
Heck, if you look long and hard enough at the book "Treasure Laws of the United States" by an author named Grim, (Grimm?) you might conclude that even state of CA owned beaches are off-limits (yup, most of So. CA!) At least they are severely restricted, like, "turn in all jewelry to the lost-&-found dept, alert the ranger upon coming and going, mark all old coins found with a little flag, and alert the state archaeologist first before digging", blah blah blah! But I hunt state beaches all the time, in full view of state park beach rangers (Asilomar beach for instance), and no one ever says a thing to us. What do you think would happen if I "asked"? They'd look it up in their book, and perhaps say "no". So c'mon guys, places aren't off-limits till you ask. Get out their and hunt and have fun!
And don't get me started on old-town urban demolition projects!
