Aren't the authorities representatives for the community, hired to look out for the best interests of the people, manage the lands and resources? If you never talk to them, express your interest in using those resources, how are they going to know there is any reason to allow hunting in acceptable areas? If the only thing they are hearing from the community, is about damage, browns spots in the sports fields, big gaping holes everywhere, why wouldn't they lean towards banning the practice. Rational people would sit down an discuss the issues, work out a solution, so most people in the community can live with it, and get a little of what they want, maybe not everything, but certainly much better than nothing at all, like some people in the northeast.
This silent, night-ninja approach, is focused on the individual. A community isn't about the individual, it about everyone living in it. Not every individual in the community can, or will get everything they want. Fortunately, rules are flexible, and can be changed or removed, but you have to talk to people. Playing word games, to cleverly interpret the rules, to self justify doing what you want, is childish. Most people eventually grow up, and realize that the rules are pretty clear, there consequence when caught, and the clever self-serving interpretation means nothing. We all know right from wrong, really not much to actually discuss, except strategies to circumvent the rules. I'm pretty tired of going around the same circles, the same frisbee analogies, same flawed logic. I strongly believe silence is only going let more ground slip away, since the loudest voice, is only going to be the public complaining about sloppy retrievals. We don't see half the detail in the dark, and I doubt very seriously most of the perfect night plugs would look so pretty when the sun comes up.
Doesn't take a genus to see that if the only ones talking about our hobby at city hall, are those who have an issue or two with how we practice it, that the hobby is going to suffer. We want to keep what we still have, we need to get our voice heard, get the rules to reflect acceptable, responsible retrievals, site selections. Sure, we won't be able to hunt any place we want, some places are just going to upset people, but we won't have to worry about losing all of it. Those in the hobby would know up front what is expected, whether they learn ethics from the forums or not, and those who don't will be held accountable, not the whole hobby.
Of course, you can just go out every night, have all the fun you want, until the ban is handed down. There are other cities down the road, which should be good for another year or two...
This silent, night-ninja approach, is focused on the individual. A community isn't about the individual, it about everyone living in it. Not every individual in the community can, or will get everything they want. Fortunately, rules are flexible, and can be changed or removed, but you have to talk to people. Playing word games, to cleverly interpret the rules, to self justify doing what you want, is childish. Most people eventually grow up, and realize that the rules are pretty clear, there consequence when caught, and the clever self-serving interpretation means nothing. We all know right from wrong, really not much to actually discuss, except strategies to circumvent the rules. I'm pretty tired of going around the same circles, the same frisbee analogies, same flawed logic. I strongly believe silence is only going let more ground slip away, since the loudest voice, is only going to be the public complaining about sloppy retrievals. We don't see half the detail in the dark, and I doubt very seriously most of the perfect night plugs would look so pretty when the sun comes up.
Doesn't take a genus to see that if the only ones talking about our hobby at city hall, are those who have an issue or two with how we practice it, that the hobby is going to suffer. We want to keep what we still have, we need to get our voice heard, get the rules to reflect acceptable, responsible retrievals, site selections. Sure, we won't be able to hunt any place we want, some places are just going to upset people, but we won't have to worry about losing all of it. Those in the hobby would know up front what is expected, whether they learn ethics from the forums or not, and those who don't will be held accountable, not the whole hobby.
Of course, you can just go out every night, have all the fun you want, until the ban is handed down. There are other cities down the road, which should be good for another year or two...
You normally try to wiggle around existing rules by arguing that the words "metal detecting" are not used; in this case those very words are mentioned a few times, in a very small paragraph. ...
Does that include also the getting-of-the-permission to begin with ? Have you ever been turned down (or given silly restrictions like "sandboxes only" or "yes but you can't dig" type answers) ?
