One or two ruin if for everyone and a question about AT PRO

[Normsel]

I was out with my new AT PRO the other day and was at a park and in the 1st 50' I found $3.74 in clad. I thought wow this is like a honey hole here and was filling the hole I had just dug when a guy came up and said wow I can't even see where you dug. I said i always try to leave it just like I found it. He said that's good but I am the parks and recreation supt and we no longer allow people to metal detect anymore. I said i am sorry i didn't know. He said someone has come in here and left holes like a gopher and not only ruins the grass but kids could trip in them and get hurt. I said I apologize and tried to find out who to ask and the clerk at the city said it was ok. He said well there is no ordinance against it because as of last week I decided to stop anyone from it and it will be brought up at a council meeting next week.

He said sad to say but if everyone was like you we'd let anyone do it but because of one idiot that tore the sod up all over and never even tried to put it back everyone is banned from doing it. He said I know who the person is and I ran him off telling him never to come back or I would call the police and have him arrested for destruction of public property.

I apologized again and he thanked me for filling my holes and not complaining.

In a nutshell one or two idiots are getting detecting banned in an entire town.

One more thing. I was in a tot lot that was filled with woods chips and my new AT PRO went nuts. I keep beeping and squealing even when i turned the sensitivity down as low as it could go. I moved to the grass and ground balanced it again and it was fine. It also happened yesterday in a real trashy area and no matter what i did to balance it the darn thing did it again so I moved re-balanced and it was fine.

Just curious what i did wrong.

I found a new honey hole where I dug $4.70 in an area less than 5'x5'. I got tired after digging 52 holes because most were pennies and dimes and quit but left my detector on while I investigated an area about 200' x 200' and it rang like a telephone in the entire area. Guess where I am going this morning.

 

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[Sandman]

One guy can ruin it for the hobby. This is one reason why I don't like Bounty Hunter detectors as they are sold to anyone without instruction on how to retrieve a coin. Everyone thinks you need to dig for it and most use a shovel or Lesche digger when a plain screwdriver works well for popping the coin out when they are shallow when you are in the grass of a park. In our county parks you can get a major ticket if even seen with a digging tool and the park are still open to detecting anywhere but in the swim areas. It is closed there only because there is fabric under the sand and scoops cut the fabric. We used to have permits issued only to get to talk to detectorists about where to not detect, like where we just planted new grass, etc. We recorded who was detecting that day and a deputy would check on them while in the parks. We caught one woman that was digging up a shrub for transporting it to her property. I don't know what they were thinking........

Newbies should be taught on how to remove a coin while in the grass without leaving any trace that they were there. Many dealers sell online and can not teach proper methods of removal. Still we have old timers that think because it is money they are finding nobody should tell them what to do. Some still leave the cut plugs on the grass and toss the trash aside not thinking they might come back and find the same trash again. Then others scatter trash around to slow other detectorist down. I know a guy that does this at beaches thinking he is being funny. There should be a BOUNTY on these people.

 

[Gator01]

I had been researching an area with some Civil War activity on it. It takes a lot of time. You read the history,stories,diaries etc and find the spot and then start working on locating the owners. Most times, I just dont go and ask. I like to look for connetions, to get my foot in the door. Seems to work better for me that way and that takes even more time.
Well, I did all this on this particular spot with the help of one of my neighbors. In the end I find out, around 10 years back, they did let someone detect that place. Those detectorist left a gate open, some horses got out that night, were up on a highway, someone hit two of the horses, two people were killed,horses were killed and law suits and criminal charges (neglect) had to be fought in court,very expensive.
Those owners now detest all detectorist.
Yes, I agree with them. There are some stupid people in this hobby.
I almost wish there was some sort of control structure in place, to be able to use a detector.
Ive also seen places hit (as you describe in your post) with all the uncovered holes left. At several of those spots, I went around trying to cover them, so I wouldnt get kicked out of a favorite spot.
HH,
John

 

[lookindown]

The parks and recreation guy talked nice but he shouldnt stop everyone from detecting because of one person. They always say that this one guy was leaving holes. Well then get rid of that one guy. He took the easy way and closed the park to detecting, he could care less about you or any other detectorist because its not his hobby.If someone drives careless on the highway and causes a wreck, they dont close the road to driving for everyone, they penalize that one driver. Its not their hobby so they just say no metal detecting to everyone. If a guy keeps over his limit of fish, they dont close fishing to everyone, they fine that one guy....see where Im going with this? When someone closes something down because of one person, its wrong and BS. No other hobby gets treated like ours.

 

[Mzjavert]

I hope you go to the meeting and try to keep MD legal, even if it's with a permit.

 

[nsdq]

wow that stinks,,, i was worried when i had two cops walk up to me a while back thougt i was in trouble turn out they came to say thanks for doing a good job of picking trash and glass off the tot lot and said have a good day

 

[Calvin.Coin]

One guy can ruin it for the hobby...clip...Newbies should be taught on how to remove a coin while in the grass without leaving any trace that they were there.

It seems that a selfish vein pulses through our society; some people seldom consider those who come after. As for me, I can admit I am new to detecting and limit the damage I cause. I still have only dug publicly in gravel parking lots and dirt areas. I would love to detect a few old parks I have located with lot's of history, but I'm still not confident enough in my retrieval techniques to poke around on manicured surfaces. Someday (maybe when I can finally get a pinpointer)...

enjoy the hunt,
cc

 

[spartacus53]

I'm with lookindown on this... First off, there is no ordnance against detecting, so it's your right to do so until the law changes. I would be polite to a point, then I'd have to tell him; "You have a nice park here, so go take a hike"

 

[dholland02]

I'd tell him there's no sign Sayin it a d there's no ordiance so I'd keep detecting. Forget that wanna be cop

 

[s.c.shooter]

At one of the tot lots I hunt my At does the same thing in a couple of places. I think that there are underground cables running to the light poles surrounding the tot lot.

 

[iCandy]

You should of nailed him with a dirt clod & told him to mind his own business..& as long as no ordinance to take his son story elsewhere!!