Public school ballfields, playgrounds

ironskillet

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Do you generally ask for permission to hunt (say on a quiet Sunday) or find it better to just slip in, hopefully unnoticed? Just curious.


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Do you generally ask for permission to hunt (say on a quiet Sunday) or find it better to just slip in, hopefully unnoticed? Just curious.
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Why ask ? If it's public, It's open territory !
Best time is when nobody is around to bother you.
 
Do you generally ask for permission to hunt (say on a quiet Sunday) or find it better to just slip in, hopefully unnoticed? Just curious.


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Anything that's public, I just hunt and respect the area. Fill holes, take your trash and no huge shovels. No need to be unnoticed.
 
Yeah, no reason to try and go unnoticed or start aslking permission. Would you ask permission to play catch or frisbee or soccer? Keep it neat and clean and have fun!
 
Just be like you belong to be there too, just like everyone else. If there is an activity or large group of people gathering and you feel uncomfortable leave and go to another near by back-up location. You can always come back later...
 
Awesome. Thanks for helping out this noob.
Now to figure out the subtleties of hunting abandoned properties, which are aplenty in this area...
Like- if there’s no one who has lived there in 50 years, who do you ask?
Man, metal detecting gets existential.

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All our schools are fenced in and have a huge list of warnings if caught on school grounds. Sadly I taught my sister to drive at our old high school. Now it looks like a concentration camp:no:
 
Yesterday I went out to a local HS baseball field. No one around, so I was glad about that. About twenty minutes in and here comes a coach mowing the actual playing area. (I was on the outter area where the bleachers and concession stands were.) I was a little nervous but kept going as if I was supposed to be there. Nothing was ever said. No problems. I took my whopping 96 cents and left after hunting til I was tired. lol I guess they had no qualms about me digging in their dirt!
 
All our schools are fenced in and have a huge list of warnings if caught on school grounds....


Yup. The obligatory "visitors check in at the office" type signs, eh ? Welcome to our litigious age. Ok, do you see that that's stopped people from jogging the track ? Shooting hoops ? walking their dog ? Ok, what's so evil and dangerous about md'ing that we need to ask ?
 
The schools here do a good job of letting you know where they don't want you with fences and signs, but most of the playgrounds are open to the public,the sport facilities that have admission gates are normally locked tight. several have parks next door, twice I have gone from a nice quiet day in the park to a couple hundred kids on recess. I'm somewhat surprised they turn them loose into a city park. They really should have some kind of siren to warn unsuspecting park visitors. Something like they use at the dam overflow to warn fisherman, even a sign would be nice.

I treat the schools the same as parks, if there are no signs or it's not fenced off I'll hunt it but only during non school hours. The principal of one school asked me if I had permission, I told him it was allowed. He either believed me or didn't care.

One of my greatest clad days was the grass area shortcut between employee parking and the sidewalk to the entrance, one of the few times I've broke minimum wage.
 
Yup. The obligatory "visitors check in at the office" type signs, eh ? Welcome to our litigious age. Ok, do you see that that's stopped people from jogging the track ? Shooting hoops ? walking their dog ? Ok, what's so evil and dangerous about md'ing that we need to ask ?

Most ours you cant get to the track, playground etc. Have to drive to other counties for that. Heck even the soccer fields that used to be public paid for with tax dollars are gated and padlocked. Its why its easier around here to hunt a beach. At least there you can tell people to go ahead and call the cops.
 
Most ours you cant get to the track, playground etc. Have to drive to other counties for that. Heck even the soccer fields that used to be public paid for with tax dollars are gated and padlocked. Its why its easier around here to hunt a beach. At least there you can tell people to go ahead and call the cops.

Gotta keep those "undesirables" out, which of course includes the Detectorists. Even though we're mostly tax payers, business owners and good neighbors.

Unfortunately the privatization of public resources will continue to get worse and worse the way things are looking...
 
Elementry schools around here I beat to death during the summer when not in session. High School is another story. Gated, locked, and fake turf on the football and soccer fields even under the bleachers.
 
I took the time to get permissions to all the local schools. Most get patrolled by the local cops. They all know me by now and know I do have the okay to hunt. Makes life a lot easier.
 
Most of the schools around here are gated and locked and no trespassing signs.

I have one place that is school property and is an open field that use to be a horse racing track area back in the 1880's. It is owned by the school board and is about 4 miles from the nearest school. Think I can get permission, NO! They are worried about insurance and being held responsible if I strain my back pulling all that old silver. :(

Ray
 
.... It is owned by the school board and is about 4 miles from the nearest school. Think I can get permission, NO! .....

How much you want to make a bet that someone(s) else have merely helped themselves, and had no issues ?

So too is it the same where I am "gated and locked". And if the md'rs asked, I'm sure they'd fetch a "no". In case you slip on a banana peel and sue the school.

But there's usually a turn-style or propped open gap. Or times when the gate is open for weekend maintenance. Or ... quite frankly.... the fence doesn't stop someone from hopping over. And ... barring occasional flukes, the md'rs are ignored.
 
I've hunted schoolyards, ball fields, and soccer fields since I started detecting in 1983 and have NEVER asked for permission. When you ask, you're just giving some stool warmer a chance to say NO ! People use school grounds for all kinds of activities and they don't ask for permission.
 
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