Confronted at a park.

[mikeraydj]

The other day at one of my favorite parks I was confronted by a lady who works for the city parks department. She saw me dig a coin. She told me that I was allowed to detect in the city parks, just no digging. She said the city had paid $25,000 for a new sprinkler system and they didn't want me digging it up. I thanked her for informing me and I left. There are a few parks in this town and I find a lot of clad. Most of it has been 4 to 6". I felt like a person who has bought a race car, but was told I can only drive it 25 mph. I don't want to be a bad example for the hobby, but at the same time I know in order to enjoy this hobby, I will have to dig. What should I do?

 

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[: Michael-Robert.]

Simple, find out what the city ordinance is. Don't believe what she says. Verify with local ordinance. Plus if there is an ordinance, you can get a yearly permit, usually.

The other day at one of my favorite parks I was confronted by a lady who works for the city parks department. She saw me dig a coin. She told me that I was allowed to detect in the city parks, just no digging. She said the city had paid $25,000 for a new sprinkler system and they didn't want me digging it up. I thanked her for informing me and I left. There are a few parks in this town and I find a lot of clad. Most of it has been 4 to 6". I felt like a person who has bought a race car, but was told I can only drive it 25 mph. I don't want to be a bad example for the hobby, but at the same time I know in order to enjoy this hobby, I will have to dig. What should I do?

 

[mikeraydj]

I checked with the city and I was told detecting is ok, digging is not on city property. I can probably get away with a probe, but any deeper targets will be off limits. Not many sites around me as this is a town of only 37,000. I can dig in county parks but there are only 2 or three of those.

 

[dholland02]

If there's no sign saying u cant then dig.

 

[Fletch88]

Get a brass tipped probe or screwdriver. Explain how you only probe and pop coins out of first couple of inches of soil and they should be fine. I still carry a small trowel in my pouch, but must admit public parks are my least favorite places to detect for this reason.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I checked with the city and I was told detecting is ok, digging is not on city property. I can probably get away with a probe, but any deeper targets will be off limits. Not many sites around me as this is a town of only 37,000. I can dig in county parks but there are only 2 or three of those.

Learn to recover with a probe, most targets can be recovered with a probe and long screw driver and require no digging. If I dig i use 2 tiny shovels, 1 is 7\8" wide other is 1 1\4" wide both about 12 inches long. Most times I can recover by just using a probe and long flat head screwdriver.

 

[Tampa Steve]

The other day at one of my favorite parks I was confronted by a lady who works for the city parks department. She saw me dig a coin. She told me that I was allowed to detect in the city parks, just no digging. She said the city had paid $25,000 for a new sprinkler system and they didn't want me digging it up. I thanked her for informing me and I left. There are a few parks in this town and I find a lot of clad. Most of it has been 4 to 6". I felt like a person who has bought a race car, but was told I can only drive it 25 mph. I don't want to be a bad example for the hobby, but at the same time I know in order to enjoy this hobby, I will have to dig. What should I do?

Same thing happened to me they said I can detect but cant dig.I felt like a criminal I was near lowery park zoo not on there property either.

 

[dirtlooter]

yep, I went to the city hall and was told very clearly NO! I just wanted to be legal like most of us and didn't want to cause any problems but they said that years before someone had already caused enough problems... oh well. good luck

 

[mikeraydj]

This is certainly making me rethink my detecting strategy. I guess I will try probe hunting the parks. I will be basically giving up on any older coins. Getting a F5 next week but the power will be useless there. I guess I will have to do some traveling and research to go after old stuff. On a more positive note I cashed in $128 in clad for 2 months digging.

 

[Moresound]

Hey Mikeraydj ..... It's time to start to ask for permission from private home owners.

Believe me your finds will also include a vast array of older coins and relics than out in the parks.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yuo can try to do the distinction between "dig" and "probe" (or "pop" or "slit", or whatever you want to call it), if you want. But let's be perfectly honest folks: That's a semantics game. What I mean is: Anyone seeing you probe, fish your fingers down there, and get shallow targets that way, can STILL say that constitutes digging. And odds are, they're not close enough to see you (whether or not dirt broke the surface, etc...) anyhow. They're merely seeing you from afar , and .... let's face it .... detecting has that connotation, whether you dug, or probed, or were simply only walking/swinging, and hadn't even dug yet !

