Sad day

[jimzz977]

Just found out that all parks in my city ban metal detecting because some one has been detecting and leaving large hole s uncover plugs!!!! City codes git a complaint and checked two city parks and found large uncover plugs , so metal detecting is not allowed any more. Damn I wish I could find who's out ruin it for us. I'm so pissed right now

 

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[reaper8496]

Geez.... I would be pissed too! It's not right that people are too lazy to cover up their holes.

 

[kyskinner]

before its all said and done all parks will be closed,because i am reading every week or two on these forums where people are saying that their local park has been closed due to uncovered plugs,so it may take a little time but just wait and see they all will be closed due to this issue.

 

[SirWalterRaleigh]

That sucks! Sorry brother

 

[TheHunterGT]

Dogs and squirrels can often times go dig up a proper plug. It may not be another "human" causing it. Unfortunate all the same....perhaps pleading the case to a city hall meeting would be beneficial. They are open to the public.

 

[jimzz977]

Yea ur right I forgot about that

 

[George (MN)]

Sometimes these claims are true & sometimes not. My dad & I detected our co fairgrounds while man in big car (Cadillac?) watched about half an hour. Came back 4 days later, there he is with assistant saying they banned detecting, so obviously he bought a detector & wanted no competition. Came back after fair board guy died, but nothing left w/in range of our detectors.

Is there another town w/in reasonable driving distance w/park &/or school? Maybe even more productive? But, yes, if you were a trusted member of community & now treated as criminal & said you can't detect there, that sucks. Cities & counties are being visited by state archaeologists who want our hobby banned as they get a small fortune for each item they dig.

 

[George (MN)]

That's just a claimed issue, we don't have proof & govt for other trivialities has given 100 year sentences. None of these towns that banned detecting gave even a single photo of detecting damage on their websites, as if to say just trust us, all of us never told a single lie in our lifetimes!

 

[George (MN)]

Did they ban detecting within days of seeing large holes & is there any proof they were made by detectorists? Maybe as a compromise they should've just banned shovels? Knife plug, leave attached on one side & no need for it to be wider than 3" for a hand to go in there. Within 4" of surface I can remove coin without removing dirt/grass, not that hard to learn.

While maybe not likely, anyone who wanted this hobby banned could have done it. I once heard of a man who detected the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, state property established in 1851. He said there was never a problem with campus police, until 1 day there was a substitute officer who said if you don't get out of here now, I'm gonna dig some big holes & say you did it! Hard to be a judge & jury when we weren't there. Best wishes, George (MN)

 

[Tom_in_CA]

I think what George is talking about, is the following phenomenon:

There have been places that have said "no detecting". Either an actual written rule SAYING that, or the answer you get when you walk in and asked permission. Either way, you got a "no". And if you ask "why?", guess what they say? They say: "No because of holes".

So the md'r, like yourself, curses under his breath saying "Durned those md'rs who must've left holes". RIGHT ?

But not so fast. Often time the song and dance of "no because of holes" is NOT necessarily because there was ever actually a case of holes. Or, at least not one that resulted in an actual codified written rule. Instead it's often just the knee-jerk mental connotation of some pencil pusher when tasked with a decision on metal detecting.

Let's be honest: What comes to mind when someone thinks of md'rs ? HOLES, of course. So I'm convinced that sometimes the excuse "holes" is just the "go-to" reason to justify the "no" they just passed out. And that there isn't always a true case of holes they can point to. Or one that resulted in an actual rule anyhow.

 

[PullinPlugs]

I got a visit from county police last week for MD a school that I frequent in my area (lots of silver at that place).... they said some one flagged them down and complained of some guy "digging up the entire school yard"... they were nice and when they approached me I had a fairly large plug out with a fair amount of fill next to the hole atop an old rag. They said that's a hell of a hole you got there.... I told them I had been detecting and digging the field in front of the school for the past 3 weeks and have dug maybe 200+ holes in this yard alone... I showed them about 2 dozen + of my clad finds and explained that each piece came from their own hole.. they looked around and said the yard looked fine and to carry on
.. they also said people have a hard time minding their own business... they actually hung around and made small talk with me about the hobby, they seemed more intrested then anything. But it's sometimes people's ignorance that ruins thibgs for all of us..