Big Boys Hobbies

Hunting church properties

Barneymartin3

Barneymartin3

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So what is the rule on hunting church property? Do you need permission or not? Who owns it? The members of the church or the pastor. Would church property be considered Public or Private property? Who should you ask for permission? I guess you could pray to God for permission but I'm sure someone would still throw you off the property :lol:.

I've had different experiences hunting churches. I've hunted them without asking anyone and never had a problem but I have been asked to leave by a nosey neighbor or have had the police called on me who asked me to leave. So what are your thoughts on this subject? Is it a sin or illegal to hunt a church without permission?
 
Barneymartin3 said:
So what is the rule on hunting church property? Do you need permission or not? Who owns it? The members of the church or the pastor. Would church property be considered Public or Private property? Who should you ask for permission? I guess you could pray to God for permission but I'm sure someone would still throw you off the property :lol:.

I've had different experiences hunting churches. I've hunted them without asking anyone and never had a problem but I have been asked to leave by a nosey neighbor or have had the police called on me who asked me to leave. So what are your thoughts on this subject? Is it a sin or illegal to hunt a church without permission?
Click to expand...

Well let me say it would be a sin not to hunt them, however permission to be on church property is usually given by the pastor. In the past year or so I have hunted a Lutheran ,a Presbyterian and am currently working a Catholic church. The first I came to learn the pastor hunted with a Tesoro and had been over the ground with his sons but told me feel free. I found some silver and some other cool finds and stop back there once in awhile . Just last summer I received permission from a reverend to do his Church. Did pretty well there also. Then on election day the local Catholic church where we vote I spoke to the grounds keeper as the clergy no longer resides at the church. If anybody was going to shoo you it would be him. Still working this one. So talk to somebody and that way if you would be challenged you can say Yes I do have permission to be here. All 3 of these churches on right up on the main drag in town and the walkers and dog walkers all stop to see what I found. The few that look down their noses I just nod and smile. The cops know me by now and just wave. I'm probably known as that crazy old guy with a metal detector. I'm ok with that, business is good. Good luck, Mark
 
The logical thing to do is ask the pastor.
I think you will get more positive responses from pastors if you tell them everything you find will be donated back to the church. Most old churches have quite a detailed, recorded history and they would like to have anything related to church property history for display in their library or hallways. Our church is precivil war 1840's and there is no way we are hunting it. Other church members would have a cow if they found out. If you turn finds over to churches, it should open up many more opportunities for permissions on church members properties where you keep the finds.
 
When I was a Jr. High school kid , all the neighborhood kids caught the school bus @ the curb near a church in our neighborhood. So the line-up of kids would extend out past the curb-strip, into a sort of hard-pan dirt lot.

Thus when I got into detecting at about that age, and wondered "where to go", I thought of how 20+ years of kids (by then) would line up to catch the bus at this area. And figured "I'll bet they lost coins there".

I was right, and began to get coins. Slowly but surely, as time went on, expanding my coverage wider and wider circles. Until I was admittedly on the church's lawn. But being young and dumb ~14 yr. old, it never-even-registered to me . I proceeded to get a few wheaties, a silver dime or two, etc...

One day a church janitor just happened to walk out and see me. He froze, and watched me with a quizzed look on his face. Then walked over to see what I was doing. I gleefully showed him some grubby pennies. He just shrugged his shoulders and walked back inside.

Perhaps the mid 1970s were more innocent times. Perhaps a silly young freckle faced kid wasn't seen as a threat. I dunno.

Also I had gone to a parochial school from 1st to 6th grade. So that was another spot that I tried. Without the slighted notion that it was private . Just never occurred to us I guess, since that was where we went to fly kites after school, etc... Got silver and wheaties there too. Only 1 time did anyone ever come out and say anything : One of the teacher nuns came marching out. But when she got closer, she recognized me as a recent past pupil. And after some chit-chat, walked back to the offices.
 
Your county should have a GIS site online which will tell you who the owner is. Ours is easy; just navigate to the parcel and click it, and up comes everything you could ever want.

Usually a church is private property, "owned" by a board of trustees, deacons, the local archdiocese or something like that. IMHO, asking any of these people is the wrong approach, and the pastor/father or whatever is the best choice.

While they don't own the property typically, they generally have a territorial attachment to it, so even if unposted, I think it is better to ask and a more civil way to act. Many pastors live on the property (I believe their house is called a "parsonage" and is also owned by the church).

My last church permission, the priest said no problem, but please keep radius X from the house. I was glad I asked to learn that rule.

Another case was bizarre; I was not metal detecting but taking photos of old buildings around here for a completely different hobby. At one church I was photographing, the pastor gave me attitude and kicked me off. Somehow photography and detecting seemed different, so I never asked permission for the former hobby at these properties, so long as they were not posted and were owned by a board or corporation.
 
I asked permission from a pastor to search "by the church" where an old school house used to be, the steps of the school was still there. He was nice, and just said the church gets a cut if you something big ;-) The first hunt there, two of his flock walked over to tell me it was church property. I let him know the minister said it was ok, and they smiled and quickly said, "Oh Well, if Brother Jim said it was OK have fun."

