No person shall damage, vandalize, or deface any park property.

jbrow

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"No person shall damage, vandalize, or deface any park property."

Just wondered what peoples thoughts on this are? If you properly cut a plug and retrieve your find, does this rule apply to metal detecting? No where in the list of rules does it say "No metal detecting" or "No digging". Should I attempt to metal detect there, or just avoid it?...
 
If you can come and go without leaving any sign that you have been there, I would say go for it. Make sure your plugs are cut nice and all the dirt gets back in the hole. Seems like this time of year however, the squirrels are making bigger holes than I am.
 
Our parks are the same... I spoke with a park employee and he told me it means I could detect for surface items only and could not dig or slice the grass in anyway... I have desire to hunt parks anyway :lol:
 
Have you seen the damage soccer, football, and rugby cleats do to their precious grass in those parks? Way worse than any plug I ever cut! :mad:
 
Our law is a touchy one, basically it's saying if they feel like messing with you they can. The best description of it i heard was that you can only MD in designated areas, and there almost aren't any.

But the thing is as long as the cop that sees you isn't on too much of a power trip, the worst that will happen is he asks you to stop. He can give you the fine but i would think only the worst kind of cop would ever do that.

p.s. i went and got my County permit today so if you wanted to hit a Wayne county park i'm good to go.
 
Have any of you had trouble from the police?

I have been, watched real good, as many as 10 times, but I have never been approached.. While they are watching I get very picky on what targets I dig and more or less go into a scouting mode..FWIW

I'm sure it depends on how you dress/look as well..

<*)))>{
 
I was out hunting with some local guys that volunteered to let me tag along and learn a little, the one guy had just got done telling me about cops chasing him off of a site, and i see a cop coming down the road, and he does the super slow drive by. So i figure everything cool, point my eyes back at where i'm going and continue. I get a signal and dig it up, turns out to be trash, but i put it in my junk pouch and pop my plug back and start moving along. A few seconds later i see the cop, driving in the parking lot on the opposite side of the strip we were working. The cop made the loop and exited the parking lot, but apparently he had doubled back and parked in the parking lot and watched exactly what i was doing. I guess he approved because he moved on.
 
all park signs say something to that effect, i'm not vandalizing by cuttin a plug so i hunt it.
 
"No person shall damage, vandalize, or deface any park property."
I don't think your actions would rise to a level of criminal culpability in any but the worst run courts. Having said that I’ve been in a few that would come down on you like a ton of bricks if the bureaucratic winds were just right.
Daddydigger is spot on regarding other activities resulting in a greater or equal impact. Knowing what is allowed there is helpful toward making a decision whether to proceed.
I have to say; only you or someone in your local area, detecting club maybe, can determine the risk of going forward.
You might consider discussing the desire with well-placed sources (a maintence supervisor or grounds keeper) and be prepared to live with the answer.
I wouldn't seek permission from local law enforcement. Other than those assigned to a site, e.g. Park Police, they can't give permission only enforce existing rules. Absent specific guidance all that is left is personal opinion and while it's abound we could do with much less of it, IMHO.
No easy solution to your question I’m afraid.
 
There are two areas of typical cookie cutter ordinance language out there for parks. Similar to specification writing, most municipalities hire third parties to draft their ordinances. Your expression above is in almost every ordinance in the country. That expression typically means physical damage to property which could include turf depending on the interpretation of those enforcing it. Typically most ordinances also have language that talk about damage and removal of plants; and cutting, removing, penetration to turf, etc. and that is usually the one that gets you. Best to just check and get permission. In many cases MDing is permitted or allowed, although not implicitly, but the ordinances give the park rangers and/or police something to fall back on if they run in to some destructive, no good person who is trashing the place and destroying things.
 
"No person shall damage, vandalize, or deface any park property."

A lot of us here likely take a little pride when it comes to digging and covering our holes. When done the way it should, you are not violating the above.

If this is a city or town park, call the parks department and get it straight from the horses mouth. Explain what we do. I just went through this today.
 
Cutting and restoring a plug is not damage. I would do my MDing, and if confronted I would deal with it on a case by case basis. I have never been confronted by the police or park personnel before. A little common sense goes a long way.
 
Park rules

I have NEVER been thrown out of any park I have hunted in, and I have hunted some pretty well manicured parks...I Do pride myself on my plug digging techniques...It is very rare that I leave a hole that I can find if I return to it 5 minutes after digging. Believe me...There are holes I wanted to re-check, and it took me a while to find them. I have had park rangers, Sheriffs, and local Police drive by me and check out what I do, but when they see I am neat, they move on...NEVER give a cop or park official a hard time...They are all connected, and you will soon find you are getting booted from everywhere they see you...

HH,
 
Meticulous clean up is a must! I always carry most of my trash as an example of the positive results of my detecting if approached by authorities.
Glass and other sharps, bullets and trash being removed are hard to argue with.
My encounters have been predominantly very good.
Also have a spiel in my head on how I remove my finds with very little damage to grass roots etc.
just remember if approaching any authorities, be NON threatening.
I.E. make sure you holster your digger and dont approuch too close or quickly.
Learned this one night when approaching a local patrolman.
It was dark and he wanted a little distance until he knew what he was confronting. All was good when I showed him the 45 Mag bullet I retrieved from next to a basketball court.
Metal detecting code of ethics is good for all.
 
I have to again say, it isn't anyone of us here who have personal integrity on their digs. If the last owner of any kind of metal detector naturally decides to leave trash, use a shovel willy nilly, and cause real ugly holes when thay are done...well the cops and public can find YOU as a bad guy since you happen to be the one on stage after the bad guy left. It is easier for the cops to just run all hunters away. I don't blame them. Preaching to ourselves here over ettiquite does not do much for the topic when you really think about it. martin
 
I have to again say, it isn't anyone of us here who have personal integrity on their digs. If the last owner of any kind of metal detector naturally decides to leave trash, use a shovel willy nilly, and cause real ugly holes when thay are done...well the cops and public can find YOU as a bad guy since you happen to be the one on stage after the bad guy left. It is easier for the cops to just run all hunters away. I don't blame them. Preaching to ourselves here over ettiquite does not do much for the topic when you really think about it. martin

Exactly, and there doesn't even need to be a guy before you who did it wrong for someone to be prejudiced against MDing, or just you, in general. While i don't expect that many people are going to be that hard about it, i know they can be, and have in the past. So will you get a ticket for "defacing property"? probably not, but there's always that chance, and you take it every time you go out and MD where this law exists.
 
I have to again say, it isn't anyone of us here who have personal integrity on their digs. If the last owner of any kind of metal detector naturally decides to leave trash, use a shovel willy nilly, and cause real ugly holes when thay are done...well the cops and public can find YOU as a bad guy since you happen to be the one on stage after the bad guy left. It is easier for the cops to just run all hunters away. I don't blame them. Preaching to ourselves here over ettiquite does not do much for the topic when you really think about it. martin

It helps to pass along info about how to deal with bad situations. Most newbies need to read it here to understand these kinds of problems.
 
I was thinking about hunting city parks in Winston Salem NC area. I couldn't find clear info on the parks site, except no digging in excavation rules. On the county parks site, it does say no metal detecting allowed.

I emailed the Parks Director. His replay was a stern NO metal detecting allowed in any city or county park. He admits it's still a problem and if anyone caught, they will be removed....and they plan further measures to deal with the issue, whatever that means...
 
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