Who the hell do you ask at a church?

[metaladdict]

I've got a couple churches, including one just down the road from my house.. small places, old building. Who actually has the ability to give or deny permission at a church?

Hell don't know! Try the Pastor.😄

 

[Tom_in_CA]

With Catholic maybe the priest there or higher up?? Dunno?😐

Nope. You gotta go all the way to the Pope in the Vatican. After all, ya can't be too safe, eh ?

 

[Smooth23]

Nope. You gotta go all the way to the Pope in the Vatican. After all, ya can't be too safe, eh ?

How does that work, do I donate into his popehat?

 

[LovestheShiny!]

Good grief. Anyone at the church who says "yes" is your permission and get started detecting. Just not during Sunday services!

 

[Orionlocke]

There has been a couple churches I wanted to get permission to hunt so I just went to their website and sent a email message to them through their Contact us page. In my message I let them know who I am , gave them some info on how I detect and asked if it would be ok.
In both instances, the pastor of the church replied to me. One gave permission to hunt the church grounds (they had some ball fields I wanted to hunt) and the other apologized and let me know they couldn't allow it due to insurance restrictions.

 

[Digalicious]

Every time I click on "Today's Posts", and this thread comes up, I still lol at the title

 

[GoDeep]

Anyone ever score big at an older church? I quickly swung my detector across one (maybe hitting 10 percent of it) one day and wasn't getting jack squat. It was a church that was built around 1875 and closed around 1975. I suspect someone hit it back when detectors were first coming out.

 

[LovestheShiny!]

Anyone ever score big at an older church? I quickly swung my detector across one (maybe hitting 10 percent of it) one day and wasn't getting jack squat. It was a church that was built around 1875 and closed around 1975. I suspect someone hit it back when detectors were first coming out.

I did get to detect a neighborhood church in a small northern Montana town. Not super old, probably 1915. I did get 4 Merc Dimes and lots of Wheat Cents.

 

[JimR_TN]

Anyone ever score big at an older church? I quickly swung my detector across one (maybe hitting 10 percent of it) one day and wasn't getting jack squat. It was a church that was built around 1875 and closed around 1975. I suspect someone hit it back when detectors were first coming out.

I've done pretty well at churches. At one very near my house I hit often I found several V nickels, several IHPs, my first 3 ring bullet along with plenty of wheaties and several buffs. My first 1800s coins came from there. I suspect someone cherry picked the silver long ago as the only silver was a deep Rosie under the gravel parking lot.

At a different church I did find several silvers including my oldest coin, an 1838 seated half dime. A nice old gentleman (I'm 60) dropped by to tell me he and his son detected every inch of the property years ago. I didn't have the heart to tell him about the half dime.

Currently I'm working a church where I've found a silver quarter along with 4 Mercs, a couple of pieces of 925, many wheaties and a few cool relics

So church property can still have good stuff. You just have to assume someone has gone in and at minimum cherry picked the easy silver. Modern detectors with their fast target separation and unmasking ability still give us a shot at finding good stuff. It takes time but I find a church permissions very quiet and relaxing detecting. Especially for a couple hour after work hunt.

 

[GoDeep]

Sounds like you've both had some decent luck at churches. I remember reading over on the other forum some old time detectorists talking about back in the day they'd detect church's and not even ask permission as people didn't even really know what detectors were and they really didn't get bothered and if they did, the talk quickly turned to fascination about the detector...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... back in the day they'd detect church's and not even ask permission as people didn't even really know what detectors were and they really didn't get bothered and if they did, the talk quickly turned to fascination about the detector...

I remember those days. When I got into this hobby in the mid 1970s (as a pimple faced teen), I would just ride my bike around town with my detector, and help myself to church lawns. It never even occurred to me that anything was amiss.

Same with parochial school yard near my house : That was where we kids went to play on the swings and monkey bars. So when I got into md'ing, it never occurred to me that it couldn't go there. Nor did anyone ever raise a fuss.

 

[GoDeep]

I remember those days. When I got into this hobby in the mid 1970s (as a pimple faced teen), I would just ride my bike around town with my detector, and help myself to church lawns. It never even occurred to me that anything was amiss.

Same with parochial school yard near my house : That was where we kids went to play on the swings and monkey bars. So when I got into md'ing, it never occurred to me that it couldn't go there. Nor did anyone ever raise a fuss.

Yep, that confirms what i've heard. When i was in my teens back in the 80's, i'd also walk the cornfields near my house looking for arrowheads, never asked permission and never once got bothered. Nowadays, even in the same fields, i'd get approached and asked why i was on their land.

 

[Chaznsc]

The answer is certainly not found in the title of this thread!