Had A Little Run-In With The Law Tonight:nono:

[MHirschmann]

So I decided I wanted to go out detecting tonight so that I could walk off the energy that I gained from taking a nap this afternoon. My best friend came along as I have been getting him into detecting lately. We went to a park that was near his house but we had never detected there before. After a couple of hours of hunting, there suddenly was a bright light on us out of nowhere. I knew this wasn't good. I walked towards the light and when I got about 25 yards away from it, I put down my detector because I knew it might look kinda scary in the dark, mind you, I was wearing a full-camouflage outfit as it protects me from the zillions of mosquitos that we have here and it is really thin (helps with the heat). The officer asked us what we were doing and we explained while he checked out our ID's. He said that he had called four back-up patrol cars after seeing us in the dark and could only see two guys, in camo, with what appeared to be rifles, at a park that apparently closed 2 hours earlier. Oops!!! I am usually the last person to hunt a questionable site so that fact that I had lost track of time really caught me off guard. Well, the cop ended up canceling his extravagant backup squad and told us to pack up and let us go without further incident. He did warn us to be more careful as he said he was quite anxious/nervous about us and had his gun ready when we approached. Moral of the story everyone, detecting late at night can be a bad idea for many reasons. Someone could have been hurt tonight if that officer had been just a little more nervous. It was my mistake because I lost track of time, but I didn't ever think that I would basically have a swat team come down on me while/for detecting. Mind the time and stay safe everyone. Sorry for sharing my long story, I just couldn't believe this happened. HH -Marc PS Good news is I found a silver ring in the park before all this happened.

 

[Bell-Two]

Ok Ok lets see, you got the swat team called on you and were confronted by an armed and nervous law officer....but you didn't say!

[size=x-large]Did You Find Anything?![/size]

 

[reltolbert]

They found the Police and that was enough.

 

[RandyNorthridgeca]

You made me remember something similar that happened to me a long time ago and it made me smile (it wasn't funny at the time). My sister was living in a house out back and she had some girlfriends spending the night. She was working late and called me around 11 pm and told me the girls were hearing someone walking around out back and for me to please go check on them. I grabbed my shot gun and went to look. The girls came out on the porch and I told them to go back inside while I went out back. No one told me they had already called the police . I checked in the back and found nothing but as I was coming back around the corner of the house a light hit me in the face and I heard "police, don't move". My stomach turned and I almost dropped a load into my pants. They told to me lay the gun on the ground. Thank GOD the girls told them I was out back with a shotgun. They came up to me and told me two pick up my shot gun and get back into my home. I was really upset afterwards because no one told me. Makes me laugh now!

Thought my experience was bad but you have me laughing like crazy right now. Lord! In a full-camouflage outfit with a detector at night and the park closed. Dude! what were you thinking!

 

[MHirschmann]

Yeah I know, it really sounds bad. I had never been to this park before and it apparently closes 3 hours earlier than any of the parks that are near me. I should have paid more attention, especially since I had never been there before. The camo definitely didn't help but that outfit was perfect for the skeeters/heat. I think I need to get a new outfit that isn't camo and I think I will stay away from hunting in the dark. As for the finds, we had a lot of good signals but they were all so deep that we decided not to dig on pretty much all of them. We were more checking the site to see if we wanted to come back during the day sometime. We decided that we most certainly did as we were hitting great numbers/sounds, most at over 6" deep, all over the place. Well I learned my lesson yesterday and I don't plan on going on a hunt ever again in the dark. Have fun everyone, be safe and HH -Marc

 

[Ism]

Yeah, you need a black Ninja outfit.

 

[MHirschmann]

haha, I was thinking a bright red or white outfit would be great. Ninja outfit, although cool, probably wouldn't have helped the situation much, but who knows. I'll look into that option. Maybe I should get a nice samurai sword that I can use for cutting plugs while I'm at it, I hear the blades on those are extremely durable.

 

[GoGoGopher]

Take it from someone who has had similar run ins...DO NOT wear camo at night...wear a light colored shirt (white or grey...You WANT to be seen...It is also a good idea to let the police know you hunt nights and that if they see you with a headlamp kneeling on the ground, that your not a threat. Most of the local police know me...They have either seen me hunting during the day, or I have spoken with them at some point...I only get hassled by the rookies that do not know me now, one mention of their Captains name, and most are done chatting with me and leave...lol...You do not want to appear as if your HIDING, or doing something SUSPICIOUS...dropping the detector was probably the BEST thing you could have done...
Don't let the experience stop you from hunting at night...Just pick your locations wisely, and dress to be seen...If your afraid of being seen, you probably should NOT be hunting in that area at night...

HH,

 

[MHirschmann]

Thanks for your reply Gopher. I completely agree with everything you said. I wasn't wearing camo to hide, it was just the best suited outfit I had to get dirty and keep the skeeters off me, but I realize now that my wardrobe malfunction definitely contributed to an escalated situation last night. I will be shopping for a new outfit tomorrow that suits my needs and will hopefully be very visible, as you recommended. I also have spoken with most of the local law enforcement officers while I have been out hunting. Problem last night was we went hunting near my friends house which was 30 minutes away from me and so I didn't know any of the officers out there nor was I aware of the different park times from the ones in my county. I think dropping my detector before approaching the officer was a key detail why things went as smoothly as they did. Either way, I will NEVER hunt in camo again and I will make sure that I pay closer attention to park closing times when I go to a new area. The thing that gets me the most is that I pride myself in being responsible in this hobby and it really bothers me when I hear about, or see, someone ruining this hobby for us. Last night, however, I definitely was in the wrong and I definitely did not do my part to shed some positive light on this hobby. I will be more careful from now on. Thanks for your replies and happy hunting everyone. -Marc

 

[moose]

This just proves that your never too old to learn and sometimes knowledge is obtained the hard way. But once we have learned, spreading the knowledge is beneficial too all young and old. I don't know where this came from, it just seems to fit. HH

Moose

 

[mcb613]

When you pick your next suit, make sure it isn't black and white stripes or an orange jumpsuit... that will certainly get you shot or at least shackled. I thought the cover of darkness was for those out of reach places. HH

 

[flinthunter]

Hunting at night in a gives John Q. Public the idea that you are sneaking around doing something illegal. The only night hunting I do is for nightcrawlers (fishing worms for those of you who don't know what they are).

 

[Prep1957]

Bigfoot costumes work good at night most people when they see you won't say a thing and they repel insects good.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Yeah, that's not very smart to be out in a park, at night, in camoflage. Walking towards a flashlight wasn't the best move either. If it's a cop, let them approach you. Every park I have seen "closes" during night, so that's something to be aware of and look for signs or local laws regarding that. Glad you ran into a cop with a level head on his shoulders, and not one of the power-tripping wackos.