Tom_in_CA
Gold Member
- Mar 23, 2007
- 13,837
- 10,360
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- Detector(s) used
- Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
To stir the pot on public park's issue:
There's been several posts/threads on various forums here, in the past few weeks, which have dabbled in the area of public parks, permission issues (whether it is needed) etc.... Just to give more food for thought, and "stir the pot" (for those of you snowed in so doing a lot of forum reading
) I've given this as an example in the past, but not for a long time now. It bears repeating:
A fellow in a midwestern state (I forget which one) used to hunt his state parks with no problem. There was nothing (at least to his knowledge) addressing the issue in state park rules. But one day, he got booted at a certain state park. The ranger didn't offer to show any written rules. The hunter got a little miffed, and a little curious, so he set about to do his OWN research on his state's park's rules. He discovered that, in fact, it was silent on the issue (nothing addressing metal detecting per se). Perhaps some stuff that could be morphed to apply, like cultural heritage wording, or "don't disturb the vegetation", etc... but nothing specific on metal detecting.
As this fellow was researching his own state's laws, he found out that a neighboring state actually had wording allowing detecting @ their state parks. Albeit only at beaches, or maybe with a permit, or whatever. So he thought "wouldn't that be cool if my state could adopt similar clarifications, so that there'd be no hassles?" So he set about writing letters to the highest up on the ladder rung of his state's park's headquarters, suggesting that they add these clarifications, like their neighbor state had, about how he felt un-justly booted, etc...
Weeks went by, and he never got a response to this petition letters. Then one day, he decided to go detecting at another state park near him. This was also a state park where he'd never previously ever been bothered at. But lo & behold, a ranger comes up to boot him! A ranger whom he recognized as one who .... in the past ..... never gave anything but a friendly wave. When the md'r asked "why?", the ranger pulls out a department memo paper that had just been passed down to the rank-&-file. It alerted employees that "metal detecting is not allowed". As the md'r looked down at the memo paper the ranger was showing him, GUESS WHO IT WAS SIGNED BY? The very same top official guy at state capitol whom he'd been petitioning! In other words, his petition letters back-fired, and caused the receiving person to simply decide "no more metal detecting" and make it official. Like, maybe they probably never gave it thought before receiving these letters requesting clarification and/or permission?
In the end, the guy figured he should have just treated that first booting as an isolated incident. Not fought it, not sought clarification, permission, etc.... He realized that the first incident could've just been an isolated ranger having a bad day, or a singular false perception about holes, etc.... He should have avoided just that one ranger, or just that one park and left good enough alone. Instead, by fighting it (thinking he was doing his hobby a favor), he gets his whole state parks put off limits! True story!
Now you tell me, in that case, who's the one "giving the hobby a bad name"? Who's the one who's "getting places put off limits?" The guys who help themselves, or the guys going around clarifying and seeking "permission" from some deskbound bureacrats?
There's been several posts/threads on various forums here, in the past few weeks, which have dabbled in the area of public parks, permission issues (whether it is needed) etc.... Just to give more food for thought, and "stir the pot" (for those of you snowed in so doing a lot of forum reading
) I've given this as an example in the past, but not for a long time now. It bears repeating:A fellow in a midwestern state (I forget which one) used to hunt his state parks with no problem. There was nothing (at least to his knowledge) addressing the issue in state park rules. But one day, he got booted at a certain state park. The ranger didn't offer to show any written rules. The hunter got a little miffed, and a little curious, so he set about to do his OWN research on his state's park's rules. He discovered that, in fact, it was silent on the issue (nothing addressing metal detecting per se). Perhaps some stuff that could be morphed to apply, like cultural heritage wording, or "don't disturb the vegetation", etc... but nothing specific on metal detecting.
As this fellow was researching his own state's laws, he found out that a neighboring state actually had wording allowing detecting @ their state parks. Albeit only at beaches, or maybe with a permit, or whatever. So he thought "wouldn't that be cool if my state could adopt similar clarifications, so that there'd be no hassles?" So he set about writing letters to the highest up on the ladder rung of his state's park's headquarters, suggesting that they add these clarifications, like their neighbor state had, about how he felt un-justly booted, etc...
Weeks went by, and he never got a response to this petition letters. Then one day, he decided to go detecting at another state park near him. This was also a state park where he'd never previously ever been bothered at. But lo & behold, a ranger comes up to boot him! A ranger whom he recognized as one who .... in the past ..... never gave anything but a friendly wave. When the md'r asked "why?", the ranger pulls out a department memo paper that had just been passed down to the rank-&-file. It alerted employees that "metal detecting is not allowed". As the md'r looked down at the memo paper the ranger was showing him, GUESS WHO IT WAS SIGNED BY? The very same top official guy at state capitol whom he'd been petitioning! In other words, his petition letters back-fired, and caused the receiving person to simply decide "no more metal detecting" and make it official. Like, maybe they probably never gave it thought before receiving these letters requesting clarification and/or permission?
In the end, the guy figured he should have just treated that first booting as an isolated incident. Not fought it, not sought clarification, permission, etc.... He realized that the first incident could've just been an isolated ranger having a bad day, or a singular false perception about holes, etc.... He should have avoided just that one ranger, or just that one park and left good enough alone. Instead, by fighting it (thinking he was doing his hobby a favor), he gets his whole state parks put off limits! True story!
Now you tell me, in that case, who's the one "giving the hobby a bad name"? Who's the one who's "getting places put off limits?" The guys who help themselves, or the guys going around clarifying and seeking "permission" from some deskbound bureacrats?
But there is not always a law that forbids metal detecting. In fact, on a city and county level, it's quite rare.
