Denied access to woods.

[joecoin]

This post really has some legs!

My POV, I live on family owned land, about 70 acres. Part of it is a ghost town, only one intact building remains. I have hunted it off and on for almost 20 years, I'll never finish it.

If I were to ever see anyone MD'ing on this property, I would call the sheriff. If I had any recourse (I don't know the law regarding this that well) I would press charges.

I have kicked hunters off many many times, the land is posted all around with No Hunting signs. We have replaced many of them over the years, they have been torn down.

If someone asked me for permission to detect I would say "no", politely. There are a handful of hunters who do have written permission. Until you own property, you won't understand.

 

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[Twisted Fork]

She's just old fashioned. You should have asked her if you painted her garage first.

 

[ModernMiner]

Don't let it get you down. It sucks being told "no" on a property you are drooling over.
I've run into many of those folks who say "no" also. Just move on, and don't get in trouble. There are plenty out there that will say "yes" to you.
Good luck,
MM

 

[MD Dog]

I personally own over 300 acres here and another 500 in various other states. We grow trees for landscaping. I wouldn't know, let alone care if anyone crosses onto any of my properties. The more traffic I get, the less deer damage we get to our trees. In fact we encourage hunting and fishing on all our properties for this same reason. I'd say I would stand a greater chance of damage to my property or trees than anyone with 100 + year old trees. if anyone asked to MD them and they have, I've always said yes at any time. I've even let a guy a couple of years ago MD my private yard, He did good considering how many times I had already MD'd it. For those of you who own property that won't let others MD it, shame on you. That only helps to reinforce our bad image, do you really think you and your machine will find everything there ? Around here there is so much open land that I dare say I could easily cross many different fields of ownership and no,one would know or care. If some one comes to me by mail or telephone or even in person asking if they could MD one of our undeveloped properties I'd have a great big smile and even a laugh that they would have bothered to ask. Really what could anyone do on my piece of property that would adversley effect it, short of setting it on fire in which case there are already good laws on the books to deal with ardonists. Or maybe they'd cut down a tree, that would be destruction of personal property as well as misdemeanor vandalism etc... How about dumping, here in NY as well as just about every place I own property has really strong environmental laws which come with real jail time for offenders. But tresspassing laws for the sake of that person set foot on my property are really useless and unenforceable. Unless you have signage which clearly states no tresspassing.

 

[Noodle]

For those of you who own property that won't let others MD it, shame on you. That only helps to reinforce our bad image, do you really think you and your machine will find everything there ?

Joecoin and I are in the same situation. I live on my acreage, which has been in the family for 100 years. I'm also very possessive of my privacy. I like to walk in my woods undisturbed and hunt deer on it annually. When hunting, I don't want to have to watch where I shoot in the event someone else is hunting. I want to KNOW who's on the land. Intruders also make messes. They could care less about leaving their beer bottles, toilet paper and other unmentionables around for me to find. Yes, no trespassing signs are up. BUT, I've never had anybody ask to MD. In fact, I'm the only weirdo in town who does MD. I love it! I'm still finding old trash dumps from decades in the past out in the woods from when my grandparents lived on the place.

Everybody's situation is different. If I owned commercial property that wasn't as precious as my little 90 acres, I'd share, too. But that's not the case here. -Noodle

 

[gallileo60]

Yeah just go dig, and take your chances.....Works for me...

 

[docbars]

I had been MD'ing around an old schoolhouse near me, and saw a wooded lot across the street from it, and heard the school kids back in the 1880's played their.

Were talking 10 acres of woods, dirt, no grass, moderately dense with trees.
Turns out it is someone's property, so being a good citizen I write a nice letter explaining how my 8yo and I, look for coins as well as clean up any garbage at the sites we visit.
We hauled a lot out in that area too.
I asked if it would be ok to detect there, promising there would be no evidence of being there, and that we would continue to clean up as well.

I received a phone call from the lady owner, who said thanks for the nice letter, but No way and absolutely not!
There is no reason for you to be in there at all, and sorry can't do it..
I understand people have a right to say no, but this response was far from pleasant and sounded very harsh for the request I made.
Oh well, so much for playing nice.....

I think next time I come to a questionable location, I will just take a chance.
This was the first time I ever asked anyone for permission to hunt a property.
So far I'm discouraged.
I even offered anything I found to them if they wanted it, I enjoy just hunting for the stuff, and I already have donated revolutionary artifacts to historical society's before, so much for being honest I guess...

Well you did the right thing, you showed respect to the property owner. Good luck with your next spot.

 

[SoulDancer]

Some older folks have an idea of whats on their property and they don't want people snooping around. If they know they have a cache, do you think they will invite you to it?? LOL

I wouldn't take it personal, she might not even understand what it is your asking about.

To give you an example, just yesterday I had a guy approach me on the beach asking me what I was doing. I told him I was metal detecting. He asked me what I find with it. (Ummm metal!!!!) So I quickly explained a few things we find daily with the MD's. He thanked me for my time and walked back to his family and just watched from a distance.