Asking Permission

[jsandman]

I am going to my brothers house on Sunday who lives in St. Charles. I have scouted around and researched there for the last week and there is a park that I really wanted to hunt that has some really good history.

Everyone I asked said you can't metal detect in St. Charles ......... I decided to ask for myself so I emailed the park district and here is what I received back from them :


Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately, we do not allow metal detecting in our parks. Unlike you, most people are not as considerate and our park land and woodlands would be disturbed and the athletic fields would be unsafe by unfilled holes. As the ordinance was written, it was considered that if someone is detecting in the parks, when the detector finds something, they are going to dig it up.

I realize that was not the answer you were looking for and I appreciate you asking in advance. I hope you are able to find other areas in the community where you can participate in this hobby. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

XXXXX XXXXX
Superintendent of Parks and Planning
St. Charles Park District
[email protected]

Not really the answer I was looking for .............. I live in Schiller Park and have never had a problem hunting anywhere in Cook County. Are there other places you that you guys have checked out that you cant metal detect ??

James

 

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[Gimmie The Loot]

Hey there - I grewup in St. Charles and have detected in the parks before. Park workers were there and paid no attention to me but I actually have never found anything out that way. St. Mary's Park was a bust. Langum was a bust. I have been hastled in the parks off Main St by old people. I would try to hunt some private yards there. Some old houses in the downtown area.

 

[jsandman]

Langum was a bust .........thats where I was going to try. I'm sure you know the history of it then. Kind of glad you told me that because I am sitting here thinking about it stewing over why a lot of people think metal detecting is bad and all the good finds I was going to miss.

Since we are on this topic...........lets say I am the evil metal detectorist who doesn't follow the rules and goes to a public park and metal detects. What is the worst that can happen to you ?

James

 

[Bum Luck]

I've been to St Charles with a local, and it's a snooty place.

So, in answer to your question, you could end up with a fine if you plead dumb, and maybe a jail sentence if you are willful.

I wouldn't do it.

 

[p2c]

I've been to St Charles with a local, and it's a snooty place.

So, in answer to your question, you could end up with a fine if you plead dumb, and maybe a jail sentence if you are willful.

I wouldn't do it.

This ^

They have your name since you emailed and if you were stopped, likely they'd check your ID and if they connected things you'd not be able to play dumb. Best thing to do for future is first check and see if a community has listed their municipal codes. If they have, you can read the muni-codes to see if there is anything which prohibits it or not. Asking invites a no, even if their is no law forbidding it. Second, ask other detectors like you just did here. For example, when I first started, I asked about Chicago Parks on this board nearly 3 years ago. I had read the Chicago code, and it forbids digging in parks and carrying of digging tools in park. Come to find out from others, while this rule is on the books, it is never enforced. The thirds step, if you have no sufficient answers (as a last resort) is ask the park district -- that or play dumb and asking for forgiveness... Someone else on the board once said 'its easier to ask forgiveness than permission' This adage may hold true a lot of the time, but it may also bring a $fine$.

 

[jsandman]

Let me redo my thoughts here.........I am not going to go metal detecting at a place I have already asked about.

I asked the Park District because a local metal detector shop said that is what I should do and the people I asked and posts I have read said Kane and Dupage counties are a no go for metal detecting.

I was surprised actually to have received the response that I did ..........because some of the stuff I have seen people do in parks and forest preserves is far worse than digging a plug and covering it back over.

I was reading the regulations on St. Charles Park District on their website after I received the email...........I don't know if metal detecting would be considered excavating but if it is then there is a $1000.00 fine attached to that per incident.

It guess in the end it just doesn't seem like public land with all the rules and regulations attached.....

James

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

Langum was a bust .........thats where I was going to try. I'm sure you know the history of it then. Kind of glad you told me that because I am sitting here thinking about it stewing over why a lot of people think metal detecting is bad and all the good finds I was going to miss.

Since we are on this topic...........lets say I am the evil metal detectorist who doesn't follow the rules and goes to a public park and metal detects. What is the worst that can happen to you ?

James

Yeah Langum should be a fantastic site given the history there but if anything is left, it is very very deep. I have tried to find work records of the land there to see if it has been filled with offsite dirt and whatnot but I know others who have tried that park as well with no luck. The most I know has come out of it was a few clad coins.

Just follow the MD code and fill plugs, pick up trash when you see it, cover your holes and other losers who dont, and be nice to park workers if they talk to you. Keep your trash handy to show them in case they ask... if people ask what I'm doing I usually joke and say, "community service" and show them my pouch of cans slaw and nails.

It also helps to have hand shovels in the parks. Having a 3ft shovel draws attention. Lesche is the best one ever made.

 

[Lowbatts]

Got 6 halves out of Langum many years ago, all in a row, all clad Kennys. Hit St. Charles parks quite often, the only one I ever had a problem at was the big one with the pool and the riverfront. Pottawatomie.

I did a lot of hunting in MSM when it became park district property, never a hassle. Mayo and I got in some hunting there last year when they laid in new sidewalks through the park also, the construction crew was very nice about it too.

Langum's history has some hidden reality, it had two very large icehouses in it during the early 20th century, these were DEEP buildings that housed the harvested ice through the summer for distribution to customers. Shouldn't expect much there unless you hit the old dumping grounds in the SW corner.

