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A subj is running around with a metal detector and digging holes in the baseball diamond.

GroundSweeper

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Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
21,188
Location
Placer Co., CA
A first, after nearly 7 years of detecting...the title is what the police log reads. Had a rude dog walker hassle me and then later call the cops on me.

Took a vacation day Friday, got up early and headed to an old ball field where Jl1252 has apparently pulled all the silver out of :lol:

Got there about 7:30 and shortly after a guy walking his dog yells at me that I shouldn’t be detecting there and to go somewhere else. Later on I’m swinging and he actually came out onto the field and got right in front of me. Called me a d*** and a******, because I wasn’t leaving, that I could cause player injury and damage the grass.

Dude was in my face! I told him if he didn’t leave me alone I was going to call the cops and got out my phone to look up the number. He replied “go ahead”, and walked off stating that he would “circle back around”.

I assumed he’d come back. I put my phone away, and kept hunting and later saw the guy walking across the street and leave.

About 30 min later, police car rolls by. I smile and nodded as he drove by. Officer got out and walked over and called to me. I went over to meet him. He told me they got a call, someone was digging up the ball field. Surprise! (Not). He asked what I was doing, if I had found anything etc. Very nice officer. Two more officers soon showed up across the field and were looking around at the ground there for a short bit.

I told the officer how rude the guy who called me in had been, and the very nice officer told me there were no ordinances/codes against metal detecting in public places and for me to have a nice day, and enjoy, and if that guy came back to bother me to call them :lol:

A crazy thing, aside from how rude that dog walker had been, is this ball field is in seriously poor shape - gopher holes and missing grass patches all over etc.

I stayed another couple hours and couldn’t turn up any silver, got a real green patina wheat... 1931 and oddly it rang up 17-19 on the Nox. $1.07 or so in clad. Slim pickings for all that hassle, however it was nice detecting post police visit! Turdball guy never came back either. Oh an no way was I “running around” with my detector either :laughing: definitely walking very slowly with it.
 

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Too bad that the idiot didn't return for a third time. You may have gotten some nice closure on the whole episode by having the police return and give him a verbal lashing. Funny thing, there is a bylaw around here that dogs are not allowed in parks, sports fields etc. Now that is never enforced, until someone complains, then the dog owner gets a warning. Detectorists?

Not a problem unless you are digging holes.
 
Very suspect. If there are no codes/ordinance for detecting , then why did the cops go out in the 1st place ? They could have just told the caller ( like they do many times ) that it's legal and to go pound sand. Often they do this to save on police resources. Very odd.
 
Funny thing, there is a bylaw around here that dogs are not allowed in parks, sports fields etc. Now that is never enforced...


Yeah, dog walkers where I am treat the whole city like one giant off-leash dog park. The number of times I’ve seen dogs running around right next to signs that say no dogs on the sports fields, etc. is ridiculous. Glad it was a good outcome.
 
Too bad that the idiot didn't return for a third time. You may have gotten some nice closure on the whole episode by having the police return and give him a verbal lashing. Funny thing, there is a bylaw around here that dogs are not allowed in parks, sports fields etc. Now that is never enforced, until someone complains, then the dog owner gets a warning. Detectorists?

Not a problem unless you are digging holes.

Thanks John, yeah I had thought about him with his dog on the field.

Very suspect. If there are no codes/ordinance for detecting , then why did the cops go out in the 1st place ? They could have just told the caller ( like they do many times ) that it's legal and to go pound sand. Often they do this to save on police resources. Very odd.

I think think they have to check it out at least, if they’ve got nothing else pressing, I dunno. The officer I talked too was super nice.

Yeah, dog walkers where I am treat the whole city like one giant off-leash dog park. The number of times I’ve seen dogs running around right next to signs that say no dogs on the sports fields, etc. is ridiculous. Glad it was a good outcome.

Yeah, I just wish he’d had minded his own business, not sure what got his panties in a such a bunch :lol:
 
Congrats on the wheat and standing your ground GS. Some people I'll tell you. I was hunting a staduim/ballfield with a buddy once and a couple with their dogs called the police on us and there was a large sign on the fence stating No Dogs Allowed on Field. And of course they left before the police arrived. HH Mark
 
Sounds like an idiot! Glad you were able to stay and hunt.

Thanks Jam - That was pretty much the best part of it, was able to relax after the police visit and enjoy the day.

Congrats on the wheat and standing your ground GS. Some people I'll tell you. I was hunting a staduim/ballfield with a buddy once and a couple with their dogs called the police on us and there was a large sign on the fence stating No Dogs Allowed on Field. And of course they left before the police arrived. HH Mark

Thanks Mark. There actually is a sign on the fences and backstop, “No dogs allowed in park”. Go figure.
 
That's a crazy story ground-sweeper. Sorry you had to endure that.

... If there are no codes/ordinance for detecting , then why did the cops go out in the 1st place ?.....

Because there's boiler-plate verbiage minutia, in every single city's park's rules, about "alter", "deface", etc.... (and sometimes even the specific word "dig").

Naturally, none of that applies to us either. Because when we leave no trace of our presence, then ... presto, we haven't alterED or defacED or dUg anything, right ? But sure, someone can try to invoke those things, and sure, our hobby carries connotations.

This is why 99% of my hunting is done at night , when it comes to turfed parks. So peaceful. So serene :laughing:
 
Let me at 'im, GS! You tell me where, and I'll stalk it until he shows up! :laughing:

Nice pan! I had the exact same one... Hmm... :?:
 
Glad you handled your business Jeff. Funny thing is I was in that ballfield later that day and there was no trace of that guy.
 
