Brain dead politicians

i have detected lake glendale and pounds hollow, where you from byrd?????????????????

Central Illinois. Where you from?

used to live in marion-harrisburg area but have moved to huntington w va. found a lot of stuff at the hollow and glendale

I'm not doubting that beerdoodle. I was referring to the government not letting people hunt a certain site Because it has historical artifacts buried there. I understand the need for permits in those places and monitoring who's in there digging. Just seems to me if someone with a detector was willing to go there and find things for a museum to dispay there should be a way for that to happen. That gives me an idea for a poll.

there are many known treasure troves in the shawnee national forest, the mason gang, the harpes, counterfeit cave etc etc, It is hit so hard by 4 wheelers and horseman, it was getting out of hand as far as keeping it pristine. I just hunted the beaches. But the area was so abused. Garden of the gods is the prettiest sight in the state, but when heathens interlope, it makes it tuff on everyone. Somwtimes you cant blame the officials....................................

YARDBYRD said:

I'm not doubting that beerdoodle. I was referring to the government not letting people hunt a certain site Because it has historical artifacts buried there. I understand the need for permits in those places and monitoring who's in there digging. Just seems to me if someone with a detector was willing to go there and find things for a museum to dispay there should be a way for that to happen. That gives me an idea for a poll.

Click to expand...

I am all for the government protecting area's Yard... Some in our hobby are destroying our historical sites because they are only looking to turn a profit... If I saw someone detecting on a historical site I would turn them no questions asked...

Why is there a need by a few to destroy our history? Don't we have enough sites to detect now?

What we need is more collaboration between treasure hunters (btw, we need to change that stereotypical refference) and archeologists. This already exists, but is not publicized. What is publicized is the negative stuff you hear about uss all the time. I have some awesome friends who are archeologists, and we often analyze some sites together, producing excellent results.
If the government knew that, they would give us permission to hunt (like in Brittain). Meanwhile, all we can do is lobby...
Just my 2 1941 cents

It is a touchy subject for sure. I'm not sure how it can be addresses to satisfy both finders and keepers.

I'm sure most of us didn't get into metal detecting just so we can give away the stuff we find. On the other hand protecting items of historical value should be a priority for us all. So I guess the key phrase here is historical value. Who is to determine it?

I understand the concerns of archaeologist but I don't understand their blanket policies. I detect in plowed fields and am sickened by most relics I recover that have been chopped to bits by years of the farmers plow. In these cases I feel I'm am doing history a favor by recovering them before they are completely lost to the plow.

I think they need to change some of their protection policies to exclude items in say Immediate Danger and allow us to recover them.

I'm surprised they are even letting detectorists into Shawnee National Forest! National Forests are suppose to be off limits!

No wonder they specify staying in the modern areas. We're lucky they are giving us that much.

I'm originally from Evansville, and much of my childhood was spent in Shawnee. We use to go trout fishing. There are also Indian Burial Grounds there.

I think everyone makes good points in certain areas. I have no desire to destroy any history and yes there should be rules in place to protect what we have. My point on the matter was there should be a way for us (Metal detector enthusiasts) and the government to work together to recover as many of these artifacts as possible. I have never suggested that people with metal detectors should be allowed free access to just go wherever they choose. To do that would just open places like this up to vandals which is not what any of us want to see.

Anyone in this hobby for pure profit (in my opinion) wouldn't go to a place like that anyway if they had to give up what they found.

I think that the best a person could ask for in this situation is to get recognition for finding the artifacts and that would be fine with me.

I believe that in these areas of probable important historical artifacts that many people would go there to search for a piece of history just for the recognition of finding it and if not that then just the chance to find that kind of history ( self satisfaction).

The hunts could be in specific areas at specific times and I would more than welcome it being monitored by archaeologists or whomever the government wanted to over see it.

If you are hunting an old homestead and dig up something that can be proven as significant to history and it's valuable then I say it's yours but in these places of known history where otherwise you could not even get in with a metal detector one could not reasonably expect to make a profit from the find.

The people out there that are digging holes and not filling them and who are giving the rest of us a bad name would not be interested in this idea anyway. So THEY would not be a problem.

I believe there are a lot of people that would jump at the chance to hunt places like this for the history sake alone even being monitored. If i'm wrong about this let me know.

I never meant to upset anyone, I just don't understand the reasoning for leaving it in the ground over it being in a museum.

YARDBYRD, your idea is good, but there is a problem. Where are these archeologists, who would be monitoring our activity? As far as I can see, there are not enough of them to do that, or even dig themselves. So they just complain about treasure hunters taking their job and "destroying" historical evidence!
Where I come from, we had a law, that whatever you find should be turned over to a government official, and you get a 25% of value reward. There is no one to enforce the rule, so everyone just keeps what they find. Could end up with the same deal under your plan.

I guess the best answer I have would be to:

#1 Rope off certain areas for the hunt.
#2 Hunters would have to be put on a list.
#3 Only allow so many at a time.
#4 You could only go when your name came up (With some advanced notice)
#5 Only one way in, one way out
#6 I'm sure the government has metal detectors of their own to check people with to make sure nothing is being stolen.

I know there are people here that could add to this or would have better ideas as to how to control a hunt like this. To some it may seem like a lot of hassle to even do it and I can understand some people not wanting to be regulated like that and that is fine, they just wouldn't do it. All I'm saying is that it could be done without having to have 12 archaeologists standing in a field somewhere on a Saturday morning. If they want to offer 25% of what an item is worth that might entice some to do it that normally wouldn't. Or maybe make a deal that all coins found you keep any other artifacts are turned in.

It would take some effort from metal detectorists to get it done but from the looks of the number of folks here on this forum I don't see why there couldn't be a National metal detector club with a yearly membership to support the cause. There may even be a national club, i don't know. Just remember, a lot of people can yell louder than one person.

A lot of people may not like the idea of doing a national club But if it can be formed and and we can all get the word out and gain respect then we would have a chance to maybe change peoples views on detecting.

Just imagine. You have a national club patch on your shirt and when you go to ask permission. The man says HEY!!! i saw a commercial on TV about your club and the rules of the club (Because the commercial would run on a channel like for example The OUTDOOR CHANNEL in between fishing, hunting and gold prospecting shows) and now that he is sure that you are not going to leave his lawn in shambles because the rules of the club would allow him to contact the club and complain about a member that is not abiding by club rules. He now has a sense of security in letting you hunt there.

As this club would grow it would gain notoriety, respect and a voice.

It will never be changed if we are all individually doing our own thing and do not unite to change it. This forum is the best thing I've seen for the metal detectorists. There is a wealth of information here and could do big things. Just my thoughts YardByrd

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ToddB64