Another Potential Problem For CW Relic Hunters.

[Shortstack]

In the last couple of weeks, 2 individuals were given sentences of 100+ years in prison for armed robbery of elderly women. These 2 punks were not operating together. They just happened to develop their individual ideas for quick money at the same time. In Mississippi, prison terms can be doubled if victims are over 50 years of age. One of these lowlifes, along with three buddies forced their way into a RURAL mobile home and roughed-up an 80 year old lady. He got a sentence of 140 years and his accomplices are awaiting sentencing. He is 22 years old and his life is wasted. Do I feel sorry for him? NO. He's the one who decided to do the deed.

Now for our problem. This attack (and others not mentioned) happened in a county where some serious Civil War fighting took place and these sites are all on PRIVATE LAND. My son and I will not be pulling into any driveways to knock on strangers' doors to ask permission to hunt. Folks are rightly on super-guard now and we wouldn't want to frighten any elderly folks, get shot at, or have "911" calls made to the county "cop-shop" about us. So, we will be using two techniques for our searching.
(1) Hunt just the road right-of-ways and the areas around public access points to the river and creeks in the area.
(2) Ask a county sheriff's deputy to introduce us to a big land owner as a way to avoid suspicion.
Either way, I'm planning to visit the Sheriff's department and introduce myself to them and give them my car's license plate number so they can identify us should they get any calls about us parking on the shoulder of the road or driving suspiciously slow on the back roads.

I'm posting this piece to give folks a heads up to check their own areas for this type of situation. It just might save a whole lot of headaches and embarrassment.

[MichaelB]

Thanks for the heads up.

[divedigger]

good plan,might save yourself some hassle

[captain Jack]

Def good thinking. One thing you could do that I have been entertaining in my head...is getting the address of a property you want to hunt (if there is a home on it) and sending them a letter with your email and phone # in it. Just a thought. But then again, some elderly in a hightened state of awareness may see it as a bogus attempt ot some "hoodlum" to get onto their property.

best of luck to ya!

P.S. Don't know if you caught the "craigslist" thread on here a while ago but it works like a charm for getting permission to hunt land. I get 3-4 sites every time I do it! If you missed it PM me and I'll fill ya in.

[Shortstack]

I appreciate your offer, Captain Jack, but we'll have to use the "personal touch" in this particular area. A large battle site is in an open area, right on a river with public access. We'll get into it with no problems. The second place is cut and crosscut with back roads. We'll go through the Sheriff's office for that one. The Sheriff is a long time office holder and a good man. He's known by everyone in the area as a fair man.
Right now, my son is out of state and won't be back for another week or two.