That dude had some issues. More of a self projection if anything.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
.... Funny thing is I was in that ballfield later that day and there was no trace of that guy.

which just goes to show : Sometimes , in these situations (and/or situations of "scrams"), that : Sometimes the tactic is NOT to desire for the police to come straighten it out. Or rush-to-city-hall to seek clarification. Instead, sometimes the best tactic is simply to avoid that singular individual in the future. Presto, problem solved.

Some people might call that "sneaking around". Ok, fine then : SNEAK AROUND ! We're simply not going to please or convert every last person on the planet . :roll:
 
I'm sure he was watching from somewhere when the cops came by, wringing his hands with anticipation, only to see them leave and you keep digging.

It'd have been really cool if the officer asked to try it out himself!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 
That's a crazy story ground-sweeper. Sorry you had to endure that.



Because there's boiler-plate verbiage minutia, in every single city's park's rules, about "alter", "deface", etc.... (and sometimes even the specific word "dig").

Naturally, none of that applies to us either. Because when we leave no trace of our presence, then ... presto, we haven't alterED or defacED or dUg anything, right ? But sure, someone can try to invoke those things, and sure, our hobby carries connotations.

This is why 99% of my hunting is done at night , when it comes to turfed parks. So peaceful. So serene :laughing:

Thanks Tom. Well first time I’ve experienced this in nearly seven years, so hoping it’ll be at least another 7 before the next one :lol: I don’t know why but I feel like if I’m detecting around the parks at night I’d be having more of these run ins! Obviously not your experience. Interesting for sure.

Let me at 'im, GS! You tell me where, and I'll stalk it until he shows up! :laughing:

Nice pan! I had the exact same one... Hmm... :?:

I like your attitude! I have no idea where I got that pan... but only used it once for actually panning :lol: got some micro gold tho!

Glad you handled your business Jeff. Funny thing is I was in that ballfield later that day and there was no trace of that guy.

Yeah, we, and others, have been there more than a handful of times. Maybe I should have just fully ignored the guy. Was weird. Normally whenever I chat with someone it’s curiosity and friendly...maybe this guy was off his meds or late for his bong hit, I dunno...

That dude had some issues. More of a self projection if anything.

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100% agree!

which just goes to show : Sometimes , in these situations (and/or situations of "scrams"), that : Sometimes the tactic is NOT to desire for the police to come straighten it out. Or rush-to-city-hall to seek clarification. Instead, sometimes the best tactic is simply to avoid that singular individual in the future. Presto, problem solved.

Some people might call that "sneaking around". Ok, fine then : SNEAK AROUND ! We're simply not going to please or convert every last person on the planet . :roll:

Yes I didn’t want the cops to come out, my threat to call them on the dude was a bit of a semi-bluff. I honestly just wanted the guy to leave me the F alone and get back to the silver hunt, and stop wasting my precious detecting time! Maybe I should have moved until he was gone and then moved back. But I wasn’t in the mood to be a doormat that day, as I knew I was not in the wrong.

I'm sure he was watching from somewhere when the cops came by, wringing his hands with anticipation, only to see them leave and you keep digging.

It'd have been really cool if the officer asked to try it out himself!

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Thought crossed my mind and you may be right.
 
..... I don’t know why but I feel like if I’m detecting around the parks at night I’d be having more of these run ins! Obviously not your experience. . .....

Funny, but this is the common rejoinder response I get, to suggesting that people hunt nice-manicured-turf at night, to avoid busy-body gripers. They assume, just as you, that this would be all-the-more-likely to arouse questions and scrutiny.

But it's exactly the opposite. For starters, you don't use headlamps. You just choose a full-ish moon night, and let your pupils become adjusted to the that. There is NO one in the parks at night. So there's no one around, to gripe or see you, in the first place.

And while it SEEMS "eerie" to have cars driving down the street near you (headlights of passing cars flickering by), yet : The truth is, motorist's eyes are focused on their headlight beams. They are blind to everything off-to the sides. As an example of this : Next time you are driving down a country road at night, look off to the left or right, into the darkness of the fields, and you will see that you couldn't tell if a person (or cow or light-pole or whatever) was a mere 20 ft. off to the sides. Yet to the md'r out there in the field (or park or whatever), the pupils of your eyes have become focussed on the darkness, so any passing lights *seem* startling. Yet truth is, you're totally hidden.
 
Funny, but this is the common rejoinder response I get, to suggesting that people hunt nice-manicured-turf at night, to avoid busy-body gripers. They assume, just as you, that this would be all-the-more-likely to arouse questions and scrutiny.

But it's exactly the opposite. For starters, you don't use headlamps. You just choose a full-ish moon night, and let your pupils become adjusted to the that. There is NO one in the parks at night. So there's no one around, to gripe or see you, in the first place.

And while it SEEMS "eerie" to have cars driving down the street near you (headlights of passing cars flickering by), yet : The truth is, motorist's eyes are focused on their headlight beams. They are blind to everything off-to the sides. As an example of this : Next time you are driving down a country road at night, look off to the left or right, into the darkness of the fields, and you will see that you couldn't tell if a person (or cow or light-pole or whatever) was a mere 20 ft. off to the sides. Yet to the md'r out there in the field (or park or whatever), the pupils of your eyes have become focussed on the darkness, so any passing lights *seem* startling. Yet truth is, you're totally hidden.

Totally makes sense.... and yet... :lol: I have a lake spot or two this may just come in very handy next fall.
 
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