I can understand the church members being protective. I sure was glad I did get with the pastor first. I might have never got to hunt it had after I got run off by those two. I shy easily. It wasn't a treasure trove, likely because the local archie society had hit the small spot before and at least one archie was a keen detector, so I got leftovers. Sadly they put in a cement parking lot across the front third by the road, and that was logically where the most people tromped around.

Those renovations like that are tough. The ground moving equipment digs down 8-12 inches in a day and pile it up in big piles, then end up loading it all up and hauling it away. I hoped they'd spread it out, but those piles are where the most of the good stuff goes. GRRRR!
 
As a pastor of a 1916 church with no grounds to hunt (Nuts!) all cement, I would expect you to ask permission. Most pastors are very reasonable people. I rarely get turned down when I seek out a church although I do play the pastor card. If you do hunt one please use a drop cloth and do not carry a large shovel. Small plugs and no dirt rings will help get other properties to hunt. Good luck!
 
Definitely private property. Definitely ask permission. A pastor or maintenance crew or someone who looks like they have authority there is probably a good place to start asking permission (whoever has ultimate authority depends on a lot of factors, like the legal structure of the church, and divining that is probably best not wasted time on as long as you are honestly satisfied that the person you asked seems to have authority).

Some churches have yard areas or playgrounds that they intentionally leave open for community use. While it's still private property, I would generally treat it like I would a public park as far as regular use like sitting on a bench, playing ball, or metal detecting.
 
It’s amazing how many churches have been hunted. I’ve hit a half dozen, all with permission. Two Pastors have shooed away hunters that have brought along liability waivers, otherwise, they told me they are asked permission quite frequently and usually grant it.

I’ve hunted a large popular Catholic Church in a rural area several times, it’s where I dug my first Morgan. The priest there gave me permission to hunt the cemetery, of course I did not.
 
For small rural Churches it might be a little harder to make first contact.

Many times on the sign the name of the Pastor may be listed.

FB helps these days, even the smallest of congregations often have some type of online presence.

It may surprise folks to learn that many small Churches no longer have a landline. If not retired, the Pastor is most likely by-vocational.
The Church # may be his cell phone.
You may have to resort to leaving a note on the door Saturday night.

The Pastor is the most likely to give you a yes or no answer. Board members may not feel free to give permission without talking to others. Many are programmed to worry about liability issues...

An almost full proof way to get the OK would be to attend a Service and ask after...;)
 
Pastor Bob said:
As a pastor of a 1916 church with no grounds to hunt (Nuts!) all cement, I would expect you to ask permission. Most pastors are very reasonable people. I rarely get turned down when I seek out a church although I do play the pastor card. If you do hunt one please use a drop cloth and do not carry a large shovel. Small plugs and no dirt rings will help get other properties to hunt. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yes, and have a pouch full of junk to show your improving the grounds. No matter where you hunt, if your removing trash...you will be welcomed.
 
Barneymartin3 said:
So what is the rule on hunting church property? Do you need permission or not? Who owns it? The members of the church or the pastor. Would church property be considered Public or Private property? Who should you ask for permission? I guess you could pray to God for permission but I'm sure someone would still throw you off the property :lol:.

I've had different experiences hunting churches. I've hunted them without asking anyone and never had a problem but I have been asked to leave by a nosey neighbor or have had the police called on me who asked me to leave. So what are your thoughts on this subject? Is it a sin or illegal to hunt a church without permission?
Click to expand...

Really? Of course you need permission, Its private property.
 
hunted one with senior deacon partner and with pastors permission. it was actually a small church they bought down the road from the big church, and made an outreach and rental for educational group. had a scout hut. we hunted, removed trash and nails and old roofing debris copper cuttings and roof nails. found a few scout items and couple clad. think it had been hit hard before. nary a silver coin. miss my partner.. rest in peace.

the best "find" was a full size solid construction mahogany exterior door weighed about 100lbs. had some bottom damage. they gave it to me and i had a work bench leg kit and made a work bench, cutting it off to 6 ft and removing the laminate layer and exposing the cutting board look solid interior. used the cut off piece to plug mail slot hole and put the key hole toward back of table for plug in hole like computer desk. man is it nice and sturdy. took both of us to put it in truck. even got a nice brass mail slot to make suggestion box.. next project, for office. my partner was the deacon and got one too. replaced with modern metal doors. it will be used for detector projects, as i plan hopefully to take electronics classes at the local tech school. a senior citizen can take classes for price of books there., and i will be 65 in June... not retiring just yet though, but just want to learn to read a schematic and do basic repairs.
 
I've only hunted two old churches and both of those were with permission.
I got permission to hunt the first one, which gave up an Indian Head cent and a Mercury dime because I knew a guy who was a member of that church. He had to get permission at one of their meetings and fortunately, they let me hunt AND keep whatever I found. The second church permission came from the pastor of an old (1750's) church. He told me I could hunt there any time I wanted and that there was no need to ask again. That church, though very old, gave up nothing but old rusty iron nails. I would never hunt a church without permission because in my mind, a church is private property.
 
This topic made us think about one of Mrs. atomicbrh's great great grandfathers who was a well known church builder just before the civil war. We now plan on tracking down those churches and detecting them if possible.
 
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