ridiculous law makers with nothing better to do in FLA !!!

[CORY IN FLA]

This sucks it seems like every thing be regulated these days.my sister in law works in the (Daytona Beach court house) and she told me from what she found out that your not even suppost to be on the beach walking at night. depending on the cop that catches you and their mood they are in at the time, they can give you a fine and have to go to court for a (Mistermeaner) just for being on the beach at night if your caught now that sucks . the signs around here in (New Smyrna Beach) all say no parking from sun down to sun up, law makers don't have any thing better to do then to come up with some of these ridiculous laws it a shame !!! they awt to issue permits like they do with the fresh water fishing licences. for mders be able to hunt in certain areas or in certain type of places for the year then the state make some money and regulate (the way it going in) the hobby at least every one would make out in some way or another . i rather pay for a permit and still be able to md then to not be able to MD at all. seems that you just can't win these days...and the law makers just don't understand that we the mders are not out to be destructive in no way, and that digging a coin up does mean digging a grave all they see is you have a small trowl so they auto think your going to dig a hole the size of a car!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. now they can in force signs not to md with in so much of a square area in places where turtles lay their eggs SO NOT TO INTERFERE with the TURTLES on the beach ....

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

I have been hunting Daytona for over a year, many, many times at night. The police have never once been a problem. They wave at me, say hello, but that is it.

The beach is loaded with tourist walking the beach at night.

 

[CORY IN FLA]

Really that's cool that they don't bother you,My luck don't fall that way i was at new Smyrna beach a few weeks ago it was around 1am, a woman cop pulled up told me i had to leave that the beach was closed and the the beach parking lot closed at 11pm so i had to pack up and go. that when i mentioned it my sister in-law the next day and she inquired about it in the court house at work and that's what she was told. so i guess it depends if the cop want to be COOL and let you stay or just wants to be one of those things you get from a thorn, about it !!!

 

[ivan salis]

they figger that you can not see at night and might dig up sea turle eggs by accident -- or that you might scare a female sea turtle thus preventing her from laying her eggs ---the sea turtles are highly endangered animals which is why they "protect" them ---a light source at night can confuse baby sea turtles --they use the moonlight reflecting off the sea as a "guide" to know which way to "go" to get to the sea when they hatch out at night and if you stepped on one it could kill it quite easily---- the hatch out at night because if they are on shore at sunrise sea gulls will kill & eat them ----no one be they tourist or MDer by the "stay off" the beach law is really supposed to be there at night -- however police tend to "single" out the MDer's thinking that we're digging into the turle nesting areas by hunting at night ----sad but true---- by the way sea turtle nesting spots are often "marked" by sea turtle nest counter types ---learn to "indentify" those markings so as to avoid digging around a sea turtle nest --- Ivan

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Move up to Daytona and you can detect with out any problems, just be careful and watch out if your detecting by yourself.

 

[Ascholten]

Part of that is driven by the local denizens.

Some drunken sot drowns because he falls into the water at night, lets make a law and its now illegal to walk the beach at night.

This also makes a convenient way to round up the homeless that frequent the beaches, it's a nifty way to arrest them or at least tell them to move on. This also protects people from possibly becoming a crime statistic, because of the homeless lurking in the shadows on the beaches at night.

yah it's one of those laws that is arbitrarily enforced.

Jacksonville has some similar laws, but they generally are only enforced around march, when the bible thumpers go on their annual panties in a wad lets make the city sin free crusades

Digging sea turtles up?? umm. err. ok... and why would one dig them up at night and not during the day, if the nest is marked, you'd see it day or night. If its not marked then it wouldn't matter day or night, you hit it, you've hit it. If they were that worried they'd close the beach down at all times or at least during turtle egg laying season... Hmm I wonder what a sea turtle omlette taste like. I might have to go dig one up. Seriously though, a kid with a shovel digging a sand castle has just as much a chance of digging up a nest as a MDer does with a scoop day or night unless it's been marked already.

Quite recently, some legislation that was in place in florida, that actually helped metal detectorists out, passed into oblivion because nobody bothered to raise an issue to keep it alive.

Sad thing is, we all love to bitch and whine in the boards about our 'privelages' being taken away, and many of us belong to clubs, which seem to do not much more than whine and bitch about them taking our rights away, but very few of us actually DO something about it, goto city hall, goto the town meetings, write mayors, congress, or whatever it takes to keep things or try to push things onto a more even ground for metal detectorists.

Yes they are taking away our privelages and as some may call them rights ..slowly but surely, Unless we actually DO something about it (besides bitch and whine in a forum), we will have nobody to blame but ourselves when everything is eventually off limits, because nobody wanted to take the time to stand up to the archies, the monkeys, and patsies in city hall.

If this bothers you, then you need to take action, write them letters, but of course do it properly, be courteous and respectful and to the point, don't blither on endlessly. Show up in person, be noticed. Better yet, get a group of MD'ers in your area to do the same, possibly sign a petition, or get your MD'ing clubs involved. There's more power in numbers, and my opinion, a md club should be a bit more active in the 'politics' of MD'ing anyways, even though it leaves a foul taste in ones mouth, to protect our hobby and not just be a venue to collect monthly dues and run the once a year 'club hunt'.

Sometimes the people passing the laws don't side with 'us' simply because not one of us has explained our side to them,I mean really explain it to them.... they are totally in the dark about what it is we do, and the only input they here is from the archies screaming to ban us, so they act on what little input they get, and work to shut the one loud group up.

Just my two cents. It does work sometimes folks, I have had face to face talks with more than one 'entity' concerning my abilities to metal detect areas and have met with success. sometimes all you have to do is politely ask.

Aaron

 

[G.I.B.]

Have you considered venting in the 'Personal Rants' section?

 

[Ascholten]

I don't see this as a vent, but a legit complaint / concern about metal detecting the beaches at night. This is a problem in some areas, and in others seems to be selectively enforced. A few people shared their experiences with the same problem, a few others offered reasons why it happens and yet others offered things that can be done to try to stop it.

Seems more a conversation to me rather than a vent. That is what happens when someone says something, and others join in.

Aaron