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two-gunz, thanx for chiming in. Reminds me of a fellow who got hassled by the cops, while park hunting, in a certain major city here in CA. They actually gave him a ticket! It was a measily $100 or whatever. But rather than "pay it to make it go away", he did as you suggested (in-lieu of no "specific" prohibition on md'ing). He made the appointment to go to court and fight it. The day came, and it was the typical "cattle call" of all sorts of minor traffic issues, and other such court docket calendaring. His turn came to have his 30 seconds to tell the judge why he felt he was innocent. He started in with his lines about how this must all be a mistake, and he was merely metal detecting, and he'd studied to make sure there were no prohibitions, and that it's an innocent hobby and he leaves no traces, removes trash, helps people find their lost personal items, blah blah. He got no more than 20 seconds into his statement, when the judge interupted him and said "ticket dismissed". Some papers were stamped, and he was sent on his way.
That fellow xeroxed off that "dismissed ticket" paperwork from then on out, in his back-pocket, whenever he hunted that large city's pariks again, in case he ever needed to show it to any other "busy-body" cops. In fact, some others also got xerox copies of it too for their use "just in case", haha
The reason I find that story interesting, is that FAR TOO OFTEN, in cases like someone getting booted or ticketed, THIS IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS IN MD'ing circles. Instead, here's what tends to happen: The skittish md'r tucks his tail between his legs, and naturally assumes "oh no, it's illegal to detect here". Then he dutifully posts on forums, and spreads the news to others in his club, that "such & such city is off-limits". And before long, it's just accepted as absolute fact.
This is why whenever I read on forums someone say "such & such state's parks are off-limits" or "all federal land is off-limits" or "such & such city parks are off-limits", etc.... That I sometimes have to wonder "how do you know?" or "Is this really so?". Because often-time, when you look into such supposed prohibitions, it's often the very psychology of someone getting an isolated booting, or someone waltzing into city hall somewhere, or asking an over-zealous archie "can I?" and getting a "no" answer (when no real rule exists saying such a thing *specifically*, and you merely got a desk-bound bureaucrat giving the "safe answer")
. We now have sites in Pa.,Va, Fa., Ma, Out west, and in Nova Scotia so you have to know the laws in each state and know how to get around the laws. This is the new part of treasure hunting.