Bottom line is: ALL cities have something like that for their park's codes/rules. Even if not using the evil word "dig", yet still in some form or fashion. Like "alter" or "deface", etc... Right? So if those things all automatically preclude you/me from detecting (and retrieving) in parks, then you might as well give it up now, and stop detecting.

The verbage like "alter" and "deface" is easy though. Because all such words inherently imply the END result, right? So if you leave no trace, then technically you have not alterED or defacED anything ! Yes someone can debate the semantics of that with you if they want. Ok then AVOID that individual and go at lower traffic times! Like if they're park workers, then I'm sure they leave at 5pm, etc.. right? You say yourself mikeraydj that this was one of your "favorite parks", right? Then is that to assume that you've detected there many times before, and never had a problem ? If so, then it appears to me that it's this one lone individual.

Yes the "dig" word is more problematic. I would still argue "dig" versus "dug" though, since the end result is what's at stake. Yes this won't win a debate of semantics. But neither will the alter verses altered! And neither will probe/pop versus dig!

Thus I hate to say it, but .... sometimes there are just lone individuals in this world that you and I need to avoid. Why swat hornet's nests? You can certainly try to go to city hall and get this "clarified" and "overturned", etc.... But sometimes the only thing THAT does, is simply make it an up and front "pressing issue" for a bunch of other people who .... quite frankly .... never cared.

The issue seems to be pretty much isolated to turf, right? (versus sandboxes, bar dirt, beaches, scrub-terrain, etc...). So it's gotten to where I do most all my turf hunting at very "off" times. So peaceful. So serene.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Tom 2 can play the game, I don't dig I probe. .... I have had park personnel watch me then walk away and say nothing....

 

[lost]

My local County Laws are simple. They read No Metal Detecting on County property. Digging is not mentioned. No big deal anyway. I've found a fair share of goodies just by eyeballing the parks and such after an event. Amazing what people drop.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

...... I have had park personnel watch me then walk away and say nothing....

Treasure_hunter, they watch you and "say nothing" ? On the surface, that seems to imply that it's ok then. Right? But how much do you want to make a betthat I can go into that very same city's park's dept, and talk to some pencil pusher there, and find someone to tell me "no" ? It merely means you didn't ask enough people "can I?" with the right combination of buzzwords

If the day comes when we all use data like yours (the fact of detecting has just always gone on, and no one's ever cared), is the day we use THAT as our "standard", versus asking "can I?". And I would totally agree with you that if no one cares, then ... NO ONE CARES. If you can do it, and have no issues, then why oh why oh why would anyone go to city hall and start making themselves a big pressing issue ? But for some reason, there's no shortage of md'rs who do just that. They go in asking "can I?". Or if one lone individual griped, they go in "seeking clarification", etc....

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Oh I agree Tom, I do not ask local personnel, I check the laws.

 

[justdon]

The last 2 parks they built in town where i live have signs that say metal detecting allowed but no digging.I wonder how long it will be before they put up signs like that in all the parks.Then i will have to go to the beach or county fairgrounds.And they have put fences around all the schools.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

The last 2 parks they built in town where i live have signs that say metal detecting allowed but no digging.I wonder how long it will be before they put up signs like that in all the parks.Then i will have to go to the beach or county fairgrounds.And they have put fences around all the schools.

I would probe then if confronted J would argue I am not digging I am probing, there is a difference.....Your taxes help run the parks, you have a right to enjoy the park...

 

[mikeraydj]

This is the ordinance in my town. Sec. 26.02.030. Park prohibitions: A 5- Damage, cut, carve, mark, transplant or remove any plant, or injure the bark, dig in or otherwise disturb grass areas, or in any other way injure the natural beauty or usefulness of any area.
Kinda cut and dried in the old law for me.

 

[Jeremy S]

Were you carrying around a noticeable shovel? I'm not talking about a sod knife or a Lesche, but anything bigger with a long handle that would attract attention.

Those sprinkler lines are deep enough that you probably would never hit them unless you were using something big and going over a foot down.

What time of the day were you there?

Almost all of the parks I go to have various rules prohibiting digging. Early weekend mornings or late weekday evenings seems to be the times when I never see park employees, and most other folk there don't even notice me. If I come across a deep target and there are people around I won't dig it. I wait until right before I leave when I'm alone with no audience and do a quick retrieval job. Surviving this hobby requires some discretion at times.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

For yrs and for ever all I carry is a screw driver . I can pop a coin up pretty easy but the there can be a 1 inch hole from the hard time it gave me .