Hi all, the topic caught my attention on the most recent post of the states. Enjoyed reading this. Several of you have surmised that ...
if you had just gone, probably no one would have paid you any mind. It's only when you
ask, that images of geeks with shovels come up, so the easy answer is "no".
I look at it this way: the minute we think we need to ask, we've already lost the battle. I mean, since when are you, or metal detecting, so inherently evil, that you had to ask, to begin with? I would no more ask to metal detect, than I would to use the park bench, basketball hoops, etc... Naturally, this would be for innocuous non-historic monuments. If someone has a problem, they're welcome to tell you.
If you still have a skittishness, then look it up in the books YOURSELF. Don't ask some desk-bound bureaucrat, because he can just pull anything out of hat he thinks applies (like "don't disturb the vegetation", etc...). If you find, from your own looking into the codes, that detecting isn't specifically prohibited, then it would stand to reason you can do it. Like, if you're driving, and come to an intersection that doesn't have any signs prohibiting a U-turn, then one assumes he can make a U-turn, right? Why all the paranoia? I don't get it
Sometimes no one really cares till you ask. And then guess what happens when that bureaucrat you asked, sees another md'r, that he would previously have never paid attention to? He'll remember the earlier person's inquiry, and start booting people! I've seen this happen.
I've detected parks and schools all around my part of CA, for the past 30 yrs. and never asked anyone. I've rarely had a problem. But for all those SAME parks and schools, you can bet I'd have gotten a lot of "no's", from people who probably really couldn't have cared less (till I asked)
