i've come to the conclusion:

007tallguy · Apr 2, 2015

i've come to the conclusion that asking for permission over the phone is nothing but a waste of time. my success rate by phone is basically ZERO percent.

the last place i was trying for is a business setting (ski hill). i drive by it every evening for work purposes and i stopped in the other evening with the hopes that the owner would still be there. of course, the owner was gone for the day, so... i tried by phone, told her who i was, where i work, and about my hobby, etc etc. and if there was a possibility of getting permission to detect there after the season ended. but i got a "no" from her. she mentioned "liability" at which i said i would be willing to sign a waiver.
apparently, if i tie a waxed board to each foot and fly down that hill at a hundred mph with a pointed stick in each hand their liability form will suffice, but to walk around at a snails' pace with a detector is much more dangerous. :laughing:

and if she said "yes" to me, then she'd have to say yes to everyone else who asks. :roll:

(oh really? :?:

)
i guess i could have made the hour long drive on the weekend in the hopes that one of the owners would have been in and asked in person, but i believe in this case, the answer would have still been the same. (that's just the way some people are)

in short, whenever possible, ask for permissionin person! not by phone and not by email. take the time and go see the person face to face! i don't think it would have made any difference for my in this instance, but there have been other places i've gone where i do believe the face to face thing was a definite asset to me.
-phone and email, very close to zero percent.
-in person: +95 percent success rate!

BBsGal · Apr 2, 2015

That's interesting, I've had real good results making calls.
But... I live near a very small town which makes it much easier since just about everyone has seen me out and about hunting anyway and they seem to know who I am, at least by reputation, when I make my calls.

ohiochris · Apr 2, 2015

Phone calls have never worked for me either. Its good to hear that others have had success that way but if you think about it , most of the time when people get random phone calls about things their priorities are usually to get the phone call over with especially if they happen to be busy with something else. That can tend to make the answer no even if they might have said yes face to face. Some people like to talk , so their phone is their best friend and they will chat with anybody , but the majority of people see a phone call as an annoyance , many only have a phone because they need it for work or emergency , others get such a steady stream of calls all the time that they really hate calls....that ring can be like nails on a chalkboard. They may be waiting on an important call and yours just ties the line up. There are just too many reasons why your call "might" annoy someone. Always better to do in person.

Tom_in_CA · Apr 2, 2015

007tallguy said:
..... but i got a "no" from her. she mentioned "liability" .....
and if she said "yes" to me, then she'd have to say yes to everyone else who asks. ....

Tall-guy, how much you want to make a bet, that that ski hill has been detected already (if not routinely). Even if she personally doesn't happen to know that. If it's anything like the ski slopes of Lake Tahoe (using those as an example), they've get detected all-the-time in the off-season. They are a ghost town in the off-season. No one's even around. Except a few off-season maintenance people maintaining the gear and lifts to get ready for the next season. And .... well .....

007tallguy · Apr 3, 2015

Tom_in_CA said:
Tall-guy, how much you want to make a bet, that that ski hill has been detected already (if not routinely). Even if she personally doesn't happen to know that. If it's anything like the ski slopes of Lake Tahoe (using those as an example), they've get detected all-the-time in the off-season. They are a ghost town in the off-season. No one's even around. Except a few off-season maintenance people maintaining the gear and lifts to get ready for the next season. And .... well .....

i think with this particular place, if there's any detecting going on, the owners would know about it and anyone doing the detecting would be well known to them, ie. friends, maybe an employee or some other close acquaintance. i say that because of the fairly long private drive to get there, the fact that they live right there beside the hill and the security cams all over the place, lol.
from what i gather, their insurance and the associated waiver forms will cover it as a business (skiing) but doesn't seem to cover off season activity's.
there's also the possibility that they watch some of the "reality" Tv shows, and like the general public, they know nothing about the real world of detecting, what we do, how we do it, etc. lol.
oh, i did try to see her in person, and not being able to easily meet with her, i tried the phone method and i got my answer. at least i can scratch that place off my "want to do" list. as they say, better luck next time and place.

there's a couple more good looking spots in that same general area, but none of them will be by phone request, that's for sure! when the weather improves here, i'll be hopping in my little rice rocket and going in person. :yes:

Tom_in_CA · Apr 3, 2015

007tallguy said:
..... the fact that they live right there beside the hill and the security cams all over the place, lol. ....

Holy smokes ! I've never heard of a ski place where the "owners" live right at the hill. I envisioned more of the corporate type places (Heavenly Valley, Sugar Bowl, Northstar, Dodge Ridge, etc...) that we have here in CA. And then you also say there's security cam's aimed at a naked hillside mountain too ? wow. :no:

Here's a thought then for the following year: You have your friend loose his/her ring there (wouldn't be hard to take a silver ring there, and loose it, eh?) You run the craigslist ad for the lost ring. Print it out, and show up, after the spring thaw, to look for it. Unless someone was very cruel and heart-less, I can't imagine someone not saying "help yourself".

007tallguy · Apr 3, 2015

Tom_in_CA said:
Holy smokes ! I've never heard of a ski place where the "owners" live right at the hill. I envisioned more of the corporate type places (Heavenly Valley, Sugar Bowl, Northstar, Dodge Ridge, etc...) that we have here in CA. And then you also say there's security cam's aimed at a naked hillside mountain too ? wow.

Here's a thought then for the following year: You have your friend loose his/her ring there (wouldn't be hard to take a silver ring there, and loose it, eh?) You run the craigslist ad for the lost ring. Print it out, and show up, after the spring thaw, to look for it. Unless someone was very cruel and heart-less, I can't imagine someone not saying "help yourself".

pm sent.
but yep, they live right there on the same property, not far from the base of the hill.

garyo1954 · Apr 3, 2015

Tom_in_CA said:
Holy smokes ! I've never heard of a ski place where the "owners" live right at the hill. I envisioned more of the corporate type places (Heavenly Valley, Sugar Bowl, Northstar, Dodge Ridge, etc...) that we have here in CA. And then you also say there's security cam's aimed at a naked hillside mountain too ? wow.

Here's a thought then for the following year: You have your friend loose his/her ring there (wouldn't be hard to take a silver ring there, and loose it, eh?) You run the craigslist ad for the lost ring. Print it out, and show up, after the spring thaw, to look for it. Unless someone was very cruel and heart-less, I can't imagine someone not saying "help yourself".

Here's another thought:

Print this post and take it with you, along with the ad to present to the maintenance people. :laughing:

AndrewCNJ · Apr 3, 2015

Tom_in_CA said:
Here's a thought then for the following year: You have your friend loose his/her ring there (wouldn't be hard to take a silver ring there, and loose it, eh?) You run the craigslist ad for the lost ring. Print it out, and show up, after the spring thaw, to look for it. Unless someone was very cruel and heart-less, I can't imagine someone not saying "help yourself".

hahaha this is a great idea - I'm going to use this.

NectarDetector · Apr 3, 2015

I guess it's all in how you word things. I have great luck with phone permissions and only 1 no.

Matt (NH) · Apr 4, 2015

I prefer to talk to people in person; it is too easy for people to say no over the phone. I have only made like 10 cold calls for permissions and out of those I think I got 3 yeses. knocking on doors I gain permission about 88% of the time; and I knock on a LOTTA doors!

i've come to the conclusion:

007tallguy

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BBsGal

ohiochris

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Tom_in_CA

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007tallguy

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Tom_in_CA

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007tallguy

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garyo1954

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AndrewCNJ

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NectarDetector

Matt (NH)

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