Had a little talk with boss from Parks and Recreation.

[panchoveeya]

So I'm out of town and happen to have some free time and I find a community park and decide to hit it. When I show up I see a employee from the parks dept. repairing a sprinkler and I courteously ask him if I can detect at the park? He replies, "It doesn't matter to me, go right ahead." Then jokingly says, " I get half right?" I tell him, sure, if I find a pile of gold I'll share with you. We both laugh it off and I head to my car for my detector. So I start in the dirt picnic area and about 5 minutes into my hunt, another truck pulls up and a man steps out and approaches me. He asks me how its going and then tells me, " Sorry, I understand what you're doing and all, but I can't have you leaving soft spots in the dirt. It rains and it gets all muddy." I kind of disagreed in my head because the dirt was so hard I couldn't even dig 2 inches with my trowel, but I did not say anything. I then asks if I may MD in the grass area. He tells me that he can't have holes everywhere because kids play there all the time and they could hurt their ankle or something. So I went ahead and explained to him that there's a code of ethics for Mding and that there are ways to retrieve stuff without leaving holes like the "plug" method. He actually listen to what I was explaining and he changed his mind and told me if I can do it that way then go right ahead as long as I didn't leave holes. Sometimes that's all it takes. Let them know that there is a right way of practicing our hobby and they can relate. Since he was the bossman, that kind of gave me a pass for all parks in that city. Too bad its quite a ways from home : (

 

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[Irony]

That's exactly the way to handle that situation, kudos to you! Tell them you're diligent about filling your holes so nobody gets hurt and root growth isn't affecdted. And if you have an MD specific digger, all the better, you can show them approximately the size of the plug you'll pull.

Another thing you can add, seeing as they're Parks and Recreation, is to show them all the bottlecaps, pulltabs, random bits of iron, bits of glass that tend to turn from time to time, and you can show how you're *helping* to clean up their park ;-)

 

[cudamark]

Good job changing his mind! The only thing you did wrong was asking the first guy (or anyone for that matter) Look up the law yourself. You could just as easily received a "NO" from the first guy, even though he obviously isn't the final word. Then you never would have had your encounter with the 2nd guy.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

........about 5 minutes into my hunt, another truck pulls up and a man steps out and approaches me. He asks me how its going and then tells me, " Sorry, I understand what you're doing and all, but I can't have you leaving soft spots in the dirt. It rains and it gets all muddy."(

Congratz on your luck in the game of russian roulette "mood" game. What would have happened if neither of those two people saw you?

 

[panchoveeya]

Good job changing his mind! The only thing you did wrong was asking the first guy (or anyone for that matter) Look up the law yourself. You could just as easily received a "NO" from the first guy, even though he obviously isn't the final word. Then you never would have had your encounter with the 2nd guy.

The only reason I asked the first guy was because he was from the parks. dept,he was working on the actual field and I was gonna walk right next to him and I figured I'd just ask to not look like a jerk. The boss didn't show up because of me, he showed up to check on his workers' progress. Anyways I think it worked out fine. It's all cleared up and I think it will help all future detectorist's.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The only reason I asked the first guy was because he was from the parks. dept,he was working on the actual field.....

Well, that's understandable then. Ie.: you didn't go waltzing around city halls thinking you needed permission. You were already going to detect, but upon seeing someone, you took the precaution to introduce yourself. Fair enough

If it were me, I'd probably just choose another park to detect. If I arrive at a park, and see it's maintenance day there (mowing, or whatever), I just make matters simple and hit another park. NOT because there's anything necessarily wrong or prohibited, but ......... why swat a hornet's nest ?

 

[Msbeepbeep]

WTG! Nice job promoting the hobby! Gold star for you!

 

[nsdq]

cool , sounds like a guy willing to learn more about it glad it went good for ya

 

[cudamark]

The only reason I asked the first guy was because he was from the parks. dept,he was working on the actual field and I was gonna walk right next to him and I figured I'd just ask to not look like a jerk. The boss didn't show up because of me, he showed up to check on his workers' progress. Anyways I think it worked out fine. It's all cleared up and I think it will help all future detectorist's.

I'm not saying you shouldn't have smiled and told him "good morning". I just don't think asking a worker (who probably doesn't know the law anyway) whether I can detect or not, especially when I've already looked up the rules to check. You wouldn't ask him if you could picnic would you? Or play soccer? It's an area where people expect to be able to enjoy themselves doing a whole variety of things, unless it's specifically prohibited. Like Tom said, I wouldn't have started cutting plugs right in front of the guy but either come back another day when you won't be under the microscope or pick a remote section of the park, and search there, until the guy leaves. The expression "let sleeping dogs lie" comes to mind. You got lucky this time....don't expect to have the same result elsewhere by using the same procedure.

 

[TheRingFinder]

So, Veeya - How'd ya do in the park, pull anything good?

 

[worldtalker]

So, Veeya - How'd ya do in the park, pull anything good?

ALL kinds of good stuff,of course it pays to know the Big Shot!

 

[l2hunt]

thanks for the good impression of us md'ers HH

 

[Markomyt1]

Thanks, you really left a good impression with the boss man!
A little friendly, respectful conversation goes a long way.

 

[panchoveeya]

So, Veeya - How'd ya do in the park, pull anything good?

Nothing special. I only hunted about an hour because the place was littered with dog crap at every step I took. I just found a bunch of loose change by the baseball dugout. The dog poop kinda killed my vibe.

 

[cudamark]

That may be why you ended up getting permission. Maybe he was hoping you'd bury some of it! Hopefully it will be better next time.

 

[Jeremy S]

I agree with Tom on this one. I always have a back up park to hit in case my park of choice has an event going on or has maintenance guys working on stuff. Too many people there and I just move on to the next one. Nobody ever gives me a hard time because they don't see me, and they NEVER see damage in the dirt or grass where I retrieved something.

 

[65chevy]

I was hunting a city park when some workers showed up so I stopped to talk. Paid off they told about a house lot somebody left to the city. The city tore down the house now the park guys keep it mowed. Can't wait to hunt it.

GOD BLESS!!!

 

[mineralized_miner]

Won't even hear it where I'm from... But Kudos to you!

 

[jamey]

i have talked to park people before,turns out there really nice.i just hope everyone does a good job at detecting the parks so they will still allow it.