Also, please don't send any requests to any bureaucrats in any of the areas I hunt, they will all say no, many not even aware of what it is you are asking. Then, after finding out there is one more thing they can add to the list of things not allowed, they will codify it.

This is EXACTLY how I lost some of my best hunting grounds already, people asking desk bound officials who had no idea there was an issue to begin with.

 

[jsandman]

"Also, please don't send any requests to any bureaucrats in any of the areas I hunt, they will all say no, many not even aware of what it is you are asking. Then, after finding out there is one more thing they can add to the list of things not allowed, they will codify it. "

"This is EXACTLY how I lost some of my best hunting grounds already, people asking desk bound officials who had no idea there was an issue to begin with."

I don't really know how to take this except probably not how you meant it but here goes........

I came here a while ago because I was new and really wanted to learn from some of you and make some friends.....neither has really happened. All the reading I did, people I have talked to and the metal detector shop I went to said to ask permission when in doubt.

With the PM's I have received which weren't exactly kind and this post I guess forums really aren't my thing. I don't know where you hunt Lowbatts but I can guarantee you I won't ask anyone about where I hunt again. If I have wrecked anything for you or anyone else I am sorry.

James

 

[Lowbatts]

Hey James, as I suggested in my PM, you're not necessarily wrong for asking permission. I'm wrong for assuming that we live in a more informal world where casual acquaintance and contact carry more weight than the mindset of some desk bound bureaucrat that usually is limited in his scope and depth of knowledge by the seemingly rampant fear of "allowing" someone to do anything that might upset someone else. But I'm not alone, just not trying to get more offensive than defensive in holding back the tide of regulations wiping out anything that a lot of us took for granted just a couple short decades ago.

Yeah, we used to make torches out of cat tails from the swamp, now it's destruction of wetland to pull a cat tail reed out of the muck they abound in. Don't remember any waning of the cat tails from back in the day because of our habits.

Yeah, we used to wade in the creeks and catch crawdads but now it's harrassing wildlife and wading in the creeks is prohibited on county property. Subject to fines and jail time of course, just pulling a cat tail out of the muck.

And here's one for all you folks who MD in "the woods", we used to be able to walk THROUGH the woods but being off the designated trail IS prohibited, subject to fines, etc. pretty much anywhere you go.

Yeah, I'm a little too "country" for this neck of the woods for sure, but I remember picking wild aspargus, mulberries and raspberries along the roadsides before those apparently invasive species were removed and replaced by the now familiar signs of "Prairie plants- Do Not Mow" on so many of the county and state roads where parking is prohibited or limited to emergencies anyway these days.

No definitely not sending the bad vibes your way, but in wading in the river a few years back I recall some nuts yelling about me md'ing the river from their spot on this foot bridge about how I was doing some wrong. They had no such complaints against the fishermen, also wading. Guess that was "rustic country" or something to that effect in their view. Any how they were just concerned that I was scaring the egrets and herons away, ruining their nature viewing. You know the type, they put in these large rookeries in those old farm fields that have been flooded and are now "wetlands" and draw thousands of these big birds back into the area. Hey, I wonder what those herons and egrets eat?

Seen the reports on declining amphibians in this area lately? Hmmm....

Next time someone suggests you need permission to hunt an area, beat them with your shovel.

Metaphorically of course.

 

[Dave~IL]

I hunted Langum years ago when they were removing a lot of dirt on the North side. No coins to speak of. I then hunted over in the wooded area. Mostly trash, but one nice Indian Head. Never had any luck in the open areas. Detecting up and down the Fox River Valley, I've rarely had any problems. I hunt mainly construction sites. I will talk with a foreman if the place is fenced or not. Common courtesy.

 

[GopherDaGold]

I live in St. Charles County and can tell you that many state parks allow metal detecting with the proper permit which is free and simple to obtain. I detect at Cuivre River State Park on occasion. Here is a list of parks in Missouri that allow detecting:

Crowder State Park
Cuivre River State Park
Finger Lakes State Park
Lake Wappapello State Park
Lake of the Ozarks State Park
Lewis and Clark State Park
Long Branch State Park
Pomme de Terre State Park
St. Joe State Park
Stockton State Park
Trail of Tears State Park
Truman State Park
Wakonda State Park
Wallace State Park
Watkins Mill State Park

Get your free permit here:
http://mostateparks.com/activity/metal-detecting

 

[Lowbatts]

Thanks Gopher, but we're in a different state!

A lot of the parks along the riverway are part of the Fox River Valley Park District which covers an area between Valley View and Aurora if I'm correct. Some of the parks in the towns along that route are part of this district as well.

Never had a problem there myself.

Remember that the riverside has been populated by all sorts over the last hundred and eighty years or so. That's why it's important to know the full history of a spot before expectations get too high.

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

It's been a while since I've seen a good LowBatts rant! You have been full of one liners for a while and I was wondering if you have been too busy finding sidewalk tearouts

 

[Midwest]

Langum is a bust. Pointless to detect there. After the war they tore that area up all the way to seventh ave, you won't find anything. To find one IH there is amazing!